Many Bank Web Sites Havent Yet Taken Care of Marketing Basics, New BankersOnline.com Survey Reveals
Of 50 randomly selected bank web sites in a recent survey sponsored by BankersOnline.com (www.bankersonline.com), fewer than half listed ATM locations, provided the number for 24-hour telephone banking, invited customer feedback or included online aids for customers trying to find information hidden somewhere deep within the site.
Crestwood, KY (PressReleaseHelp/PRWEB ) December 2, 2004 -- Of 50 randomly selected bank web sites in a recent survey sponsored by BankersOnline.com (www.bankersonline.com), fewer than half listed ATM locations, provided the number for 24-hour telephone banking, invited customer feedback or included online aids for customers trying to find information hidden somewhere deep within the site. Slightly more than one-third failed to give any reason on the home page why customers should do business with them rather than competitors. Thirty-six percent of the time, the home page failed to state where the bank is located -- important since so many banks have similar names.
"During my survey, I looked up 'Georgia Banks' in Yahoo and was startled to see a web site come up in a language I couldnt read. It was a bank in the Republic of Georgia, formerly part of the Soviet Union," says Marcia Yudkin, Ph.D., a four-time Webby Awards judge and author of Web Site Marketing Makeover (www.yudkin.com/mmakeover.htm). "Then I saw that some of the banks in the U.S. state of Georgia might as well have been in Canada or New Zealand as far as the first-time visitor was concerned, since they didnt specify their geographical location on the home page."
Yudkin performed the survey for a recent BankersOnline.com webinar and delivered tips on creating user-friendly bank web sites that help attract new customers and satisfy existing ones. Her advice included:
• Test how intuitive your navigation links are with customers who have never seen your site. In her survey, 40 percent of sites had confusing navigation labels.
• Enjoy a competitive advantage by posting timely consumer information at the banks site and letting the media know about it. Only 12 percent of the sites in Yudkins survey offered helpful information about new "Check 21" regulations.
• If you offer online banking, include an obvious signup for customers. "This sounds like a no-brainer, but 32 percent of banks offering a customer log-in for online banking on the home page had no apparent way to sign up for the service," Yudkin says.
The webinar, "7 Steps to a Uniquely Profitable Bank Web Site," with both an audio and visual component, a supplementary handout and answers to more than 30 participant questions, is now available on CD from BankersOnline.com at www.bankersonline.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=934.
BankersOnline.com (www.bankersonline.com) offers products and services for bankers from Glia Group, Inc., whose principals are Mary Beth Guard, Michele Petry and Carin Eisenhauer, and the Bankers Information Network, which publishes two newsletters for the banking industry, Compliance Action and Bankers' Hotline, under the leadership of George Milner.
Marcia Yudkin is the author of "6 Steps to Free Publicity," "Persuading on Paper" and eight other books in addition to Web Site Marketing Makeover. She performs web site reviews and makeovers for organizations of all sizes (www.yudkin.com/sitereview.htm).
BankersOnline.com
7717 Cambridge Ct.
Crestwood, KY 40014
Contact:
Michele Petry,
mpetry@bankersonline.com
502-241-9848 or
Marcia Yudkin
marcia@yudkin.com
413-582-4052
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