J.P. Morgan, Charles Schwab and Edward Jones are leading the way in offering clients mobile wealth management apps, according to the latest consumer research from J.D. Power.
J.P. Morgan Wealth Management scored 728 out of a possible 1,000 points in J.D. Power’s Wealth Management Digital Experience Study, which surveyed 6,375 full-service and self-directed investors. Charles Schwab came in second with 726, while Edward Jones came in third at 710.
The top three are very different businesses serving very different investors, but what they have in common is a good understanding of the unique needs of their client base, said Michael Foy, senior director of wealth intelligence at J.D. Power.
“Many of these apps are supporting everybody from a baby boomer who works with a financial adviser and is maybe a high-net-worth client to more of a younger, self-directed trader,” Foy said. “They are trying to cater to the needs of pretty different users, but the key thing in common is understanding and aligning priorities [with the] expectations of the user base.”
Many of the companies that performed the best in J.D. Power’s survey are combining banking and investing into a single, coherent digital experience, Foy added.
“In general, an advantage is going to brands that can provide that kind of centralized digital experience for clients to help manage their financial lives,” Foy said. “We see those apps that are able to integrate those capabilities together in a user-friendly way tending to be strong performers.”
Edward Jones is an outlier in that it doesn’t have the same depth or sophistication of functionality, but is an example of delivering on what its clients primarily need. They aren’t active, self-directed traders, but investors who rely on financial advisers and a branch team for service and support, and the mobile app delivers that effectively, Foy said.
Delivering a positive mobile experience seems to be translating into client loyalty. The top-scoring apps correlated with the highest level of overall customer satisfaction and brand advocacy in J.D. Power’s research.
Vanguard ranked last in J.D. Power’s study with a score of 670, getting lower marks from users for its lack of educational content.
Overall, investors are more satisfied with wealth management firms’ mobile apps than they are with websites, the study found. Apps received an average consumer satisfaction score of 731, scoring 50 points higher than the average score awarded to the websites offered by wealth management firms.
The gap is largely driven by a significant preference for mobile apps among younger investors, Foy said. Satisfaction with mobile apps is highest among millennials, followed by Gen Z investors. Gen X, baby boomers and older investors, who are more likely to use a website, all had lower satisfaction with mobile apps.
This trend isn't limited to wealth management, but is something J.D. Power has found across consumers in general, Foy said. As younger generations become a more important part of wealth management market, firms must perfect the mobile app experience.
“Firms that are delivering the best overall digital experience are recognizing that their apps and websites are an extension of the client relationship and can be leveraged to improve relationships with advisors, drive brand loyalty and differentiate from the competition,” Amit Aggarwal, senior director of digital solutions at J.D. Power, said in a statement.
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