Not very easy for bank clients.

IF YOU are one of the 70% of bank clients with internet unwilling or unable to bank online, your bank has a “usability” problem.

The reasons 70% of internet users don’t bank online are: concerns about security, poor usability of bank sites and it is not seen as time saving and convenient.

Now that hardware and software are virtually commodities, usability on the web is the next big competitive differentiator, says Nigel Grace of Human Factors International (HFI) of London after setting up an association with Investoreports.com, publishers of online annual reports in Johannesburg.

HFI is an international consultancy specialising in improving internet usability.

An important driver of usability is the shift to self-serve. Fewer people are relying on advertising and direct sales pitches to make decisions. More are using the internet to research their purchases themselves. On those grounds, you have to offer a website that is user friendly. You have to make information readily available.

HFI redesigned an online catalogue for Staples.com. The site attracted 40 000 more visitors and they stayed and spent $150 more each, thus lifting revenue by $6m a month. Staples decreased its drop off or abandonment rate by 63%.

It redesigned a “jumbled and noisy” website front page for Creditland in which the value proposition was completely lost. The re-design doubled the number of loan applications and the number who pre-qualified for credit rose 60%.

In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted web-based annual reports as the default approach to corporate reporting but HFI reports “poor usability of the SEC’s database” as a major stumbling block. Its search functionality was inadequate; its filings used unfriendly labels and navigation support.

HFI says most banking sites provide overwhelming content and scattered tools. It says what matters is not how long customers stay on the site, but how easily and fast they can achieve its banking goals.

Usability re-design can cut the training required by intranet users from eight hours to ten minutes and a large drop in help calls.–