The online bank ING had given their app an update that not only brought minor bug fixes, but also a fairly large innovation in the design. The adjustment completely changed the menu navigation, which caused frustration among users. Now the bank has reacted and made improvements.
With the update to version number 6.0.3, ING introduced a completely new menu structure for its banking app. It reached Android users in April, and the bank rolled it out for iPhone owners on May 9th. After starting the ING app, users received a corresponding message that informed them about the new features. “For better usability and a quick overview, you will find a new menu bar at the bottom edge of the app’s screen,” says the statement. But exactly this change was not as well received by users as hoped. Since then, certain settings have been hidden in the menu and difficult to access. ING has now responded to the criticism with another app update.
Customers criticized the change in the app
Before the update, the different areas within the ING app could be accessed via the sidebar. This was opened via the hamburger menu (icon with three horizontal lines) in the top left corner. Users therefore had to perform at least one active click in order to get an overview of the menu items. The menu bar introduced with the update at the bottom of the ING app changed that. Since then, customers of the bank can immediately navigate to the “Accounts”, “Orders”, “Invest”, “Products” and “Profile” areas.
Away from these areas, however, some options were harder to find than before the app update due to the new menu bar. In the app reviews in the Google Play Store, on Facebook and also on Reddit, users complained that important functions could no longer be found or that it was difficult to find them. The “Manage access” function, i.e. switching between several accounts, was mentioned particularly frequently.
For example, one ING customer took to Facebook because he thought access to two of his three accounts had been removed. Only the answer from ING put him on the right path. Because since the update of the ING app, the management of the accounts could be found under the “Profile” item, where users could set a default account and also change it. “What was previously quickly selectable via the side menu now has to be searched for and set using the profile. There’s still room for improvement,” wrote a user on the Play Store who had the same issue. He therefore rated the app only two out of five stars. “Usability was completely destroyed with the update, because I now have to click additionally for almost all actions that I often need,” says another user on Reddit.
Bank’s response to customer feedback
The three examples were just representative of a whole series of messages that can be found in app ratings in stores and in discussion forums since the last major update. To be fair, it has to be said that major changes in the operation of an application often cause frustration at first. Once users get used to it, it usually doesn’t look so bad anymore. In the case of the ING app update, however, it was primarily the additional clicks that annoyed users.
When we asked, a spokeswoman for ING assured on May 12 that they take customer feedback very seriously for future updates. The aim is to design the app in such a way that it enables simple and intuitive banking. “As a result, we continue to work on making it easier to switch accounts within the app so that switching between different accounts does not take more clicks than before. In general, we always test extensive app updates with users in advance.”
Another update fixes annoying navigation
And in fact, another update to version 6.1.1 is now available for download, which above all clears up the annoying problem of the additional accounts that are difficult to access and optimizes the access change. With a long press on the “Profile” tab, customers can now manage their accounts directly. This saves the annoying search in the menu.
However, ING also mentions a better overview with individual icons for accounts and the editing of savings goals directly in the app as part of the new functions and adjustments. After initially only iOS users could install the update for the ING app, it is now also available to owners of Android smartphones.