The Power of First Impressions: 5 Rules for Mastering Onboarding
First impressions matter, in life and in banking.
The power of the first impression is a universally accepted principle. So, why are so many financial institutions falling short when it comes to digital onboarding? The answer: It’s complicated.
While people expect the same level of frictionless, personalized experiences they get in other areas of their digital lives from their financial institutions, the unique challenges of consumer banking—fraud considerations and legacy system limitations, for example—can make it a struggle to deliver on expectations.
Digital onboarding, though, is a growth hurdle banks and credit unions must overcome.
The Critical 90
The reality facing financial institutions today is sobering: 50% of digital account openings don’t last beyond 90 days. This isn't just a statistic, it's a wake-up call that legacy onboarding approaches are fundamentally flawed.
But the solution isn’t simply driving more account openings; Success is about delivering loyalty-building experiences that create lifetime relationships—from Day 1.
At CONNECT 2025, Q2’s customer conference, the onboarding dilemma drove a near-capacity crowd to a session that offered solutions and best practices for quickly building account holder value throughout life journeys. Here are five rules for success, and Q2 solutions that support them.
Rule 1: Plan the Journey
Every successful onboarding strategy begins with a clear plan—and the tools to execute it. Whether your goal is growing indirect loans, increasing interchange revenue, or driving commercial deposits, your technology stack must align with your unique objectives.
You need solutions tailored to your goals and relevant to targeted groups. Q2 Innovation Studio’s fintech partner ecosystem supports this with 185+ pre-integrated solutions to speed your time to market with innovative, tailored products and services. From apps for maximizing indirect loans to quick and efficient account opening tools, access to vetted partners gives you the power to plan journeys thoughtfully and deliver personalized, meaningful experiences built on trust
Rule 2: Serve and Protect
Smart fraud prevention and positive account holder experiences are not mutually exclusive. Robust KYC and fraud checks are non-negotiable, but they shouldn't become barriers to good experiences or relationship growth. As Trustmark SVP and Director of Corporate Security Mel Channell puts it, “The end goal is you want to be able to give more customers offerings, right? We shouldn’t be throttling the digital banking experience out of fear of fraud. It’s just that simple.”
The challenge is finding the right balance. Too often, institutions hedge their risk tolerance by restricting P2P transactions, external account linking, or self-service updates for new users. But these restrictions are speedbumps on the road to enduring relationships.
Modern fraud prevention that doesn't add unnecessary friction requires sophisticated tools. For example, in partnership with Alloy, we provide end-to-end, identity-centric fraud prevention integrated with over 200 data sources. This allows institutions to configure protections aligned with goals, prevent fraud, and keep the digital banking experience convenient, secure, and differentiating.
Rule 3: Be a Helpful Guide
New account holders can disengage quickly when navigating unfamiliar digital banking platforms. Don’t expect them to successfully find their way if they don't understand the layout and features.
Q2 Discover provides immediate help to new account holders with gentle in-app guides to show them around. Then, the power of data kicks in. Q2 Discover enables financial institutions to use analytical insights about user behavior, identifying exactly where people need help, so you can refine the guides based on how people navigate your institution’s specific digital banking experience.
Q2 Getting Started helps banks and credit unions curate personalized account holder journeys that reflect institutional priorities and account holder needs. This is important because the most effective onboarding experiences feel natural and unobtrusive.
And context matters.
Someone who has just completed a mobile deposit for the first time is likely to be receptive to learning about mobile bill pay at that time. A smart onboarding strategy recognizes these moments.
Rule 4: Engage Early and Often
The statistics are compelling: Even a small 5% improvement in retention can increase revenue by 25% to 95%, according to Bain & Company. The lynchpin of an onboarding strategy that retains newly acquired account holders is ongoing, relevant communication.
We can help here too. Getting Started empowers institutions to set brand tone and highlight valuable offerings, and our Task Framework functionality presents timely actions to further drive engagement.
Start early in the Critical 90 and extend throughout the journey with Q2 SMART. It helps you segment audiences and send tailored, well-timed messages to your most valuable targets. Q2 Innovation Studio partners help further boost effectiveness by going beyond banner ads and email to meet people where they are—through in-app communications.
Features like velocity filters and geofencing can create hyper-targeted micro-engagements that elevate and differentiate connections and relationships. Institutions using Larky push notifications, for example, have reported seven to 10 times higher engagement than legacy communication methods.
At CONNECT 25, Community Choice Credit Union shared use cases for Larky, including how it can increase digital wallet adoption and member referrals. 4Front Credit Union discussed real-world success using Larky to boost campaign engagement rates, with as high as 30% tap-through rates.
Rule 5: Clear the Path
At every interaction, remove barriers to growing relationships. Opening additional accounts with your institution, for example, should be quick and simple because you already know them.
Q2 Add Account features an abbreviated workflow that removes the need to navigate through multiple screens and redundant questions they've already completed. Add Account provides:
- Easy deposit product selection
- Necessary compliance agreements and disclosures
- Easy funds transfers with existing functionality
Simplified engagement extends beyond traditional banking transactions, and modern technology provides new opportunities to do this.
At CONNECT, financial institutions discussed use cases to send timely home equity line offers to customers while they are in home improvement stores and targeting mortgage offers to people entering open houses. These innovative approaches demonstrate how removing friction isn't just about simplifying processes, it's about anticipating needs and meeting at precisely the right moment.
Q2 Can Help
Modern consumers have unprecedented choice and diminishing patience for poor experiences. Make first experiences a brand differentiator, not an operational afterthought. Check out these resources to learn more, or let’s chat to talk about your specific onboarding goals and how Q2 can help.