First the customer, then the screen: the role of insights in building effective CX in financial services

What you should know:

• Modern CX does not start with the interface. It starts with understanding customer context and behavior. UI is the end result, not the starting point.
• Customer journey analytics exposes what remains invisible in silos: the real friction points that suppress conversion and NPS. Only by looking at the full customer journey can banks see where value is truly “leaking.”
• Combining data and empathy enables the creation of solutions that not only look better but genuinely improve business performance. This is the foundation of effective digital transformation in banking.

Customer journey analytics in banking. Where does effective CX really begin?

True transformation of a customer experience (CX) strategy does not start with choosing colors or arranging buttons. It begins with a fundamental question: what is actually happening in our customer’s life when they try to complete a task with the bank? Only the answer to that question—grounded in data, insights, and an empathetic understanding of context—leads to solutions that measurably strengthen loyalty, increase conversion, and improve core satisfaction metrics. 

Gartner highlights that customer journey analytics (CJA) is becoming one of the most important tools in the financial services arsenal¹. It not only reveals what customers do, but also why they do it, combining behavioral, operational, and business data into one coherent narrative. 

It is this shift in perspective—from the single screen to the full, omnichannel customer journey—that increasingly determines the success of digital initiatives in financial services. 

A new definition of customer experience in banking: from usability to the full customer journey

For years, customer experience in financial services was viewed mainly through the lens of usability: Does the app work smoothly? Is logging in fast? Is the form clear enough? These elements still matter—but are far from sufficient.

Today’s CX is a system of interconnected interactions, both digital and physical, that together form the customer’s holistic experience with the institution. It is the moment when a customer compares an offer on their phone, then calls the helpline with an additional question, and finally signs the agreement in a branch. It is also the frustration when information entered in the app must be repeated during the call. And it is the emotion tied to major financial decisions: uncertainty with a first loan, relief when a problem is swiftly resolved, irritation caused by yet another unnecessary step in the process.

The gap between screens: the most overlooked issue in customer experience

According to Gartner, only 14% of customer issues are fully resolved in self-service channels². Without analyzing the entire customer journey—across every touchpoint and channel—banks lose essential context and cannot respond adequately to customer needs. And context is now the currency of loyalty. 

Yet in many institutions, CX work still progresses “screen by screen,” as if every interaction were an isolated project. What’s missing is a view of what happens between screens, between channels, between decisions—in the customer’s everyday life. 

Interpreting customer intent: the foundation of effective CX design

Without understanding why customers abandon a process halfway through, why they return to the same form multiple times, or why they choose the competition despite a objectively better offer, it is hard to talk about real CX improvement.

Effective CX in banking therefore starts not with a wireframe but with the question: what story does the customer’s behavior tell us? And what decisions should we make based on that story?

Why customer journey analytics (CJA) is essential in banking

Banks operate with massive amounts of data that, in theory, should enable highly personalized experiences. In practice, however, they often lack visibility into where exactly customer experience breaks down³. 

When a customer stalls during an application, abandons the digital channel, or calls the helpline frustrated with the process, most institutions see only a single point—not the sequence of events that led up to it. Without this perspective, it becomes difficult to anticipate needs, remove barriers, and prevent abandonment before the customer starts looking elsewhere.

Customer journey analytics fills this gap. By mapping and measuring each stage of the journey, CJA precisely identifies friction points and reveals what truly influences conversion, loyalty, or churn. Unlike siloed reporting, CJA connects context, behavior and intent across channels into a single, integrated view that enables leaders to draw conclusions and act on them.

How customer journey analytics supports marketing, CX, and IT teams

• Marketing teams: CJA shows how customers search for mortgage or savings products in digital environments. This enables more precise offer personalization, optimized acquisition journeys, and higher conversion rates.
• CX and support teams: CJA uncovers behavioral patterns, such as the fact that users of certain features (e.g., cash management dashboards) contact advisors more frequently. With this knowledge, teams can act proactively: anticipate needs, direct customers to the right digital solutions, and reduce intervention-heavy interactions.
• IT teams: CJA provides visibility that previously required months of custom tool integrations. Instead of building additional reports, IT can focus on strategic value: pinpointing login errors, slow application processing, or broken mobile sessions, and then prioritizing investments and fixes where they have the greatest customer impact.

Ultimately, customer journey analytics allows financial institutions to shift from reactive firefighting to a predictive operating model, where issues are identified and resolved before they affect the customer experience.

Data and empathy as the foundation of modern design

The most effective customer experience solutions emerge where hard data meets deep empathy. Each element is valuable on its own, but only together do they provide a complete picture of customer needs, behaviors, and barriers.

• Data shows what is happening: where customers abandon the process, which features matter most, how long onboarding takes, which messages trigger the highest number of support calls.
• Empathy explains why: what the customer feels at that moment, what they need, what triggers uncertainty or blocks decision-making.

This combination of quantitative and qualitative perspectives enables the creation of experiences that are both effective and human.

Customer journey maps built on real data

Customer journey maps are more than visually appealing infographics. When based on real data, they become a strategic tool that presents the full sequence of customer interactions with the bank: from initial need, through research and onboarding, to everyday use of the product and issue resolution. Effective journey maps highlight the so-called “moments of truth”—points where decisions about conversion, loyalty, or abandonment are made.

Behavioral analytics and patterns in digital channels

Behavioral analytics shows how customers actually move through an app or website. Heatmaps show where they click and what they ignore, app data reveals moments when users get stuck, and event tracking uncovers unexpected behavioral patterns that influence the final process outcome.

Prototyping and testing as part of the CJA model

Prototype testing and usability research conducted early in the design phase enable quick validation of assumptions before committing to costly development. This not only saves time and budget but also surfaces issues that quantitative data alone will not reveal.

Qualitative research as a complement to quantitative data

Contextual and emotional research—such as in-depth interviews, field observations, or diary studies—provides insights that no dashboard can deliver. They show the real contexts in which customers use the app, what constraints they face (time, signal, digital skills), what they feel, and what they fear.

When design thinking meets data-driven design: a work model enabled by customer journey analytics

The most effective product and CX teams today combine two worlds:

• design thinking, which fosters a culture of experimentation, prototyping, and iteration, and
• data-driven design, which delivers hard evidence, reduces guesswork, and enables measurement of decision effectiveness.

This combination works because it creates a complete picture—both what is happening and why.

Why this combination is so effective:

• Quantitative data shows the scale of the problem and allows prioritization.
• Qualitative research reveals causes, needs, and barriers, inspiring the right solutions.
• Prototypes enable rapid testing of hypotheses before entering costly development.
• Iterations based on feedback allow continuous improvement instead of one-off “big launches.”

Practical example

A bank notices a significant drop-off at one stage of the account opening journey (quantitative data). Usability testing shows that customers quit during the identity verification step: they do not understand why they must upload a document scan and feel uneasy about data security (qualitative insight). 

Design response: The communication for this step is redesigned, a simple explanation is added, visual security indicators are introduced, and a short piece of microcopy is included to build trust. 

Result: After launch, measurable improvement in conversion and a reduction in process abandonment. 

From insight to implementation: a mature CX process in financial institutions

An insight alone changes nothing—it is only the beginning. Altkom Software’s experience in projects for financial institutions shows that real transformation happens only when insights are translated into concrete actions: designed, implemented, measured, and refined. Mature organizations treat this process as a repeatable operating model, not a one-off initiative.

What does such a model look like in practice?

Collecting data and building understanding

We start by combining data from multiple sources: analytics platforms, app logs, user session recordings, study results, and feedback from customer-facing teams. We look for patterns, anomalies, and pain points. We ask key questions: Where did the customer get stuck? What triggers frustration? Which needs remain unspoken?

Translating insight into a solution concept

At this stage, UX, CX, and business teams jointly define the problem and outline possible solution directions. It is not about cosmetic tweaks (“let’s make the button bigger”) but about answering the question: how do we help the customer feel confident, efficient, and safe at this specific moment in the process. Concepts are created that link business goals with real user needs. 

Prototyping and testing

Before the solution enters development, we test it with users. Prototypes can be simple—from sketches to interactive mockups. What matters is observing reactions, identifying unclear elements, and verifying whether the proposed changes truly address the identified problem. This is where ideas meet reality.

Implementation and measurement

After launch, the real work begins: monitoring customer behavior, analyzing metrics, and gathering feedback. We check whether conversion actually increased, whether contact volume decreased, and whether users engage with the new functionality as expected. Data shows whether the solution works and, if not, precisely indicates what needs improvement.

Iteration and continuous refinement

No CX project ends at release. Mature organizations treat customer experience as an ongoing process, requiring regular iterations, testing new hypotheses, and adapting to evolving customer needs. This discipline is what creates competitive advantage.

Case study: how customer journey analytics improved the certificate request process

In one of our projects for a bank, we analyzed the process of requesting a certificate confirming account ownership. The data was clear: a high percentage of customers were abandoning the process in digital channels, both in the mobile app and on the web platform. 

Quantitative data identified the exact points where drop-offs occurred. Expert analysis and customer research revealed why users abandoned the process: 

• The form was too long and required excessive information.
• In-app messages were unclear, causing confusion.
• The lack of immediate document availability discouraged customers, especially those applying for a visa. Information about processing time was vague.
• The absence of transparent cost information generated frustration.
• The document itself often failed to meet customer needs because it lacked certain expected data.

Redesign based on analytics and research

Using usability analysis and qualitative insights, the Altkom Software team redesigned the process:

• We simplified the form, breaking it into logical, shorter steps.
• We added contextual help, displayed precisely where customers most often got stuck.
• We improved error communication. Instead of a generic alert, users received a specific instruction on how to correct the data.
• We introduced the ability to manage which information appears on the certificate, so the document could better match individual needs.

Additionally—following our recommendation—the bank enabled customers to receive the certificate via email, which significantly shortened the wait time and eliminated one of the key friction points.

Results after implementation and iterations

Following implementation, monitoring, and several iterations, the bank recorded:

• higher conversion due to the elimination of key barriers,
• reduced helpline load, as more customers successfully completed the process in digital channels,
• a clear improvement in the process NPS, driven by greater clarity, simplicity, and predictability.

The key to success was not “prettier screens,” but deep understanding of where and why customers were getting lost—and designing a solution that met real user needs and business expectations.

Summary: customer journey analytics as the foundation of modern CX in banking

Banks invest millions in digital technologies. Yet technology alone does not create great customer experience. Even the most polished interface fails if the customer does not understand the process, must repeat data across channels, or does not know what to do when something goes wrong. 

This is why every investment in a new digital channel, app redesign, or process enhancement should start with the question: What do we know about the customer who will use this? 

The fuller the answer—grounded in data, insights, empathy, and context—the higher the likelihood that the solution will truly resolve a problem rather than simply “look nicer.” 

According to McKinsey, one of the greatest blockers of banking innovation is design immaturity: the lack of an integrated approach combining design, data, and business goals⁴. Only the combination of quantitative analysis (what is happening) and qualitative research (why it is happening) produces complete insights that can truly drive experience design and transformation. 

Meaningful CX change happens when technology and design are grounded in deep understanding of customer behavior, motivations, and needs. When instead of designing individual screens, we design coherent, predictable, and supportive experiences—from first contact through long-term relationship.