On some level I don't get this. Ultimately a bank is providing depositors a service. Maybe their interests rates weren't the absolute highest, but they were still solid AND they were able to spend a ton on marketers, engineers, reps etc. to keep clients happy.

Presumably there was a reason so many people choose them. They could have said "hey in order to make sure your money is safe we are actually going to offer a slate of services on par with our competitors" but instead they said "we are going to offer a slate of services equal or better than our competitors in every category"