Discover Takes High Marks from JD Power Study in Mobile Payments

Discover tends to take it on the chin in the card-based mobile payments stakes. Not without reason, either; it’s something of a laggard in the market behind competitors Visa and Mastercard. Discover’s fee structure often doesn’t endear it to merchants, either, but there’s certainly some good to be had at Discover. In fact, it just dropped word our way about one big new win that’s actually a very familiar win for its operations.

For the sixth year in a row, Discover has taken home top honors in the JD Power US Credit Card Mobile App Satisfaction Study and US Online Credit Card Satisfaction Study. Its mobile app and website both ranked highest among users in terms of customer satisfaction.

The biggest reason behind the win, reports suggest, is at least in part due to the range of features available to Discover users through the mobile app and website. Among these are the ability to sign in with Apple Touch ID and Face ID, as well as support for Siri for Apple users. That’s great for Apple users, but it hardly stops there. App Messaging opens up the ability to communicate with customer service personnel directly from the app and website, without having to exit out of various interactions.

Additionally, the “Freeze It” service allows cardholders to nearly instantly—the time required is measured in seconds—freeze their accounts if they suspect trouble, as well as various alert management systems and account management tools. Even bill payment from a mobile device is available to the users.

Given that Discover took top honors in all five of the study’s major categories—including range of services and availability of key information—the study shows more than anything else how vital a quality customer experience really is. Discover has been retooling its offerings almost annually, it seems, and is being rewarded for this constant change and upgrade with industry accolades from some of the biggest firms around. An award from JD Power is a very big deal, after all, so seeing it show up six times on Discover’s doorstep is no mean feat.

Can Discover land a seventh such award next year? Only next year will tell, but given Discover’s pace of development, such a win really isn’t out of line.