Ljubljana - Slovenian banks scored lower than foreign banks in overall user experience and in mobile user experience, according to a digital banking analysis carried out by E-laborat. NLB, the Slovenian market leader, scored the most points among Slovenian banks overall, as it did last year.

NLB, SKB Bank and NKBM all made it among "advanced digitals", a group which includes banks that set standards in the industry and scored best in all categories.

The other banks in Slovenia were classified as digital followers, average digital followers or digital beginners, E-laborat, a Slovenian company specialising in analysis of digital business, said in a statement on Monday.

While Slovenian banks provide for an average user experience, foreign banks are advanced in this segment.

"Slovenian banks scored 63 out of 100 for overall user experience, while foreign banks scored 68. In the area of mobile user experience, Slovenian banks scored 58 out of 100 points, while foreign banks scored 65 points."

The analysis, carried out between 15 December and 21 January, also found that banks are neglecting search engine optimisation as they still run websites that are not owned by banks. Banks' websites and mobile sites provide only 45.4% of responses to users who use Google search to find solutions to their problems.

Slovenian banks are moreover slow in digital response; it took them "an average 22 hours and 40 minutes to respond to three questions".

The presentation of bank products or the marketing aspect of the websites of Slovenian banks are still behind foreign banks in practically all segments.

The analysis showed products are not well presented and the comparison between them is weak, while there is also too little focus on selling the products.

E-laborat notes that in the future, user experience will play a key role in making clients happy, urging banks to internalise these guidelines.

The analysis included all websites of Slovenian banks and savings banks, or a total of 14 Slovenian banks and 14 foreign banks which are considered the largest or the most successful in their digital policy.