Large percentages of Americans use the mobile apps and online services offered by their banks and credit card issuers. Some of the country’s largest banks may no longer even get more than an occasional visit from more than half their customers. Serving up attractive and useful mobile apps and online services is critical for maintaining the banks’ and credit card issuers’ customer base.

The results of four customer satisfaction surveys that track how well customers like banks’ and card companies’ digital services were published Thursday by J.D. Power. The surveys included a U.S. Banking Mobile App Satisfaction Study, a U.S. Credit Card Mobile App Satisfaction Study, an Online Banking Satisfaction Study, and an Online Credit Card Satisfaction Study.

In general, customer satisfaction with these apps and services depend on how complex and difficult the services may be to use. As the competition for banking and credit card customers heats up, adding new features to existing apps and services must be done in a way that doesn’t make the services and apps more difficult for people to use. Understanding a bank’s mobile app leads to a 130-point improvement in overall satisfaction with the app and a 122-improvement in a customer’s satisfaction with online banking.

Bob Neuhaus, Vice President of Financial Services Intelligence at J.D. Power, commented:

As the number of banking and credit card customers interacting with their providers’ digital channels continues to grow, these digital experiences will become an increasingly fundamental part of the overall brand. It is critical that banks and credit cards get the formula right, delivering the resources customers need while also designing apps to be user-friendly.

Among U.S. banks, Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) received the highest scores for both its mobile banking app and its online services. The bank’s mobile app index score of 875 (of a possible 1,000) topped second-place finisher Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) which scored 873 and third-place Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C). All three received top rankings as “among the best” on the J.D. Power survey.

Huntington also topped the online banking services rankings with an index score of 880 compared to Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) which finished second with a score of 874 and The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) which scored 872. Huntington and Regions were both included Power’s “among the best” listing.

Among credit card mobile apps, Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) finished at the top with a score of 890, just above American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) which posted a score of 889. Both were among Power’s “among the best” ratings.

Discover also topped American Express in the online services rankings with a score of 885 to 873 for American Express. Discover was the only credit card issuer to receive Power’s “among the best” ranking for online customer services.

In a survey published earlier this year by Brand Keys, Discover garnered the top loyalty score of any credit card issuer.

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