The focus of digital experiences often rests too squarely on the digital side of the equation. To truly address members’ wants and needs, attention and emphasis should never sway from the experiences themselves—experiences with the power to form and strengthen emotional connections with members and that are created for and designed by humans.

Achieving this aim requires understanding where members are now, what choices they’re facing, and where they want to go. It also requires infusing the human element into every stage of digital experience design.

Keep seven design principles in mind when building a new member experience or working with a third-party partner to make digital banking more human and less complex. Every digital experience must be:

1. Member-centric

Connective digital experiences put members first. They use experiential insights to drive technology instead of letting technology force ill-fitting interactions that provide little or no member benefit. Empathetic design clarifies what users want and don’t want, as well as how they are going to interact.

2. Intuitive

Intuitive digital experiences enable seamlessness and simplicity. They reduce friction and provide natural, logical paths for action completion. Great design removes cognitive, physical, and emotional frictions from user experiences and results in products that are self-evident and self-explanatory.

3. Consistent

Uniformity across all channels eliminates confusion and prevents frustrations that form when things don’t work as they should. Consistency applies not only visually, but also in element location and behavior and the phrasing, language, and tone used in communications.

4. Innovative

Innovation recognizes the constancy of change and surfaces undiscovered member wants and needs. Long-standing precedents shouldn’t deter advancement. In user experience (UX) innovation, breaking the rules and leveraging creativity are key. 

5. Functional

Practicality and usefulness in digital experiences are paramount. Functionality should advance and strengthen features that enable users to achieve their banking and financial goals. Continually analyze interactions to identify paths for improvement.

6. Visually appealing

Crisp and clean designs that match an institution’s personality and positioning form important first impressions. The blend of colors, objects, imagery, fonts, spacing, and overall visual balance shape user perceptions and behaviors. Strong visual appeal supports brand affinity.

7. Engaging

Engaging digital experiences invoke feelings of accomplishment, understanding, and delight. They feel personal and tailored, fostering satisfaction, repeat usage, and loyalty. Conversely, experiences that feel forced or beneficial only to an institution make members feel neglected.

Design with a human touch

Design that holds individual needs, wants, preferences, milestones, and emotions at the highest level of importance translates to exceptional member experiences that feel every bit as human as they do digital. These seven principles serve as an excellent construct for assessing how experiences meet member needs today and how they can be improved tomorrow.

HOUMAN OMIDIFAR is vice president of user experience digital banking at Temenos.