US banks are finally seeing movement in the right direction. Forrester’s US Banking Total Experience Score Rankings, 2026 shows that Total Experience Scores are up from 2025. Customer and brand perceptions are improving, and more brands are showing signs of momentum than in recent years. That’s meaningful progress but not the full story.

No bank earned an “excellent” score across customer experience (CX), customer brand experience (BX), or noncustomer BX this year. Even as scores improve, most experiences are only mediocre. The industry is moving forward — just not very far or very fast.

Total Experience Is Moving Up, Driven By Fundamentals

Forrester’s total experience framework looks at how well companies win and serve customers by combining BX and CX. This year’s rankings show that most US banks improved their Total Experience Scores and several made noticeable gains.

What’s driving that improvement isn’t bold reinvention; it’s a focus on fundamentals. Banks that are improving tend to be more disciplined about the basics, including:

• Clear, plain-language communication.
• High-quality advice and guidance.
• Faster, more effective issue resolution.
• Pricing and fees that feel competitive and fair.

When banks eliminate obstacles, provide clarity, clarify expectations, and simplify processes, the cumulative effective has greater impact, especially in an industry where trust and confidence are essential.

Close The Gap Between Leaders And Laggards

One of the clearest patterns in this year’s rankings is who’s pulling ahead and who isn’t:

• USAA stands out. In addition to being the overall leader on Total Experience Score, it was the only brand in 2026 to earn “good” scores across CX, customer BX, and noncustomer BX.
• Direct banks dominate the top of the pack. Four of the top five brands this year were direct banks, reflecting their ability to compete effectively on clarity, pricing, and ease.
• Four of the five largest US banks ranked in the bottom half. Reinforcing a familiar challenge, size and complexity make delivering on brand promises and customer experiences more difficult.

Turn Clarity And Advice Into Measurable Growth Outcomes

Across CX and BX, the strongest drivers of improvement remain consistent. The banks best positioned for growth are those that communicate clearly, provide quality advice, and offer pricing that customers and noncustomers feel good about. Specifically:

• Clear communication continues to matter. It reduces uncertainty, especially in moments that involve money, risk, or change.
• Quality advice builds confidence. Feeling confident in navigating complex financial decisions matters to customers.
• Pricing and fees remain top of mind. Rates and fees always matter in banking but especially in the current economic environment. They can shape perceptions long before someone opens an account.
• Resolving problems quickly remains important. Fixing things promptly for customers when something goes wrong is mundane but essential. It appears as one of the top drivers across CX and customer BX for US banks in four of the last five years.

These drivers show up again and again because customers don’t always judge your brand by isolated interactions but by how predictable, understandable, and fair the relationship feels over time.

Enable Employees To Deliver The Experiences You Promise

This year’s rankings also introduce Forrester’s Employee Experience Index (EX Index™), which looks at whether a bank’s employee experience is likely helping or hindering its ability to deliver strong BX and CX.

The results are mixed. About half of the banks included show a negative EX impact, suggesting that employee experience may be creating headwinds rather than momentum. Only a small group of banks show a clearly positive EX impact.

This doesn’t mean banks can’t improve customer experience without first fixing EX. Many already have. But it does suggest that employee experience increasingly shapes how easy it is to sustain progress. Career growth, technology, confidence in leadership, and coworker environment all contribute to EX. When those elements are in place, employees are better equipped to communicate clearly, resolve issues quickly, and provide advice customers trust. When they aren’t, even strong CX strategies can struggle.

What US Banks Should Take From This Year’s Rankings

The 2026 rankings point to a few practical implications for banking executives:

• Build on recent gains. Improvement in Total Experience Score is real but not guaranteed.
• Balance focus. Strong CX matters, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of employee enablement.
• Double down on clarity. Communication, advice, and transparency continue to drive outcomes across audiences.
• Use EX as an early signal. Employee experience data can help anticipate where CX and BX progress may accelerate or slow.

The full rankings explore these dynamics in more detail, showing where banks are leading, plateauing, or lagging and what that means for growth in the year ahead. Forrester clients can access these rankings in the report. If you’re looking to benchmark how your brand’s perception and customer experience contribute to winning, serving, and retaining customers — or to uncover the strategies of top-performing brands — connect with me via a guidance session.

If you’re not yet a Forrester client, reach out to learn how you can get started.

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