Shopping for a New Bank? Who Provides the Best Online Experience?; New Research from Change Sciences Group, Inc., Ranks Banking Web Site Customer Experience, Identifying Best Practices

Business Wire, Sept 13, 2005

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- New research released by Change Sciences Group ranks the web sites of 30 banks from the perspective of people looking for basic banking products online. The research identifies dozens of best practices to help banks improve how people experience their sites, benefiting both customers and the bottom line. Highlights from the research include:

--Only 26% of the sites we surveyed can be said to answer directly all questions consumers have about banking products

--Two thirds of sites provide a way for people to compare banking products side by side. Of these, half have usability problems that make it harder than it needs to be to compare the products

--Almost half of sites are working to help people find the right account by suggesting one online; of these many leave key questions unanswered and make the process harder than it needs to be

--Packaging banking products online is still primitive but is quickly expanding

--The future of packaging banking products shows great potential

--Most banks don't target information on key pages to reach three key groups: the online skeptic, the value shopper, and the higher net worth customer

--Many sites are missing a big opportunity to communicate the value of the killer app: online banking and bill pay

--Many sites have significant room for improvement when it comes to helping customers compare product offerings

--Many sites leave key questions unanswered about how online banking and bill payment works

--50% of bank home pages can make it easier to get to products for individuals

--Almost all of the banks we reviewed can make significant improvements to their online applications. Common problems include basic usability, and not answering the right questions in the right way up front

"Optimizing the customer experience on bank web sites will continue to be a moving target in the next few years, particularly in the area of packaging", says Steve Ellis, a Change Sciences partner. "Almost everyone is playing catch up. The good news is that once people have a good online experience with a bank, there's no turning back."

The overall rankings for the sites follow:

1. National City

2. Bank of America

3. Fifth Third Bank

4. Sovereign Bank

5. World Savings

6. Citibank

7. Wells Fargo

8. SunTrust

9. IndyMac Bank

10. Regions

11. Marshall & Ilsley

12. US Bank

13. Wachovia

14. BB&T

15. M&T Bank

16. Zions Bank

17. Washington Mutual

18. NetBank

19. Huntington

20. Chase

21. TD Banknorth

22. HSBC

23. Key Bank

24. North Fork

25. PNC Bank

26. Compass Bank

27. Citizens Bank

28. Comerica

29. AmSouth

30. Bank of New York

For more information on this and other Change Sciences Research visit:

http://www.changesciences.com/d/research.html

Change Sciences was founded in January 2000 to help companies optimize online business by basing decisions on how people use technology while they live, work, and play.