Highlight ROX in Digital Banking to Get Executive Buy-In for UX

It’s a wake-up call for product owners, digital project managers, and designers in banks and financial institutions. You can—and must—move UX (user experience) and digital branding to the center of strategy and weave them into the DNA of the business. Because if you don’t, you’re not just risking a bad app rating—you’re risking the future of your organization. UX is no longer a paint job; it’s where revenue either leaks—or compounds.

According to TABInsights, the top 100 digital banks worldwide (e.g., Nubank, WeBank, Revolut, Mox, Ally) witnessed staggering financial momentum: between FY2021 and FY2023, they achieved a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18% in revenue, along with robust gains in assets, deposits and loans. And their digital strategy is fundamentally different from what banks are used to.

Inside most banks, UX dies by a thousand “just for now” decisions: a temporary flow patched to meet quarter-end targets, an extra field added to satisfy an audit trail, three teams “owning” the same journey, a vendor contract dictating the interface instead of the other way around. The result? Call centers absorb the cost, NPS slides, and executives wonder why acquisition is falling when “the feature shipped.”

And here’s the bigger truth: you may be the long-awaited hero to move things forward. The one who can turn empathy into economics, transform broken journeys into business metrics, and show executives that UX isn’t a cost—it’s the growth engine, the risk control, the cost-to-serve reducer. You hold the power to change everything before it’s too late.

Strategic Role of Financial Product UX

Financial products are no longer competing on interest rates or branch locations—they’re competing on experience. In a market in which switching costs are low and expectations are set by the world’s best digital platforms, the real risk isn’t building too much UX; it’s ignoring it. Money moves faster than trust, and customers don’t judge a bank by its balance sheet—they judge it by the few seconds it takes to open an app, transfer funds or get clarity on their savings. If the experience feels clumsy, slow or confusing, they leave. Simple as that.

According to Deloitte, with 84% of customers using online banking and 72% using mobile apps as their primary channel, digital touchpoints are now the “front door” of the bank for most customers. This means that user experience and digital branding are not just design concerns; they are strategic imperatives in the modern financial industry. The truth is stark: in today’s world, your user experience is your brand. Ignore it, and you risk watching loyalty, relevance and revenue slip silently into the hands of competitors who simply made banking feel effortless.

In a world in which Fintechs and tech giants set the UX bar, traditional banks risk being left behind. In fact, 91% of consumers say a bank’s digital capabilities influence their choice of provider, as evidenced by Motley Fool Money's 2024 Digital Banking Trends and Consumer Priorities survey. I believe these numbers highlight a simple truth: for today’s banking customers, UX is the brand.

Executives don’t wake up thinking about wireframes or user flows—they think about growth, costs and shareholder value. Speaking to them in the language of design will cause you to  lose them whereas speaking to them in the language of ROI will result in a win 

The hard truth: great UX dies in boardrooms, not design labs. If you can’t connect design decisions to revenue, retention and efficiency, executives won’t listen. To get buy-in, product owners must translate empathy into economics—and prove that experience isn’t just design, it’s strategy.

When executive buy-in is missing, digital service delivery in banks quickly fragments into a patchwork of “quick fixes” and underfunded initiatives. UX gets treated as surface polish instead of strategy, leaving core journeys weighed down by legacy systems, compliance-driven forms, and vendor templates that dictate design. Product teams fight for scraps of budget, projects stall in silos, and what launches often fails to deliver adoption. 

The result is predictable: rising call center costs from confused customers, app store ratings that slide into irrelevance, NPS that erodes quarter by quarter, and churn masked as “channel preference.” Millions get poured into technology, but without leadership alignment, it never translates into customer trust, growth, or loyalty—only into missed opportunities and a widening gap with competitors who made UX their strategic priority.

Markets have priced in digital convenience; the spread now lies in perceived effort and empathy at scale. Boards that treat their digital product design as a capital allocation decision—and not merely a marketing expense—are already harvesting outsized growth, stickier deposits and superior margin dynamics. The numbers from the Big Four are conclusive: digital experience is the new basis-point engine. The question for every financial executive is no longer whether to invest in design, but how fast they can convert ROX (Return on Experience) into recurring shareholder value:

• Instrument ROX next to ROE: Pair traditional profitability KPIs with design-weighted metrics—time-to-resolution, digital first-contact success and emotional-sentiment scores. Audit them quarterly.
• Fund “experience debt” as aggressively as tech debt: Legacy UX flows erode price-premium capacity just as surely as outdated core systems threaten uptime.
• Make design a risk-management tool: A smoother journey reduces abandonment but also curtails fraud (fewer manual resets) and shrinks conduct risk via clearer disclosures.

The Missing Key

Most banks still treat UX and digital branding as side projects in marketing or IT—an afterthought rather than a strategic lever. This legacy mindset is dangerous. For decades, banking success was measured in balance sheets, branches and compliance, not in experience. But in today’s digital-first world, the customer journey is the business.

Yet, too often, UX is dismissed as a “design expense.” Without leadership sponsorship, initiatives remain underfunded, fragmented and unable to move the needle. The result? Millions spent on technology that never translates into customer trust, adoption or growth.

The evidence is overwhelming: consultancies from McKinsey to Bain show that banks leading in customer experience outperform laggards in growth and shareholder returns. Still, without board-level prioritization, banks end up with clunky digital products, inconsistent branding, rising churn and spiraling servicing costs as frustrated customers flood call centers or switch to challengers.

This is the silent crisis: banks that chase digital transformation while ignoring the one thing that makes it succeed—executive buy-in. Without it, they remain reactive, patching features to keep up rather than setting the pace. With it, UX and digital branding become engines of loyalty, efficiency and market leadership.

The future of banking won’t be won by those with the most branches or the lowest rates. It will be won by those whose leaders understand that customer experience isn’t a support function—it’s the core of growth, trust and survival. So, let's find out how to help your leaders.

Conversation Starters for Executive Buy-In

Sometimes the hardest part is getting the conversation started. Here are a few persuasive prompts and questions you can use in meetings with executives to spark interest and urgency about UX and digital branding:

• Have the Courage to Ask Provocative Questions: “What do you think happens when some of our customers would leave us for a better app? Do we know how close we are to that scenario?” This type of question forces reflection on potential pain. Or try: “Why is our digital NPS 30 when industry leaders are at 50+? What is that gap costing us in lost opportunities?” By posing questions, you invite the executive to explore the issue with you rather than feeling lectured, risking them to lose focus.
• Use “What If” Scenarios: “What if our mobile banking app rating went from 3 stars to 4.5 stars in the next year? Based on other banks’ experiences, that could mean more active users and a significant bump in deposit growth.” Painting a picture of a successful outcome helps executives visualize the win. Another example: “What if we could reduce account opening time from days to minutes? We might capture customers who currently abandon the process.”
• Leverage Empathy with Customer Stories: Share a short anecdote, such as: “I spoke with a customer who said she loves our products but almost switched banks because our app kept crashing during her mobile deposit. She felt we didn’t value her time. How many others feel the same?” Storytelling can be incredibly effective to make stats feel real. An executive who hears an authentic customer pain story will often remember it, and it can motivate them to support change. Nobody wants to be the cause of customer frustration.
• Cite Competitor Moves in Context: “As you know, Bank XYZ just launched a new AI-powered budgeting feature. Their CEO is touting that it doubled engagement among millennials. We have a plan to leapfrog that with our own personalized finance coach in-app. With your support, we could lead instead of follow.” Executives are competitive; framing our UX initiative as a way to beat the competition can energize them. It shows you’re keeping an eye on the market and have a response.
• Highlight Risk of Inaction: “Our analysts project that in 5 years, 3 out of 4 of our new customers will come through digital channels. If we don’t deliver a top-tier digital experience, those customers might never choose us to begin with. Can we afford not to invest in this?” Sometimes stating the risk bluntly makes the choice clear: invest in UX or face future decline. Executives are trained to mitigate risks, so make the UX gap a risk they feel responsible to address.

Each of these starters should be adapted to your style and the specific context of your bank. The key is to spark a dialogue rather than deliver a monologue. Encourage the executives to respond, ask what concerns them most about digital, and then show how a focus on UX and branding can alleviate those concerns. 

Remember, your goal is to guide them to the conclusion that investing in UX is not only sensible but urgent. Support from the top will pave the way for the transformation initiatives. Now, let’s reinforce the message by looking at real-world banking examples in which UX and digital branding made a tangible difference.

Tailoring the Message to the C-Suite

Different executives have different concerns, so a one-size-fits-all pitch might miss the mark. Here’s how to align the importance of UX and digital branding with the priorities of various leaders in a retail bank:

• CEO (Chief Executive Officer) / Board of Directors: Emphasize competitive advantage and growth. Explain that exceptional UX is key to winning market share in the digital era and fending off disruptive competitors. Highlight how a strong digital brand drives customer acquisition, loyalty, and lifetime value—all fueling top-line growth. Cite rivals or industry leaders using UX as a differentiator. For example: “Banks with the best customer experience enjoy significantly higher growth rates. By investing in our digital experience now, we can leapfrog competitors and position ourselves as a market leader in customer satisfaction.” CEOs also care about reputation. Note that a slick, customer-friendly app builds public trust and positive brand perception, which ultimately supports share price and strategic positioning.
• CIO / CTO (Chief Information Officer/Chief Technology Officer): Connect UX to the technology agenda and efficiency. The CIO’s focus is often on system modernization, security and reliability. Make the case about how good UX reduces complexity and technical debt. A clear UX strategy avoids the proliferation of disjointed platforms by using unified design systems and reusable components. This actually helps IT by providing a clear blueprint of what to build. Point out that a consistent UX across channels requires breaking silos (e.g. integrating mobile, web, CRM systems), which aligns with IT’s goal of a streamlined architecture. Also stress that fewer customer pain points mean fewer tech support issues: “An intuitive design means less strain on our IT support and call centers, freeing up resources for innovation.” The CIO will also respond to scalability and agility. Show that design thinking practices lead to faster prototyping and iterations, making the development cycle more efficient. In sum, pitch UX as a partner to IT that can drive adoption of the very systems the CIO is investing in.
• CMO (Chief Marketing Officer): Focus on brand consistency, customer engagement and analytics. For a CMO, the digital user experience is the living embodiment of the brand. Highlight that every interaction—from the app login screen to an error message—shapes the customer’s perception of the bank’s brand values. A seamless UX builds the kind of brand loyalty and emotional connection that advertising alone often can’t. You might say: “Our brand promise is ‘simple and trusted banking,’ but if our app frustrates users, that promise breaks. A consistent, user-centric design will reinforce our brand at every touchpoint, turning customers into brand advocates.” CMOs also appreciate data: note that digital channels provide rich customer behavior insights (e.g., clicks, drop-offs, feature usage) that can inform targeted marketing and personalization. A well-designed digital platform thus doubles as a powerful marketing tool. And remind the CMO that personalized UX drives marketing ROI. Personalized experiences can increase marketing efficiency by 10-30%, making their campaigns more effective.
• CDO (Chief Digital Officer) or Head of Digital Transformation: Align with their transformation mandate. The CDO is likely already on board with digital initiatives, but you can reinforce that UX design is the accelerator of digital transformation. Speak to the need for cultural change: “To truly transform, we need a customer-centric culture. UX workshops and design thinking sessions can engage our teams in that change.” For a CDO, highlight frameworks and systematic approaches—for example, how using design sprints or a UX roadmap can operationalize the digital strategy. Also point out that digital branding and UX strategy is about future-proofing: as the bank moves into new channels (e.g., wearables, voice assistants, etc.), a strong core UX ensures consistency and speed-to-market. Essentially, frame UX as the execution layer of the digital strategy the CDO is driving. Success for them means seeing tangible adoption and improved metrics, exactly what a great UX delivers (more logins, higher NPS, etc., all evidence of a successful transformation).
• CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and Risk Executives: Speak the language of ROI, cost savings and risk mitigation. The CFO might be skeptical of projects that don’t demonstrate clear financial benefits. Here’s where you can deploy ROI stats: reiterate the cost savings of digital self-service (for instance, remind them “each digital transaction saves us ~$3.90 compared to a branch transaction”) and the revenue uplift from happier customers (higher cross-sell and retention). Make it concrete and detailed: “If we improve our mobile app UX and increase usage by X%, we could potentially reduce call center volume by Y% and save $Z million annually, while also retaining more customers.” It’s also effective to frame not investing as a risk: the risk of customer churn and, hence, lost revenue if UX is poor, or the risk of falling behind competitors technologically, which could impact the bank’s long-term viability. CFOs also oversee risk and compliance: note that a well-designed user journey can guide customers to safer behaviors (e.g. clearer security prompts, reducing fraud incidents) and that customer trust, fostered by a reliable UX, is a bulwark against reputational risk.

By tailoring your messaging in this way, you ensure each executive hears “what’s in it for me and my department.” This multi-angle approach increases the likelihood of collective buy-in.

Highlighting ROX in Banking

Nothing captures executive attention like hard data. Here are key statistics and insights that demonstrate the ROX (Return on Experience): the strategic value of investing in UX and digital branding. Using data like this in discussions with executives will frame UX in terms of business KPIs they care about.

1. Customer Acquisition and Retention

When we look at the P&L of the world’s most customer-centric banks, one theme cuts through the noise: experience outperforms efficiency as a growth lever. KPMG’s latest Customer Experience Excellence benchmark shows that the UK’s top-10 CX leaders delivered 10× the revenue growth of their FTSE-100 peers, doubled average profit growth and enjoyed 89 percent retention with 75 percent fatter margins than laggards—while simultaneously cutting costs by up to 25 percent.

McKinsey research shows that successful experience-led growth strategies that increase customer satisfaction by at least 20 percent increase cross-sell rates by 15 to 25 percent, boost companies’ wallet share by 5 to 10 percent and increase cross-sell rates and engagement by 20 to 30 percent. In other words, better UX = more loyal customers who buy more products.

Loyalty translates to dollars: Bain & Co. found that Net Promoter Score (a key UX/CX metric) accounts for 20-60% of the variation in organic growth among banks. Loyal promoters drive meaningful revenue growth, validating that customer experience excellence translates to business expansion.

Conversely, lackluster digital UX actively drives customers away. Surveys show that 76% of consumers (up from 52% in 2020) would consider switching banks for better digital services and experiences, according to a Motley Fool survey of 2,000 consumers. In short, a poor mobile or online banking experience can send three-quarters of your customers looking for a new provider.

2. Digital Engagement and Market Reach

Major banks now serve tens of millions via digital channels. For example, Bank of America reports ~59 million verified digital users, and it spends $13 billion annually on technology. This staggering engagement shows how routine banking has moved to apps and websites at scale. Digital channels now eclipse physical branches in usage across all age groups and industries. Moneyzine report finds that 78% of Americans prefer digital banking, and only 29% of the US population prefers going to a branch. One reason is that consumers simply believe the service they get in person is better. In other words, a great digital brand experience lets a bank capitalize on where customers already are—online and on their phones—reaching and engaging millions daily at a relatively low cost.

Embracing digital UX expands a bank’s market footprint beyond branch networks. For instance, digital-only challenger banks have attracted millions of users globally via superior app experiences, forcing incumbents to improve their own UX. Banks that lead in mobile functionality consistently rank higher in customer growth. The takeaway: investing in a top-notch digital experience allows banks to meet customers where they are and extend services well beyond the branch footprint.

3. Revenue Growth from Digital Transformation

Research by McKinsey quantifies the payoff: banks that execute a successful digital transformation achieve a median increase of around 31% in revenue versus their baseline. This is a striking figure: roughly one-third more revenue is driven by digitization and the improved customer experiences it enables. UX is the customer-facing core of these transformations;  it’s what turns new digital capabilities into actual customer adoption and sales.

Digital leaders often outpace competitors in acquiring new customers. By offering seamless digital onboarding and personalized online product offers, they convert more prospects. For example, banks that invested early in mobile banking saw their customer bases swell as consumers flocked to convenient digital options, especially during the pandemic years. Executives clearly see that better digital UX directly ties to winning more customers and earning more from each customer (through upsell/cross-sell), thus fueling faster revenue growth.

4. Cost Efficiency and ROI

According to Bain analysis, a typical mobile banking interaction incurs a variable cost of only about $0.10, versus roughly $4.00 for a teller or call-center transaction. That’s a 40× cost difference. Every routine task that shifts from a branch visit or phone call to a well-designed digital self-service channel yields enormous savings. For example, an address change or funds transfer done in-app costs pennies, whereas doing it with staff costs dollars. These savings at scale improve a bank’s cost-to-income ratio significantly.

A better UX also lowers “failure demand” costs. When customers struggle with a poorly designed interface, they end up calling support or visiting branches. A user-friendly design prevents those extra contacts. Fewer support calls and branch visits directly reduce operating expenses. In banking, simplifying online loan applications or mobile deposit flows similarly reduces help desk volume.

These efficiency gains do not come at the expense of customer satisfaction; in fact, they enhance it. Customers prefer fast, convenient self-service. Bain noted that mobile interactions not only cost less, but they have half the likelihood of annoying a customer compared with branch visits. The ROI of great UX is thus twofold: higher customer satisfaction and lower servicing costs.

For instance, a Bain study estimated that the largest US banks could save $11+ billion per year by shifting more customers to digital and reducing high-cost branch/call center interactions. Better UX makes banking easier, which saves money for the bank and time for the customer—a win-win.

5. Market Leadership and Shareholder Value

Design-led, customer-centric companies don’t just win awards; they also outperform financially, as evidenced by market share and stock performance. Banks are no exception. Customer experience leaders have dramatically outperformed laggards in stock returns over the long run.

Watermark Consulting’s analysis of Forrester’s Customer Experience Index finds that customer experience (CX) leaders enjoyed stock returns 5+ times higher than CX laggards over a 16-year period. Specifically, companies in the top 10 of CX rankings generated ~534% total return, vastly outperforming the ~98% total return of the bottom-tier companies. This huge gap underscores that investing in customer experience excellence yields real financial payoffs, while, conversely, poor experience erodes value. Banks with the highest customer satisfaction scores (often due to superior digital UX) have seen improved revenue growth and higher market cap gains than their less customer-centric rivals.

In banking, those that invested early in digital UX have reaped market-share rewards, while laggards have struggled. For example, Singapore’s DBS Bank undertook a top-to-bottom digital transformation starting in 2009. As a result, it boosted its mortgage lending market share from 24% to 31% and its credit card share from 19% to 25%, just within a few years. DBS went from being the lowest-rated local bank to winning “World’s Best Digital Bank” and saw its stock valuation multiple become the highest among its peers. 

Similar stories are seen at Capital One, BBVA and others: banks that aggressively improved their mobile/apps and overall UX earned customer accolades and new business, whereas those slow to modernize have lost ground. The pattern is clear: UX and digital branding investments are not “soft” costs; they drive hard outcomes like higher growth, lower costs and stronger shareholder returns.