Getting Acquisition Right: The Second Impression Matters as Much as the First
By Jessica Kendall, Contributor at The Financial Brand
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Financial institutions have focused heavily on optimizing their digital front doors: shaving seconds off the application process, adding ID scan and auto-population, and streamlining every field and screen.
Yet 41% of consumers remain unsatisfied with their primary institution’s account opening capabilities, according to the Jack Henry Financial Sentiment Study: Consumer Report. Other studies reveal that more than half of applicants abandon the process before completion, and many who finish never fund their accounts.
The truth is, many digital account opening and onboarding processes are still too slow and too complicated for would-be customers and members who live in a world of seamless, Amazon-like experiences and fintechs whose go-to-market strategies are entirely rooted in making signup impossible to avoid.
What institutions do in the first 90 days after account opening is especially critical. To drive long-term engagement and deposit growth at scale, they need to ensure new accounts are funded, proactively address questions and friction points, and help new accountholders quickly adopt and get value from the features that matter most.
But research increasingly suggests bank and credit union optimization efforts may favor account opening at the expense of post-opening engagement. Those fintechs that make signing up so irresistible? They’ve also perfected the next ten steps of the process, where they equally irresistibly engage each new accountholder to put their app to work.
In fact, what happens in the 90 days immediately after opening determines whether the institution has acquired not just a new account, but a new relationship.
Knowing What You Don’t Know
First impressions matter. But second impressions may matter more. For bank and credit union strategists who want to shine a fresh light on their onboarding processes and assumptions, here are five key insights about accountholder onboarding, drawing on research from Jack Henry.
1. Account-opening isn’t the only win. Some 48% abandon before funding, according to the company’s data, making the real challenge what happens after the new accountholders complete initial signup. Forward-thinking institutions are designing for “the funding moment itself, not just account creation,” according to Carlos Lopez, Senior Analyst, Digital and Core Banking at Jack Henry. Success metrics include “accounts opened within the first week” and “time-to-fund” — with some aiming to measure it in minutes, not days.
2. New prospects aren’t as wary as you think they are. Consumers will share financial data for personalized benefits — 66% will share for fraud protection, 61% for credit score advice, 55% for spending alerts based on goals. But, financial institutions rarely capitalize on this during onboarding when trust is highest. The first time a new user logs in is when an institution should seek permission to link external accounts, analyze spending, and set up personalized alerts.
3. Accountholders don’t care about the first 90 days. Consumers rate 90-day onboarding communication among the “least important” capabilities they value in an institution, yet it’s statistically one of the strongest drivers of long-term satisfaction, according to Jack Henry’s Consumer Financial Sentiment Study. The disconnect exists because consumers equate importance with transacting rather than relationship-building. But relationship-related features are what actually expands the value they derive from the institution. “Financial institutions that invest in thoughtful 90-day engagement plans build emotional connections that drive retention even when accountholders don’t consciously value it,” Lopez said.
4. Gen Z and Millennials may still be your toughest accountholders. While they prefer mobile banking (63% and 67% respectively, according to an ABA survey), they’re quick to abandon tools that don’t deliver immediate value. For these users especially, functionality like real-time funding options and instant card provisioning to digital wallets after signing up is essential.
5. The digital front door is a dynamic concept. When we think about ensuring real-time omnichannel access, we think most often about the consumer experience — an individual starts an application online and, when they hit a bump, completes it seamlessly with a call center rep. But omnichannel also vastly expands what institutions can do, especially small banks and credit unions looking to leverage their local presence.
Security Bank of Kansas City, profiled in a recent Jack Henry case study, equipped staff with iPads to open accounts at coffee shops and community events. Security Bank’s human-assisted signups cut account-opening time from 45 to 5–7 minutes, while immediately establishing a personal foundation for deeper relationship-building. The bank says its “employee channel” now sources about 90% of its new accounts.
Key Focus Areas for Account Opening
Bank and credit union struggles with high rates of unfunded accounts have intensified over the last five years or more, despite a parallel surge in digital account openings, according to Jack Henry. And friction in onboarding is correlated with lower deposit balances and weaker engagement, BAI, part of ProSight Financial Association, suggests in a 2025 report.
“For a long time, acquisition was the main objective, but the best-practice has shifted to focus on engagement, placing emphasis on funding the account and ensuring it’s put to use,” said Lopez. “Even more, financial institutions should intentionally design the user workflow with the funding moment itself as the first key endpoint, rather than the account creation moment.”
To earn the right to make that second impression, financial institutions should focus on account opening experiences that offer speed, simplicity, and multiple paths to get what they need — all with a consistent look and feel no matter which channel they use. This includes designing applications that are fast and easy to complete, ideally enabling an individual to open a new checking or savings account in five minutes or less.
The experience should work on any device, whether it’s a browser or mobile app, so consumers can start in one place and finish in another without losing momentum. While most people will prefer to open an account online or on a mobile device, applicants should still have the option of human help when they need it. And institutions must make it obvious how to get that help when something goes wrong: In Jack Henry’s Financial Sentiment Study, consumers reported low satisfaction with their experience finding the support they need when they need it.
The flow itself should reflect a straightforward step-by-step process, with identity verification designed to remove friction rather than add it. That means simplifying questionnaires, using digital ID scanning to autofill details, and pre-populating information already available. An effective workflow will also build in real-time nudges triggered when a customer or member pauses in the process, reminding them of both the benefits of instant funding and how easy it is to complete.
At the same time, convenience can’t come at the expense of security. Layered fraud prevention — including AML, OFAC screening, and identity verification — should be built into the experience and communicated transparently in ways that reassure accountholders without slowing them down.
As you consider the overall journey, don’t fall into the trap of envisioning the second impression in isolation from the first. Keep two key drivers of engagement at the center of the onboarding journey: getting money into the account quickly and following up with communications that match the accountholder’s situation. The effectiveness of both strategies improves when they’re closely connected to groundwork put in place during the account opening process.
After that, onboarding becomes a ramp that leads the accountholder into their new relationship. Financial institutions must use the first 90 days to answer questions and explain key features, especially those that increase product relevance, such as linking the member’s or customer’s other accounts and presenting financial education content at key life moments and milestones.
