3 Ways Banks Can Learn From Other Countries, Other Industries And Themselves
As a whole, Australian banking websites offer customers a strong online experience, however, there are a few areas where they tend to fall short or at the very least could afford to push themselves further to deliver a stronger experience.
Following on from our recent webinar on the same topic, we now give you 3 ways in which banks can learn from other countries, other industries and themselves.
1. LEARNING FROM THEMSELVES (MOBILE vs DESKTOP)
When completing tasks on banking websites, the amount of perceived effort required is far higher on desktop websites in both Australia and the UK than expected on Australian mobile banking websites.
Perceived effort required to complete basic tasks on banking websites
The reason for this variance in perceived effort is in part due to the fact that mobile websites are essentially forced into offering a simpler and more condensed experience as the main website is adapted for a handheld device.
Learning from mobile: Both Westpac and St George utilise drop-down accordions and concise customer needs headings to create responsive site sections for personal loan content. This gives the customer the option to browse more in-depth product information at their own leisure, rather than bombarding them with bulky text. Applying a similar approach to the desktop website could help to improve the visual appeal of a page as well as lessen the feeling of being overwhelmed by too much information – especially in the early stages of research.
Westpac puts a priority on shortening the customer journey to their loan application page through the use of priority buttons. There are also options for both online and phone applications, to cater for a wider portion of customers depending on their preferred application methods.
St George includes related needs images and overviews for loan products, giving customers a quick comparison of products with an option to view more information on an individual product.
Takeaway tip: A lot of brands are focussing their efforts on their mobile site, which in turn means the main desktop site is getting neglected. It is important to schedule time into your development plan so that once the mobile site has been set, the corresponding desktop site can be reviewed to see which shortcuts or condensed content from the mobile site can be applied to the main site.
2. LEARNING FROM INTERNATIONAL BANKS
Understanding fees and charges is the most important element consumers are wanting on a banking website. Whist Australian banks do perform quite well in this area, there are some international banks that go one step further.
Top customer needs on Australian banking websites
Learning from international banks: Santander received a 99% effectiveness score for the process of locating interest rate information. This success is helped along by Santander’s fees being easily accessible and transparent on their credit card landing page via use of a highlight red box around the ‘Representative example’ content. This provides the customer with immediate information on fees and rates, including their annual fee.
Additionally, contextual tools and help are displayed within the main navigation which feeds into easy navigation and delivers a sense of security and trust within the brand.
Ally Bank in the US makes their rate for their savings account the hero, boldly presenting it as the starting point for account information, just below a clearly defined customer rating to immediately build trust through transparency and customer advocacy.
Ally also shortens click paths to account rates and fees by keeping a fixed tab menu above the fold on the product page.
Takeaway tip: In addition to observing best practice amongst direct competitors, keeping an eye on the international market can keep you ahead of the game locally.
3. LEARNING FROM OTHER INDUSTRIES
Arguably one of the main reasons that a consumer visits a website is to learn more about the product range on offer. For banking brands this is the range of accounts, for sports betting brands this is the sports and for universities this is the courses on offer.
Across all of the Australian websites benchmarked by Global Reviews in 2015, it was the sports betting industry that achieved the highest customer experience score. Banking and travel came in at number two, closely followed by tertiary education. Whilst the product may differ from industry to industry, the customer journey essentially remains the same which means there’s no reason why banks cannot learn from other industries as well as their own.
2015 customer effort scores by industry
Learning from other industries: Crownbet clearly defines their main navigation menu through leveraging familiar icons. They also create a quick list navigation menu to the left of the page, to further cut down click paths for customers.
Deakin University achieved a 90% success rate for the behavioural task of finding course information through having clearly defined and prioritised course call-to-action areas on their landing page. 
Takeaway tip: It doesn’t matter if you’re a bank, betting agency or university – each of these industries are fundamentally doing the same thing in that they are selling a product/service to customers. So whilst looking at what other banks are doing is important, it is equally important to see what other industries are doing to get a better understanding of the online experiences your prospective customers are getting elsewhere.
As we can see, there’s always someone else Australian banks – or any brand for that matter – can learn from; whether that be themselves, international counterparts or even other industries. Global Reviews is the only place where brands can get a comprehensive view of how they’re performing with best practice insights pulled from all of these areas. Contact us to get these types of insights across your brand so that you can get ahead of the game.
Original Article