Usabilla Publishes User Experience Report on Eight Leading Retail Banking Websites

Chase ranks consistently best in majority of retail banking usability tests; Bank of America and Wells Fargo rank among worst

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We decided to test and highlight these leading retail banking websites due to the level of trust that consumers place in them combined with the intrinsic customer-centric nature of the banking sector.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands (PRWEB) September 28, 2011

Usabilla (http://www.usabilla.com), the easiest and most fun way to collect quantitative and continuous user feedback on a webpage, announced the publication today of a new report on the user experience (UX) and usability similarities and differences of the largest retail banking websites in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany including Bank of America®, Barclays®, Chase®, Citi®, Deutsche Bank®, HSBC®, Royal Bank of Scotland® and Wells Fargo®.

“The retail banking sector occupies a critical corner on the Internet, and consumers place their financial livelihood in these companies every day,” said Paul Veugen, CEO and founder of Usabilla. “These companies strive to deliver a pleasurable and secure online customer experience by embracing the importance of usability and user experience (UX). We decided to test and highlight these leading retail banking websites due to the level of trust that consumers place in them combined with the intrinsic customer-centric nature of the banking sector.”

A total of 400 participants performed simple tasks, and gave feedback on the websites of eight leading retail banking websites. Participants who tested the sites were asked questions about what elements on each of the sites made them trust the bank, where to click to locate information about credit cards, where to click to find information about meeting with someone from their nearest branch about a mortgage, where to click on a page if their credit card was stolen, and what they would improve on each of the pages. The sites were then ranked for accuracy and the time it took users to locate the information on the website, and given a mean score. Chase ranked first or second in the majority of the usability tests, while Bank of America and Wells Fargo ranked last.

The major highlights are:

Misaligned priorities: There is a divide at times between the priorities of users and the priorities of the banks. Information is often based not on the most frequent actions a user takes on a retail banking website, but on the services that the bank wants to sell.

Trustworthiness: Having a padlock icon next to the login and sign in fields conveys safety and security, and users tend to automatically trust sites that use these. Prominently placed banners and links that mention security measures or programs also performed well. Opposed to this, too many ads and offers harm the brands trustworthiness.

Lost Credit Card Button: The majority of banks in the test did not perform well on the question, Imagine your credit card has been stolen. Where would you click? Test participants stated that the experience of losing a credit card could be much less stressful if banks included an easy to locate panic button on the site.

Clean Design: Test participants all agreed that credit card pages cluttered with information make it challenging to find the content they desire. The Royal Bank of Scotland was one of the only sites to offer a refreshingly clean design with simple copy designed to help consumers navigate and locate content with ease.

“Usabilla allows test users to share feedback in a simple, visual way that offers companies quick and meaningful insights into user experience at any stage of the website design process,” added Veugen. “The participants in our visual surveys are vocal, and they reveal positive and negative aspects of personal retail banking sites that are easily overlooked when you look only at the numbers, and not at the attitudes or user behavior.”

Download and read the full Usabilla User Experience Report on the retail banking sector at http://blog.usabilla.com/ux-banking-sector/.

About Usabilla
Usabilla is a web-based usability testing tool that allows marketers, analysts, designers and usability experts to collect visual feedback on their website in a quick and fun way. Participants answer questions with points and notes on top of a webpage, mockup, or sketch. The results of a survey are analyzed and presented visually with charts and heat maps. Usabilla's customers use these visual insights to improve their user experience and optimize their website – all without slowing down website development cycles. Usabilla is currently in use by more than 10,000 web professionals, and globally recognized brands including Warner, EA, Discovery, LinkedIn, Disney, US Government, Expedia, Sony, and Levi's.

Founded in 2009, Usabilla is a privately held company based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Friend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or learn more at http://www.usabilla.com.

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