Transforming mobile CX in banking requires particular care. A banking app has to keep pace with customer expectations shaped by simple digital services. At the same time, banks operate in a world of regulation, security, trust, and high technological complexity.
Learn more about our project:
- Client: Alior Bank – one of Poland’s largest universal banks, serving retail and business customers through a network of branches and digital channels.
- Client type: large organisation / bank
- Industry: banking, finance
- Project area: mobile app, UX, UI, design system, user research, digital product strategy, accessibility
Changing a bank’s mobile app is not just another redesign. It means working on a product that customers use frequently and often at important moments. They check their balance, make transfers, pay with BLIK, or authorise transactions. They do not open the app to admire it. They want to get things done without stress.
The Alior Mobile case study shows how to manage this kind of change on a “living organism”: without suddenly cutting users off from what they already know, but with a consistent focus on improving quality, stability, usability, and the overall coherence of the experience.
The app as the centre of the customer relationship
At Alior Bank, the mobile app has stopped being just one of many contact channels and has become the central point of the customer relationship. Among digital customers, 70% are mobile-only users and 90% are mobile-first. For many people, the phone is therefore the primary, and sometimes the only, place where they interact with the bank.
Alior was facing several challenges. The existing technology limited further development, while technical debt made it harder to add new features, affecting the app’s speed and stability.
In banking, reliability is the foundation of trust. That is why the Alior Mobile transformation project was built around three pillars: technological stability, closing the functional gap, and improving UX and design.
Evolution instead of revolution
In digital projects, there is often a temptation to make one big, one-off change. A new look, new processes, a strong “wow” effect. In banking, however, this approach can be risky.
Customers use the app with a specific goal in mind, often under time pressure. If the layout, feature names, payment flow, or authorisation method suddenly change, uncertainty may appear: Where is the function I need? Am I clicking the right thing? Is this still safe?
This is reflected in the following quote from user research:
“[A banking app] is not my favourite game that I’m happy to learn all over again. A banking app is a tool where I don’t want to waste time learning. It should work quickly and smoothly.”
That is why Alior chose to spread the change over time. The new app was a gradual development of a solution customers already knew.
Changes were introduced module by module. First in selected areas, such as payments or products, and only later in more central parts of the app, such as login and the dashboard. This allowed teams to better prepare each element, test it more thoroughly, and respond to feedback faster.
This approach reduced the risk of technological errors, made customer communication easier, and limited cognitive load. Customers did not have to learn everything from scratch. Instead, they could get used to the change step by step.
A new way of working
The Alior Mobile transformation was not only an interface project. At the same time, the way of working within the bank was changing.
Previously, teams operated in a more siloed way: products, channels, accounts, and the app were handled separately. Processes for the same product could be designed separately for the app and for the branch. The result was an inconsistent experience across channels.
The new approach shifted the focus from the organisation’s internal structure to the product and the user experience. The app became the place where customer needs, business goals, technology, security, and regulation all came together.
In practice, this meant greater shared responsibility. Product owners, business stakeholders, designers, and technology teams started working more closely together. The designer was no longer someone who “draws screens” at the end of the process. They became part of the product team and a translator between business needs and the user experience.
Design system as a quality tool
In a large banking app, consistency is no longer just a matter of aesthetics. It becomes a condition for clarity and a sense of security. Customers should know what to expect, how buttons work, how to read messages, and where to look for the next step.
That is why the design system played such an important role in Alior Mobile. It was not only a component library, but a way of managing the quality of the experience: visual, linguistic, functional, and accessibility-related.
At the same time, beyond checking the quality of components, the team focused on whether the flow was simple, whether it centred on a single task, whether the same terms were used consistently, and whether some elements should simply be removed.
Good design in banking is exactly about this: helping users do the right thing calmly, clearly, and without unnecessary effort.
The voice of the customer in everyday decisions
The app transformation was based on data, research, and benchmarks. Alior used, among other sources, qualitative and quantitative research, call centre data, complaints, app store reviews, statistics, and internal analytics tools. These sources helped identify real user problems and prioritise them according to scale.
Voice of the Customer was an important element, as was understanding why customers would choose this app over the competition and what value it should give them. This is especially important for a bank focused on building strong, long-term relationships. Simply having an app is not enough. If customers already have another account and established habits, Alior Mobile needs to give them a concrete reason to keep coming back.
Competing with the best digital apps
One of the more interesting conclusions from the project is that banks are no longer competing only with other banks.
Customer expectations are shaped by fintechs, payment apps, marketplaces, streaming platforms, transport apps, and lifestyle products. This is where users learn that a process can be simple, a status clear, a message human, and support available at the right moment.
That is why the point of reference for Alior Mobile was not only mobile banking, but the entire world of digital services customers use every day.
Not everything can be transferred one to one. A bank operates in a different regulatory and security context than a fintech or shopping app. But good patterns can be adapted: simplicity, predictability, clear statuses, better error handling, and more natural language.
Quality before launch
Closing quality gaps before production was also important in the project. Usability testing was one element, but not the only one.
UX writing played a major role. Screens had to go through a mandatory language review. This matters because in banking, language can either calm users down or make them anxious. It can explain things or increase uncertainty. It can help users make a decision or leave them feeling that they need to call the helpline.
Plain language is also closely connected with accessibility. When a message is easy to understand, everyone benefits: older users, less digitally confident users, people with disabilities, but also any customer who simply wants to get something done quickly.
Accessibility was developed consciously and gradually, while components were tested on real devices and with screen readers. The team adopted a component-by-component approach, without blocking delivery, but with a clear direction for further development.
What the Alior Mobile example shows
The story of Alior Mobile shows that a major digital transformation does not have to mean a sudden revolution. In banking, better results often come from a calmer, more consistent, and better-managed approach.
Stability is part of the customer experience. Product change requires organisational change. A design system helps manage quality, not just appearance. The voice of the customer should feed everyday decisions. And quality has to be secured through testing, plain language, and accessibility.
Alior Mobile was named the best banking mobile app in the Mobile Trends Awards 2025. But the most interesting part of this case study is not the final result itself. It is the phased approach: data-driven, close to the customer, and aware of the constraints in which modern banking operates.
Because a good banking app is not created in one big leap. It is built through many well-thought-out decisions that together create something far more important than a new interface: customer trust.
