Ally Bank, ING and Capital One
receive the top rankings in a survey of 22 US bank websites,
according to a report titled Financial Services: Web 2010 –
Demonstrating Value and Customer Experience conducted by web
consultants Change Sciences Group.

According to the report, the online customer
experience for financial services has been “taken to a new level by
these firms’ laser focus on user experience design.”

To evaluate the sites, the survey examined how
well banks and financial services firms communicate their services
online, using an interactive experience modelling platform that
produces insights about user experience best practices.

“Ally’s top score is a wake-up call to
traditional financial services online. With trust at an all time
low, consumers are looking to financial services web sites to
clearly demonstrate the value they provide. They want to know
quickly and clearly exactly what it will be like to be a customer
of the firm,” said Pamela Pavliscak, a Change Sciences partner.

The study stated that 14 percent of sites
failed to support at least one user goal and its requirements,
while 27 percent failed to answer at least one question that users
have.

Other findings included:

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• 77 percent of sites lack content that some
users consider persuasive;

• 50 percent of sites fail to communicate why
prospects should choose to start a relationship with the
company;

• 50 percent of sites fail to give prospects
an idea of what it is like to be a customer;

• 45 percent of sites have content problems
that make information hard to understand for some users;

• 36 percent of sites have instances of
navigation design that pose challenges to some users;

• 23 percent of sites have page layout
problems that make information hard to find for a significant
number of users; and

• 18 percent of sites have instances of visual
design that are perceived by many users to be less than
professional.

The report sets out scores for the amount of
user effort needed to complete a task, and a breakdown of the types
of problems encountered while trying to complete that task – the
lower the score, the better.

Ally, the retail banking arm of troubled GMAC,
expanded its product range in January by launching an online
interest current account via its www.ally.com website, as part of
its wider drive to increase its retail deposits (see RBI 625).

In the 12 months to 31 December, Ally
increased deposits 56 percent to $31.1 billion while GMAC reported
a net loss of $10.3 billion, compared to net income of $1.9 billion
in 2008.

ING Direct’s US unit, ranked second in the
survey, endured a difficult year, slipping to a full year loss for
fiscal 2009 of €7 million ($9.5 million) compared to a profit of
€343 million in 2008.

In October, ING agreed to sell ING Direct USA
by 2013, as a result of a harsher than expected restructuring plan
imposed on the bank by the European Union (see RBI 621).

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