Mobile Investing Apps Offer Convenience but Continue to Lag Desktop Sites: Corporate Insight (CI) Study

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Nov 04, 2024, 08:30 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- New research from Corporate Insight (CI), a leading research and consulting firm, analyzes digital investing platforms from 20 leading brokerages, revealing a significant functionality gap between mobile and desktop platforms. The 2024 Brokerage Website and Mobile Experience Benchmark reports, backed by investor surveys and in-depth user interviews, evaluate digital platforms across hundreds of attributes to provide a detailed comparative analysis and identify which factors create the best user experience—insights that inform CI's strategic consulting engagements with financial institutions.

This year's research finds that brokerage mobile apps continue to lag their desktop counterparts, offering less functionality both overall and in individual assessment categories. The mobile app average score in 2024 is 53 out of 100, versus 66 for the brokerage website. This gap risks negatively impacting customer satisfaction, particularly as expectations rise and investor needs become more complex.

"Investors want more from their mobile brokerage apps than they are getting today," says Ian Bonhotal, Brokerage Research Manager at CI. "Apps like Instagram and Spotify set high expectations for mobile experiences, particularly among younger investors who tend to be mobile-first, if not mobile-only, in the way they engage with brands digitally. Even mobile-minded startups like Robinhood and SoFi risk losing clients in the long run if they do not expand their app's capabilities."

CI's Mobile Brokerage Experience Benchmark report finds that brokerage app users fall into three patterns of usage: mobile-centric investors who conduct all trading activities on mobile; information-focused users who primarily use apps for market research and monitoring; and hybrid investors who switch between mobile and desktop depending on their location.

"Convenience is the most important factor that drives mobile app usage," adds Bonhotal. "Eighty-two percent (82%) of investors we surveyed chose mobile apps primarily for convenience, making it the dominant factor driving app preference. While convenience initially attracts users, robust features are a must for retention and growth. Our benchmarking research helps firms identify which mobile capabilities matter most to their target investors, and our consulting team works directly with clients to develop actionable roadmaps for implementing these priority improvements."

The 2024 edition of the Mobile Experience Benchmark identifies Charles Schwab (69 out of 100), Fidelity (67/100) and E*TRADE (66/100) as the top overall performers. Charles Schwab excels in the Trading and Support categories, finishing first in both. Fidelity offers a consistently solid experience across the board, while E*TRADE tops the Account Servicing and Research & Tools categories.

Methodology

For this edition of the Brokerage Experience Benchmarks, CI surveyed 1,397 investors between January and March of 2024 and conducted over 40 hours of in-depth interviews to understand investor preferences and usage for brokerage digital experiences. For the mobile report, CI analysts made point-by-point comparisons using a comprehensive framework of seven categories, 39 subcategories and over 175 attributes covering the functionality, design, navigation and usability of brokerage apps. Each firm's app receives a score on a scale from 1-100, both overall and for each category.

The benchmarks examine the following categories:

Account Information
Account Servicing
Design & Navigation
Profile & Settings
Research & Tools
Support
Trading
Prospect Experience (Website only)

Firms covered in the research are:

Ally Invest
Ameriprise
Charles Schwab
Citi Self Invest
E*TRADE
Edward Jones
Fidelity
J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing
Merrill Edge
Merrill Lynch
Morgan Stanley
Raymond James
RBC
Robinhood
SoFi
TIAA
U.S. Bancorp Self-Directed Investing
UBS
Vanguard
Wells Fargo Advisors

About Corporate Insight

Corporate Insight (CI) delivers competitive intelligence, user experience research and consulting services to the nation's leading financial services, insurance and healthcare institutions. As the recognized industry leader in customer experience research for over 30 years, our best-in-class research platform and unique approach of analyzing the actual customer experience helps organizations advance their competitive position in the marketplace.

For inquiries or to interview with an analyst, contact:

Patrick Flood
646-876-7535
[email protected]

SOURCE Corporate Insight