Using customer feedback and usability testing as a guide, Citi is making easier access to account balance information as well as streamlined transfers and deposits a big focus of its latest app update.

Citi claims it is the first major United States bank to enable customers to check basic account information without the need to log-in when they use the new Mobile Snapshot feature. Much of the redesign is based on customer feedback in app stores to previous incarnations of the Citi app as well as from usability testing that focused on some of the new features.

“Definitely a focus for us was when you are holding this device in your hand and you are on the go most of the time, we wanted to make sure that you could access your account information and see your balances, your transactions, make payments, make transfers in the fastest ways possible,” said Melissa Stevens, managing director of Citi Internet and Mobile, New York.

“One thing that came through loud and clear from customers is, ‘I am either just trying to check my information or I am trying to move money around,’” she said.

“On the checking balances and on the making your money move payment or transfer wise, we really focused a lot on what we heard from customers about how we could optimize those experiences.”

Opt-in for easy-access
Mobile Snapshot is one of the new features from Citi based on customer feedback with the goal of making on-the-go banking faster and easier. A new navigational menu intended to simplify making deposits and other transactions is another.

Mobile Snapshot is in a limited beta test in California with the goal of helping customers monitor their accounts while on the go.

To use the new feature, customers must first opt-in. Once they do, they can check their deposit and credit card balances as well as the most recent 15 transactions without having to log into their accounts.

Citi expects to roll the feature out to all U.S. customers later this year.

Speedier payments
The app also features a cleaner, sleeker design to enhance how smartphone users view and access account information. The design moves away from sequential navigation and, instead, features a single-screen layout intended to make touch navigation easier, faster and more intuitive.

Also users can use streamlined menus for payments and transfer to speed up the process.

For example, customers can now click on an icon to open a menu featuring all of the potential payments and transfer tasks users may need to complete. From this menu, customers can easily access Citi’s Popmoney personal payment service and mobile check deposit as well as make payments and transfers.

Another new feature is account-specific push notifications on the status and activity of deposit and credit card accounts. For example, customers can receive a push notification when a check has cleared, a balance has fallen below a set threshold or a payment is due.

Sorting and searching through transaction histories and editing or canceling scheduled payments have also been simplified.

The updated app is available for iPhone and Android devices.

“In terms of payments and transfers, and really trying to streamline that, rather than having to go down a specific path in order to make a transfer to a person or between accounts or a payment, we brought that together under one simple menu,” Ms. Stevens said.

“When you touch the dollar sign transfer menu, it opens up and you can very quickly transfer between your own accounts, use Citi’s Popmoney to transfer funds to another individual, or open up your screen to make a mobile deposit, which is something more and more customers are enjoying,” she said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York