Jim Lowe, director of marketing for EECU, said, "Mobile banking and social media have become strategic channels that impact not only member satisfaction, but also the ability to attract key growth segments. We're always trying to find more meaningful ways to engage with our members and attract new ones."  

Shastic cited Alec Ross' book Industries of the Future, in which the author detailed how innovation changes the way consumers access and interact with products and services. In turn, that alters the relationship building process between consumers and organizations, he said.

Gomez explained the financial industry is just entering that transformation, with technological developments changing in the last few decades from tangible objects to numbers on a computer or phone screen, which have also become easily transferrable through digital channels.

Mobile banking and social networks are key players in that shift. More than half of American adults use mobile banking, and globally, well over half a billion people do.

"It's no coincidence that most of the founders of these new companies come from the millennial generation and not the traditional banking sector," Ross wrote.

Gomez explained, "The Shastic Index is the first attempt to create an algorithm to help financial institutions understand where they stand in this digitization process. It also exposes the trustworthiness of an institution, as perceived in the eyes of this new generation of consumers that place a much higher level of trust in the numbers on their mobile phone screens than on paper money or a branch."

During a time when consumers, especially millennials, are leaving physical branches and migrating to screens and devices for their banking needs, user experience is a competitive advantage. The index analyzes end-user data, taking into account iTunes user ratings and Facebook metrics. It then consolidates this data into a score that financial institutions can use to determine their performance within their peer group.

The index tracks user satisfaction and the overall performance of a financial institution's mobile and social media channels over time, and uses this data to assign a score to each organization. With the score, financial institutions can assess their performance and efficacy of their digital strategy in comparison to the rest of the industry. Just as many restaurant-goers depend strongly on social media reviews, prospective customers and members take user-generated feedback into account when choosing their financial institution, Shastic noted.

The Shastic Index consolidates these key user metrics to provide insight into how well financial institutions earn the trust of important growth segments.

"Peter Drucker said it best: 'If you can't measure it, you can't manage it,'" Gomez said. "Going forward, success in the financial industry will be determined by the ability to earn the trust of younger consumers and adapt quickly."