Small Business Mobile Banking On The Rise, Survey Finds

A new survey from J.D. Power suggests small businesses have begun to embrace mobile banking and are satisfied with the service.

Released on Thursday (Oct. 31), the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Small Business Banking Satisfaction Survey found an 8 percent year-over-year increase in the percentage of small businesses that use their bank’s mobile banking app (61 percent in 2019, compared to 53 percent in 2018). J.D. Power highlighted that not only has mobile banking adoption increased among small business customers, but so has satisfaction of that mobile experience.

“Bank investments in mobile offerings are starting to pay off in the form of higher satisfaction scores as a critical mass of small business customers adopts the technology,” said J.D. Power Banking Intelligence Vice President Bob Neuhaus in a statement. “This has been a major challenge for banks for many years as they’ve tried to balance the high-touch customer service needs of the small business banking segment with the high cost of providing hands-on account management. Now, for the first time, we’re starting to see well-designed mobile banking offerings contribute to improved customer relationship management.”

Assessing small business satisfaction on a 1,000 point scale, J.D. Power’s research found a 20 percent year-on-year increase in satisfaction ratings across all small business banking experience aspects analyzed. About two-thirds of small businesses that use their bank’s mobile app said they “definitely will” use their bank for another product or service, compared to 53 percent among small to medium-sided businesses (SMBs) that don’t currently use mobile banking.

According to the survey, small business mobile banking adoption is now at a higher rate than it is in the retail banking sector.

In its assessment of individual financial institutions, J.D. Power ranked Huntington best in the Midwest, Capital One best in the Northeast, TD Bank best in the South, and Chase best in the West. It’s unclear whether these rankings are for mobile small business banking offerings, or for small business banking service overall.