White Paper

Winning the Digital Front Door

How Financial Institutions Can Lead with Digital and Drive Growth

“Digital Banking” Is Just Banking Now

The transformation of financial services is accelerating – driven by competitive pressure, profitability demands, and rapid technological advancement.

Consumers and businesses no longer distinguish between “digital” and “traditional” banking. They simply want fast, secure, and intuitive experiences, anytime and on any device. Whether it’s paying bills, sending money, or managing cash flow, users want everything in one place with minimal friction.

To meet these expectations, financial institutions need to change, getting rid of obstacles to financial health and delivering simple, safe, and always-accessible tools.

Jack Henry’s latest Strategy Benchmark study reveals that bank CEOs rank deposit growth as their top priority, while credit union CEOs are focused on increasing efficiency, growing loans, and acquiring accountholders.¹

Digital-first strategies are foundational to achieving each goal.

Winning the Digital Front Door

Your digital front door is where relationships begin. It’s often the first impression before a login or a branch visit and it’s where many financial institutions lose potential accountholders because of friction, confusion, or a lack of personalization.

Jack Henry’s 2025 Financial Sentiment Study found that 41% of consumers are not satisfied with their primary financial institution’s account opening capabilities². Enabling consumers to open accounts online – without needing to call or visit in person – is key driver of satisfaction.

To win here, deliver seamless, engaging experiences that turn interest into lasting relationships.

Attracting Key Audiences to Drive Growth and Win in a Crowded Market

While every financial institution is unique, there are three critical audiences you can serve with fast, seamless digital experiences to drive sustainable growth and revenue.

Your strategy should include:

The Next Generation
Millennials and Gen Z are set to inherit significant wealth from their parents, making it essential to build strong relationships with them now on the channels they prefer. According to MarketWatch, 74% of Gen Z prefer banking via their mobile phone, 75% of Millennials prefer banking via their mobile phone, and 54% of Gen Xers prefer banking via their mobile phone.³
Small Business and Commercial Accountholders
Many retail accounts are quietly used for small business banking. By analyzing your data, you can identify these “camouflaged” SMBs who are prime candidates for payment solutions, invoicing and bill pay, payroll services and cash flow analysis and forecasting.
Non-Accountholders in Your Community
Meet people where they are – whether that’s in a branch, on campus, at local events, or online. Equip your staff with devices to open accounts instantly on-site and paper-free.

Capture these audiences by giving them consistent service and intuitive digital functionality that meets their expectations and builds trust from the first interaction.

In a saturated landscape, brand differentiation starts with purpose. Ground your positioning in your mission and values to build trust and stand out. Our research shows 43% of consumers are not satisfied with how different their primary financial institution seems from other financial institutions.⁴ Reach your niche and community audiences with messaging they identify with.

Today’s consumers also expect personalization.

Like Amazon or Spotify, your financial institution can deliver tailored web experiences, personalized product offers, and financial wellness resources that are relevant and timely. This is a huge opportunity, because consumers are increasingly open to sharing their financial data when it leads to meaningful benefits.

According to the Financial Sentiment Study, consumers are willing to share their data in exchange for benefits like:

Proactive warnings on potential fraud or identity theft – with 66% saying they’d share data for these benefits.
Advice on improving their credit score, a benefit that 61% would share data for.
Spending alerts based on spending and savings goals, which 55% of consumers would share data to receive.

When an accountholder faces financial challenges, be there for them with useful advice and circumstance-based tools and content.

You can amplify your impact with targeted, modern marketing strategies and outreach across multiple channels to meet your audience wherever they engage. Then when they arrive at your digital front door offer simple, seamless, cross-channel experience with applications that can be completed in minutes.

Open Accounts, Open Opportunities

Meeting user expectations during account opening is essential to future-proofing your financial institution. To drive innovation in your financial institution, adopt a scalable, end-to-end solution that supports multiple lines of business and integrates easily with your technology.

What users expect in an account opening application experience:

Finished in Under Five Minutes: Create a new checking or savings account in five minutes or less.
Omni-Channel Use: Open an account online, on a mobile phone, inside a branch, or at a kiosk.
Seamless Step-by-Step Process: Quickly answer new questions and verify the ones the system already knows.
Runs on Any Device: Access and complete a new account on any device (in browser or from app).

As people across generations arrive at your digital front door, a fast, intuitive account opening experience can build loyalty and drive share of wallet, helping you compete with fintechs and big banks.

You can empower applicants to self-serve, freeing up staff to focus on relationship-building and exceptional service. The abandonment rate for new deposit account openings is more than 50% and for lending products, it’s even higher.⁵ Simplify the experience with features like ID scanning and auto-population to reduce friction and abandonment.

Engaging Accountholders: Delivering Confidence and Convenience

Stronger relationships start with building financial confidence during life’s pivotal moments. Supporting accountholders through transitions – starting a family, changing jobs, making major purchases, facing health challenges, or coping with loss – can drive acquisition, digital adoption, and increased share of wallet.

The Financial Sentiment Study reveals that only about half of consumers are satisfied with the financial guidance available on their primary financial institution’s website when navigating life events like marriage or retirement.⁶ By offering proactive education, personalized support, and tools that go beyond transactions, you can build trust when it matters most.

The study also found that, with the exception of consumers in their prime earning years, all other segments report low to moderate confidence in their financial behaviors. This opens the door to enhancing satisfaction through digital content that supports smarter budgeting, spending, saving, planning, income management, and borrowing. Offering relevant, easy-to-access resources helps them become more financially healthy.

Business owners are also looking for financial guidance. Your financial institution can empower small business accountholders by providing advice and access to funding. By delivering relevant, actionable support, you can increase satisfaction and spark interest in additional services that help them manage their finances and grow their business.

As a financial institution, you already know payments are central to daily financial life.

Research indicates 80% of accountholder interactions with financial institutions link to payments⁷ – and payments account for up to 30% of bank revenue⁸ – revealing that delivering fast, secure, and seamless payment capabilities is essential to driving accountholder satisfaction and loyalty.

Still, even with payments driving daily interaction, your visibility into your accountholders’ full financial lives is shrinking as financial fragmentation is growing.

The average U.S. adult uses 15 to 20 financial apps,⁹ making it harder for both accountholders and financial institutions to see a full financial picture. This presents an opportunity: surveyed consumers identified the ability to securely see accounts across multiple financial institutions as a top desired capability.¹⁰ A mature data strategy – powered by open banking and APIs – can help financial institutions harness real-time data, eliminate silos, and deliver a unified experience that empowers accountholders.

Protecting Your Accountholders: Security Without Compromise

Trust is built or broken at every touchpoint, whether in person or online. Fraud threats are escalating, with the U.S. leading globally in scam-related losses, averaging $3,520 per victim in 2024.¹¹ That’s why pairing convenience with robust security is essential. Implement layered fraud prevention, including AML, OFAC screening, and identity verification, within your digital experience to protect accountholders.

Synthetic identity fraud is also on the rise, with an 18% increase among accounts opened in 2024 compared to the previous year using fabricated identities.¹² To stay ahead, invest in modern fraud platforms that are cloud-based, powered by AI and machine learning, and built on open architecture. These tools improve investigations, reduce losses, and adapt to evolving threats.

Security also impacts user experience.

Digital capabilities like reporting lost or stolen cards and secure chat are now table stakes – expected by consumers and essential for retaining their loyalty. This highlights the chance to enhance both safety and service digitally.

Deliver secure digital payments, conversational banking, and consistent authentication across channels. Offer accountholders security awareness, training, and tools so they feel informed. Empower them with real-time alerts, secure messaging, and card controls.

When you protect their financial lives, you strengthen trust and loyalty.

The AI Advantage: Powering Growth Through Intelligence

In our Strategy Benchmark study, CEOs identified digital banking and back-office automation as top investment priorities.¹³

With AI, machine learning, and enterprise workflow tools, financial institutions like yours can do more with less – reducing manual, error-prone processes and lowering non-interest expenses – and enhance their digital front door. AI is more than automation – it’s a catalyst for engagement.

Conversational banking, powered by AI, is transforming how users interact with financial institutions. Intuitive, secure, in-app experiences reduce friction, improve satisfaction, and build lasting trust. AI and AI-assist capabilities can dramatically enhance both speed and service.

Security is another critical frontier. AI-driven fraud detection and real-time monitoring strengthen protection without compromising user experience. By using API-based open banking infrastructure, you can aggregate financial data from third-party sources to create a more complete and secure picture of each accountholder.

To stay competitive, it’s critical that your platform is cloud-based, real-time, and open – ready to integrate, scale, and adapt. Delivering seamless digital experiences that reduce friction and increase engagement is no longer optional – it’s essential.