The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to increased e-commerce and digital payments at the expense of cash transactions and cheques. As per the Canadian Payments Method and Trends Report 2021, cash and cheque transaction volumes and values both decreased by around 16% from 2019. Despite these trends, about 10% of Canadians still frequently use cheques. Younger Canadians aged 18 – 34 are also most likely to be frequent cheque users, mainly using them for rent or other payments, and gifts to friends and family.
Canadian consumers frequently utilize cheques for high-value, regular expenses, which are written for increasingly larger sums. The desire to use personal cash rather than credit, the capacity to manage and reconcile payments and payee preferences are all factors that influence cheque usage today. However, as per the report, there have been fewer cheques and paper payments in the last five years.
At Innovation, we are always working hard to improve the banking experience for our valued members. Even though cheque transactions have been declining, we wanted to continue supporting members' experience while using the online cheque deposit feature. So, we retained the online cheque deposit feature when we launched a new and improved website and faster mobile app on February 15, 2022. This feature allows the member to deposit any cheque online without leaving the comfort of their home and while they’re on the move. Over ten thousand of our members use the online cheque deposit feature, and about 33% of those use it every month.
There is extensive testing behind any launch. Our user acceptance testing (UAT) of our new online banking platform went very well, and the results were highly positive. However, on the first day of the launch, less than 30% of the online cheque deposit transactions were successful in the first attempt. Some members had to try multiple times to complete the task. With our new digital banking platform, we were able to immediately see these issues in real-time. With instant, accurate data, we could make changes on the go and continuously monitor the performance of the feature. Our team worked hard and tirelessly to identify solutions.
We also observed that more than 80% of our members preferred mobile banking over the desktop website for login. Thus, solving the online cheque deposit feature issue on the mobile app was a priority as more than five thousand transactions are attempted monthly. Moreover, the number of logins from iOS devices was more than double of Android device logins. Therefore, we decided to release an iOS update first to fix the issue for the majority of our users. We accomplished this in only two days. After releasing the iOS update, 63.53% of our members were able to deposit their cheques digitally on their very first attempt. The average success rate in the first attempt was a steady 61 - 62% for the next ten days.
| Launches & Updates | Success Rate in First Attempt |
|---|---|
| App Launch | 30% |
| First iOS Update | 63% |
| Second iOS and First Android Update | 88% |
It was a slight improvement, but we continued to monitor the success rate of this feature and ensured further performance improvements. Subsequently, we released another update to fix the issue for our Android users. We released an update for both iOS and Android users, fixing additional bugs identified by our team. We were delighted to see a remarkable jump in the success rate. It was a significant improvement, with the success rate increasing to 88.1% in the first attempt. Now, most members can complete their online cheque deposits in seconds!
At Innovation Federal Credit Union, we always strive to simplify the banking experience of our members. The online cheque deposit feature is now more accessible and less time-consuming than driving to a branch or ATM. Here’s how you can easily use this convenient feature.
- Log into your mobile app
- Choose Deposit Cheque from footer menu
- Follow the prompts and you're set!
Need some extra tips?
Here are some best practices for using cheque deposit on your app:
- Ensure your camera lens is clean
- Make sure the entire cheque is within the defined perimeter. It cannot touch the guide box.
- Make sure when taking the photo, the camera is positioned directly overhead and not at a sharp angle which may distort the image.
- Ensure the cheque details are highly visible. Watch for shadows and glare from overhead lights.
- Centre the cheque on a dark surface in good light.
- Try enabling and disabling the flash to adjust for low light or glare conditions.