Analyzing Competitor Design Strategies for Trust, Security, and Peace of Mind in Digital Wire Transfers.
Project Summary
The goal for this in-depth competitive analysis was to build a foundation of knowledge of the competitive landscape in wires products. This way our team can better inform our approach to key focus areas and the decisions we make. My goal was to build a resource we can use to reference industry standards efficiently in order to identify opportunities and gaps in the work we are doing. This was an 8 week long project, beginning in January 2023 and ending in April of 2023 analyzing a total of 273 screens across 7 competitors.
About Wire Transfers
Wire transfers are a method of money transfer that is fast and secure. However, lots of customers of wire transfers feel anxious when sending money because once it is sent, there is no expectation to get it back. People have lost their entire life savings by sending money to the wrong person by accidentally entering the wrong account number or by scam and fraudsters. At Chase, we are uplifting the experience to minimize error, ease the mind of the customers and help bring awareness to scam and fraud.
Methodology
I chose five direct bank competitors and two indirect competitors to analyze across my criteria. Some are industry leaders and some were included more-so as a baseline. Fintech’s wires work a little differently than banks, however, they are still valuable to look at especially to look at their design treatments and how they modernize the wires experience.
Analysis Criteria
There were two sections of criteria I wanted to think about as I went through each flow. One was more general design decisions and layout of the flow and the other was more specific to projects we were working on at the time. I decided to create two sets of criteria:
Pathway specific criteria, inspired by current projects our team was working on that we wanted to know more about:
The general criteria focused on on three main themes:
Clarity: How is this competitor enabling customers to self-service the information they’re looking for?
Easy: How easy is this wire to initiate while minimizing submission error?
Secure: How are these companies making wires more secure without friction?
With these themes and criteria in mind, I was able to analyze each competitors flow and identify key findings and patterns to better understand the gaps and opportunities at Chase, and within the industry as a whole.
What is the industry standard for disclosing domestic fees?
Key Finding 1: Displayed fees highly visible and not calculated.
Capital One: Discloses fee on top of the amount entry for high visibility. Added a +$30 fee on the amount entry to make obvious to their customers the fee amount.
Citi: Discloses fee under the amount entry & emphasizes there will be an added fee by displaying the amount plus wire transfer fee.
Most banks do not provide calculations and totals at all, even on verification pages.
Wire fee’s and wire amounts are taken out separately from bank accounts. If a customer is looking in their bank account to see if the wire was send, the wire fee and wire amount being separate would match what they see in the summary page.
USAA: Listing outgoing wire fee separate from amount and a screenshot of the USAA bank account where the Wire Fee and Wire Out are separate charges.
Capital One: Listed “Non-Refundable Fee” separate from “Amount” with no calculation.
Key Finding 2: Informed the customer that the recipient may incur an incoming wire fee.
Some customers and their recipient’s are surprised when they find out about the incoming wire fee. The incoming wire fee could short the recipient if they need a certain amount of money. USAA was actually the only bank that disclosed the possibility of an incoming wire fee.
USAA: “There is a $20 wire fee in addition to any fee that may be assessed at the receiving bank.”
Key Finding 3: Kept fee names consistent and simple throughout the flow.
Keeping the wire fee name consistent throughout the flow is important to avoid any confusion that there are multiple fees.
Citi: Calls the fee “Wire Transfer Fee” consistently in the beginning and end of their flow.
How Chase compares to the industry standard for domestic fee disclosure.
What Chase does well:
The Fee is obvious on the page.
Fee is calculated in a wire summary early on in the flow.
There is no disclosure available that there may be an incoming wire fee for the recipient.
What gaps were identified:
Chase calls the fee a different name in three different places. It’s called ”wire transfer fee” on the entry page, “outgoing wire transfer fee” on the verification page, and “wire fee” on the payment activity page.
What are the best practices for scam awareness efforts?
Key Finding 1: Provided an actionable recommendation in scam messaging for the customer to call their recipient to confirm information
Three out of five banks analyzed help their customers by recommending something actionable to prevent fraud or scam. All three directed the customer to call and speak to their recipient directly, in order to verify their details.
USAA: “Call the recipient to verify any email that asks you to change your wiring instructions".”
Citi: “These requests should be VERIFIED with a phone call to a trusted phone number prior to payment submission.
Bank of America: “If you’re concerned this transfer may be part of a scam, select Cancel and validate your recipient’s account information via a verified phone number.”
Key Finding 2: Educated customers on not being able to recover money.
Three of five banks included in this competitive analysis have a reminder that money is unlikely to be recovered in their scam messaging.
USAA: “Once the money is sent, it’s unlikely to be recovered.”
Bank of America: “Once you send the money, there is little we can do to get it back for you.”
Capital One: “Once you click the “Wire Money” button, you cannot cancel your request.”
Key Finding 3: Nudged customers to double check their information when entering.
The information verification speed-bumps emphasize that if the information is incorrect, it could lead to delays or rejections.
Citi: “Please ensure that you’ve verified the payees bank account information with the payee. Any incorrect information could result in your transfer being delayed or rejected or could result in additional processing fees.”
USAA: “To prevent a wire from being delayed or returned, you’ll need to confirm the information is correct. Verify that the bank and recipient names are spelled correctly".”
Key Finding 4: Required engagement in an educational scam interstitial.
Requiring customers to engage with information on scams or fraud will slow down the wires process and help the customer recognize scam.
Capital One: This is a heavier example that requires their customers to select yes or no to given scenarios that they may resonate with.
Citi: A lighter form of engagement requiring users to select “Got it!” after reading the scam notice.
Key Finding 5: Linked out to additional information on scams and fraud.
Two of five banks had a link out to a webpage dedicated to fraud and scam prevention.
Capital One: Linking out to a scam/fraud webpage inside of their interstitial.
Citi: Linking out to their scam webpage from their scam/fraud interstitial on their wires landing page.
Key Finding 6: Placed scam interstitial inside of flow before entering information.
Three of four banks that had scam interstitials, placed it before entering important details.
USAA: Placed their interstitial after clicking “Send New Wire”, before entering recipient or send money details.
Citi: Placed their interstitial before entering money details.
How Chase compares to the industry standard for scam awareness.
What Chase does well:
Actionable recommendation: ”Before you send a wire, call your recipient to confirm wire details, especially if you received the payment information in an email.
Finality reminder: “Be aware you won’t be able to cancel a same-day or future-dated wire transfer once it starts processing on the date you chose.”
Information verification speed-bump to the add recipient flow to confirm the account number.
Finality reminder: “I’ve confirmed my recipient’s account details and I understand that refunds are very unlikely if this info is incorrect”
What gaps were identified:
The scam messaging is light and can be easily skipped.
No reminders to check that the information is correct in the summary pages.
No speed-bump that requires engagement to check the payment for scam or fraud.
No alternative page on fraud or scams to educate customer.
Interstitial is placed just before money is about to be sent.
How do competitors help prepare their customers to send a wire?
Key Finding 1: Displayed content on what customers should know to get through the flow & limit information on a wires “landing page”.
Information that was consistently displayed on landing pages was:
Capital One wires value proposition: “Send safe and secure payments for what matters most”
Fee information
Limits
What the customer needs to go through the flow
Delivery time
If you can send domestically or internationally
A phone number for support
Another transfer option
Link to learn more about wires page
Value proposition
Key Finding 2: Helped the customer choose what transfer option is the best for their scenario.
Giving customers the opportunity to let us help them choose the right payment method may reduce confusion later with fees and delivery.
Bank of America had this really interesting heavier treatment that helped their customers select the payment method that makes sense for them.
How Chase compares to competitor’s customer preparation for wires.
What gaps were identified:
None of the information that was consistently displayed on competitor landing pages was included on their wires landing page.
Chase places their information needed to send a wire inside of the flow in a tooltip.
Limit information and referring the customers to another transfer method is displayed inside of add recipient flow as well.
What kind of communications do competitors provide for the post-wire experience?
Key Finding 1: Sent a text or email confirming the wire has been set up or requested.
Two of three banks I had a post-send experience with, sent me an email or text message informing me that they received a wire request.
Capital One sent the text message, Bank of America sent an email. This was the end of communications from Capital One while Bank of America gave status updates via their digital experience.
Key Finding 2: Displayed status updates to inform customer when the wire has been processed.
Two of five competitors I experienced post-send with, provided status updates via a visual tracker.
Citi: Provided a tracker that displayed updates until the wire was successfully sent or done processing on their end.
Wise: Provided a tracker that displayed updates for every step of the process until the recipient received their money.
Key Finding 3: Provided easy access to a pathway for online resolution.
Three of five competitors I experienced post-send wire, offered an easy pathway to cancel a wire. There were no pathways however for other kinds of resolution such as recalls.
Citi: “Cancel an International Citibank Global Transfer” button placed on the wires landing page.
Xoom: “Cancel Transaction” button placed on the transaction status page.
Key Finding 4: Provided a shared link so that the recipient could track the wire.
One competitor provided a shared link to give better oversight for the status of wires and communications between the customer and their recipient.
Wise gave customers a shareable tracking link for better oversight for the status of their wires.
How Chase compares to competitor’s post wire experience.
What Chase did well:
I did receive emails updating me on my status when my wire was under review or canceled.
They also do send emails notifying the customer that the wire is sent.
What gaps were identified:
No email was sent confirming the request of my wire transfer.
Status updates had a mild treatment.
No pathway to online resolution available.
“This is really well done, very impactful and I’m really glad you’ve pointed these things out. This is something we would pay a vendor thousands of dollars for.”
— Managing Director