Appendix A. Questionnaire

At the time we published our questionnaires to near 120 banking app users, we were not certain of what we were to update in the Ulster Bank app. We hoped to confirm or squash our assumptions and findings made during our heuristic evaluations. We fished for insights on banking app user attitudes toward finding opportunities and threats.

Design

I employed mainly multi-choice single answer questions and grading to ease the data analysis. I allowed “Other” on some questions, which enables respondents to add additional options or comments. I also enabled commenting, which I chose not to include as design factors due to the low sample.

I took care to keep within data protection laws and general survey ethics. Cohen, Manion, & Morrison’s, (2000) chapter on questionnaires served as a useful prompt.

Results summary

Our research correlated our respondents’ age against the likelihood of their owning their own property, of having a mortgage, and even when they are likely saving to buy a property. That is likely of great use to our marketing teams and lent less to us in determining task priorities or navigation strategies.

We did identify trends to support our initial assumptions and generalisations. From my own research thread (below):

      • 66% prefer to access online banking from their mobile phone. Only 7% preferred their tablet. 27% prefer their home computer.
      • 79% have more than one account on their banking app.
      • 48% of households include dependents with their own bank accounts.
      • 59% prefer to use their banking app where no one else can see.
      • Only 3% of respondents use their banking app to pay in cheques, make deposits, or to check progress on their mortgage. (Caveat, not all Irish or UK banking apps have these features).
      • 72% have experienced a session timed out message during their completing a task.
      • 85% expressed their overall experience as four or five stars out of five.

The feedback

The majority are mostly satisfied with their experience (Figure 1).

Bar chart showing ninety percent of banking app users are satisfied with the download process of their app
Figure 1. The download experience

An unexpected result in support of mobile banking apps (Figure 2).

Pie chart with sixty-five percent prefering to bank with the app and twenty severn percent for whom it depends
Figure 2. Do you prefer to use the mobile banking app or to visit a bank branch?

Interestingly, the mobile banking apps do not appear to have conquered the desktop – yet (Figure 3).

Pie chart with sixty-five percent prefering their phone and twenty severn percent their home computer.
Figure 3. On what device do you mostly prefer to access your online bank accounts at home?
Pie chart showing fifty five percent have two to three accounts and twenty four percent have four or more accounts
Figure 4. In total, how many accounts do you access from your mobile banking apps?

There is clearly a need to consider privacy when banking (Figure 5). Social stigmas, fear of being targeted for handsome, or only politeness aside, there is an opportunity to introduce a privacy setting.

Bar chart showing fifty eight percent can use their app anywhere where forty three percent prefer no one to se them using their banking app
Figure 5. Where are you comfortable with using your mobile banking app?

Most app use in this survey appears to be to check statements, transfer funds from account to account, and to pay someone (Figure 6). This may be why Ulster Bank promoted the three tasks on the homepage: click the card to drill into to the account detail, Pay, and Transfer links?

Bar chart showing ninety six percent check statements and 100 percent transfer funds account to account with ninety three and seventy percent who pay people and bills
Figure 6. Do you, or would you use your banking app to…?

27% is significant (Figure 7), regardless of the overall satisfaction reported at Figure 8.

Pie chart with twenty severn percent responding with Yes
Figure 7. Has your banking app timed out or session expired while you were setting up a transaction?
Bar chart with eighty two percent grading their experience as four or five out of five
Figure 8. How do you rate your overall experience of using your banking app?
Pie chart showing the majority of respondants are forty years old or more and twenty percent under forty
Figure 9. What best describes your age?

A near 50/50 split in gender (Figure 10)? This may relate to the business group I asked to participate being mostly female?

Pie chart with fifty one percent female
Figure 10. What gender do you identify with?
Pie chart with fifty one percent with no dependents with bank accounts and seventeen percent with one, and thirty one percent with two or more
Figure 11. How many dependents in your household have a bank account?

Although employing an unreliable technique of Thumb, correlating this data (Figure 12) with that of our respondents’ age (Figure 9) matches our assumptions about achieving lifetime landmarks and age groups.

Pie chart with forty one percent mortgaged and thirty one percent renting and twenty severn percent owning their home outright
Figure 12. What best describes your home? Is it..?

References

Cohen, L., Manion, L., and Morrison, K. (2000). Research Methods in Education (5th Edition). New Yor, NY: RoutledgeFalmer.