If a prospective member clicks "Apply Now" on your website, they are as good as won. True or False?
They have identified a need. They found your institution. They made the conscious decision to click the button. But then, they are asked to visit a branch to finalize signatures, or the mobile interface isn't responsive … or the process simply takes too long.
The truth is, intent does not equate to a funded account. Not when abandonment rates are averaging 3.38X successfully opened accounts in 2024 (Figure 13).
“If no digital account openings were abandoned, FIs would have seen—on average—nearly 9,600 new checking accounts opened per institution in 2024. Institutions at the 75th percentile are actually losing more accounts to abandonment than they’re completing.” (Figure 14) – Ron Shevlin, Chief Research Officer, Cornerstone Advisors, in Alkami’s 2025 Digital Banking Performance Metrics Report2
To prevent account opening drop-off and ensure successful outcomes, financial institutions that leverage a digital sales and service platform can unify the entire journey from applicant to member. The goal is to master the natural lifecycle of a financial relationship: onboard, engage, and grow. Reducing friction during account opening, followed up with guided onboarding journeys, and data-driven engagements will demonstrate to the member the importance of delivering outstanding digital user experiences (UX) for daily banking interactions.
70% of digital banking Americans think a bank or credit union’s digital experience today reflects how much they care about their account holders.1
Being a source of friction can be a silent hindrance of growth. When applicants encounter barriers like clunky interfaces, manual reviews, or requests for non-handy documentation, they can often abandon the process entirely. Applicants are expecting to encounter the same speed and simplicity from their financial institutions as they do from their favorite ecommerce giants. Instant gratification has been conditioned into today’s consumers by the speed and ease they find across nearly all sectors.
When surveyed, digital banking Americans said they believe a high-quality user experience, customer service experience, and privacy are essential to their engagement, satisfaction, and trust of their primary financial provider1.
In the same study, 40% of digital banking consumers said they would be more likely to switch providers if another offered a five-minute online or mobile account opening experience.1
Legacy systems often treat digital account opening as a digitized version of a paper form. Lengthy, tedious, and prone to manual review queues. In contrast, best of breed Onboarding & Account Opening Solutions redefine this experience. Allowing credit unions to automate decisioning and reduce the time-to-open dramatically.
The best approach to digital account opening is a single experience across digital, branch, and call center. When members can start, pause, and resume applications across any banking channel, without losing progress or requiring data re-entry, it creates a superior member experience.
If an applicant cannot open an account in minutes from a mobile device, satisfaction scores become irrelevant because they never became a member. This is critical because, for many applicants, the account opening process is their very first interaction with your brand. Streamlining digital onboarding processes to capture and retain account holders is especially important among younger, digital-first demographics. Invest in your platform, making sure it can offer seamless onboarding and account opening, welcoming new members into a seamless, omnichannel experience that includes online and mobile banking.
| How Alliant raised $500M in 6 months with a new member experience and member-first products | While the credit union industry has historically struggled to replicate its white-glove member experience on online channels, Alliant Credit Union (Alliant) is proving that it is possible to create a superior digital experience for members—and drive significant growth in the process. |
The digital banking experience has become one of the most decisive factors in a member’s relationship with their credit union. An outstanding digital banking UX design ensures that the features members use most—checking balances, moving money, and managing cards—are effortless. It also means providing resources that extend your operating hours, by offering digital near-equivalents to the branch-level services like budgeting and financial wellness, bill pay, pre-approved offers, instant payments, and more.
Half of all digital banking users say they would switch providers if another company offered a much better digital banking user experience. Even more telling: 31% have already done so.1
Whether the member is a retail or a business account owner, they expect a platform that is intuitive, reliable, and capable of self-service. For many, a financial provider is considered “primary” not because of physical presence or legacy loyalty, but because it’s where they conduct the majority of their mobile and online banking.1
| Discover how American Eagle FCU is transforming member engagement through digital banking solutions built on trust, flexibility, and innovation. | From overcoming legacy limitations to delivering seamless, one-stop payment capabilities, their story is one of transformation, partnership, and long-term impact. |
| How Towpath Credit Union underwent a complete digital transformation, elevating its digital experience and member relationships. | This bold move touched every part of their technology infrastructure, including core processing, digital banking, loan origination, and document management. They did it all, in one day—a true herculean effort. |
Humans and technology achieving results together
By unifying sales and services technologies, financial institutions ensure that the transition from applicant to account holder is seamless. There is no jarring disconnect between the application experience and beginning to engage within the mobile banking application. Data flows securely, and the member feels known and valued at every step.
Creating a foundation for the kind of deep data-informed relationships that keep members satisfied, engaged, and loyal.
Read Part 1 of this article series to learn more about growth by increasing engagement through relevance and anticipation.
Learn more about the Alkami Digital Sales & Service Platform and how to onboard, engage, and grow your membership at Alkami.com.
1 Anticipatory Banking: Establishing Primacy Across Generations Through Digital Sales and Service(The Generational Trends in Digital Banking Study, 2025)
2The 2025 Digital Banking Performance Metrics Report (Researched and written by Cornerstone Advisors, commissioned by Alkami).
