Banks Failing Online Customers

A recent usability index conducted by interactive research specialist RedSheriff found that four of the leading banks in the UK are failing their customers by not providing sites that are easy to navigate.

Ease of navigation has always been a key element to ensuring consumers have a pleasurable online experience, yet RedSheriff found that although HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and Natwest sites scored well when it came to layout and design and simplicity of use, they all scored particularly poorly on navigation.

A common error made by three of the banks was not having a search facility on the site. In fact of the four sites reviewed only Natwest gave this facility to its users. 'This is one of the basic features that users expect on sites today. Most Internet users are experienced and expect to be able to easily find the products or information they are interested in. Without a search facility our research has shown that they become frustrated and less likely to continue their task' said George Davidson - Research Director at RedSheriff.

Also, Natwest was the only reviewed site, which enabled users the ability to directly log-in to their account from the homepage. 'On most occasions the consumers first port of call on a banking site is their own account. Organisations should study the repetitive tasks that users do and make these accessible, if they are to satisfy the needs of their consumers' Davidson added.

All of the sites used pop-up windows in several areas instead of taking users to the actual page. This tends to lead to confusion as users can no longer use their back button (the most popular button used when surfing the Internet) and users often accidentally click on the main page sending the pop-up to the back and leaving them unsure where they are in the site. RedSheriff research has found that users do not like more than one window being used at a time.

However, each of the banks scored very well when it came to navigating around their product offerings. In each case the complex product information was clearly and simply laid out for the users.

The Usability Index is a set of over 200 metrics which cover key elements that RedSheriff proposes websites should follow if they wish to better meet the needs of their customers. The Usability Index enables clients to not only get feedback on their own Internet offering, broken into 4 key areas (layout and design, simplicity of use, navigability and e-commerce) but also compare their results across their industry segment.

The Usability Index enables RedSheriff to assess web sites objectively by scoring each element as either a 1 or 0. Then each element is weighted depending on its relevance to the organisation. RedSheriff then reports each element back to the client not only with a score and an overall percentage but also with examples of organisations that demonstrate the best application of the element and with RedSheriff recommendations.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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