What does vanilla taste like?
July 22, 2010
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems massively impact the customer experience of a business. From order management and invoicing through to recruitment, such business critical systems should open opportunities to create positive customer experiences. But when companies install a “plain vanilla” version of an ERP system the opposite is true: a poor customer experience leading to manual workarounds and customer dissatisfaction. Higher costs. Lost revenue.
Under-do the Competition
June 9, 2010
Banks are a competitive bunch. We have sportsmen on our adverts, we want to be bigger, most innovative, most admired, have more skills, more capabilities, more products. We want to beat the competition. We want to win.
Often this is how we approach our projects. We equate advantage to more features on a system or product. We believe business benefits come from more flexibility and infinite customization. “More” wins.
But is this culture of “winning” a mistake?
In their recent book “ReWork” , Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson challenge wisdom of winning. The authors compare the one-upmanship of business to a cold war; a never-ending battle that costs money and time, and forces companies on the defensive who consequently can’t think ahead.
The authors advocate another approach, to “under-do” competition through simplicity. At Experience Banker we agree that the most popular products have the least features and best products are the simplest.
Take the camcorder The Flip.
The Flip has taken significant market share in a short time. But it has:
No big screen
No photo taking ability
No discs
No menus
No settings
No video light
No viewfinder
No headphone jack
No special effects
No zoom
No memory card
No headphone jack
The Flip is popular because it does a few things ands it does them well. It doesn’t compete on features and consequently is easy, useful and fun.
According to Accenture, 95% of all electronics which are returned by consumers have nothing wrong with them – consumers simply can’t figure them out. And compare the Apple TV controller (6 buttons) to a regular TV remote (35 buttons) Which is easier to use? which has less buttons?
Simplicity and Clarity from National Grid
April 8, 2010
In our last post on account statements, we laid out 5 principles to guide the design of customer statements and wealth reports. Here’s a great video from US energy company National Grid that shows the principles in action in the design of energy bills
Originally shown to ExB by its creator, interactive agency Lbi, the video itself is a case study in clear, usable information design.
Experience Principles # 2. Account Statements
April 8, 2010
If you’re involved in web design you’ll be familiar with Jakob Nielsen’s heuristics for the usability of websites. Nielsen’s heuristics or, if you prefer, rules of thumb are design principles for websites based on ergonomics and good information design.
Often the most complex information that banks present to customers is not online, but as paper based account statements. This can be a major source of dissatisfaction. Customers complain of too much paper, missing information, inconsistencies between print and web statements, or ugly and confusing design.
Improving this basic but critical part of the banking experience has a real business benefit. Cap Gemini’s 2008 Wealth Report identifies the trend of investing in customer reports and statements as a way to improve the experience and deepen bank-customer relationships. But Cap Gemini stresses that the business benefits are dependent on effective execution.
Unlike for web design, there isn’t much in the way of accessible literature about how to design information for bank statements and wealth reports. This is why ExB have proposed a “starter pack” of 5 principles that can be used to assess and guide the design of account statement and reports. Our principles are derived from web heuristics and print design good practice
The ExB Account Statement Principles are:
1. Relevance
2. Legibility
3. Clarity
4. Consistency
5. Simplicity
Ask a private banking customer (of any bank, in any country) what they value about their private bank, the answer is invariably “My Advisor”. Private banking is personal, professional service, so you could be forgiven for thinking that the web plays no role in a business that relies upon face to face contact.
“You must speak to my advisor”
The reality is that many private banks and wealth managers don’t understand how prospective customers use the web to make decisions. In turn, banks may squander the chance to bring prospects closer to becoming customers through the web.
It’s true the most common way that wealthy customers are introduced to a bank is by a personal referral. Typically the referral is not to the institution but to a specific advisor. A prospect is more likely to hear a friend or colleague say “You must speak to Brian, my advisor” rather than “You must speak to Bank X”.
It’s the next step in a prospect’s decision making where the web plays a critical role. Customers will use the website to validate the referral. They want to feel that the bank is right for them. They want to find out about the fees, maybe get the phone number; but most importantly prospects need to find out more about the people.
Promote your advisors online.
A vital way of bringing prospects closer to becoming clients is to present real profiles of advisors on a bank’s website, brochures and advertising. Focusing on the human elements of private banking encourages acquisition by strengthening the relationship at an early stage.
Clients value the human aspect of private banking above all others. A successful private banking relationship needs a personality “fit” with the advisor who is expected be a trusted, long term, single point of contact.
Who’s doing this?
A few private banks are taking the initiative here, the German private bank Quirinbank has a section on their website dedicated to in-depth profiles of their advisors, likewise Switzerland’s Reichmuth and Co bank. The website Switzerbank.ch goes a step further and lets customers find and contact advisors online.
In choosing a private bank, customers will use the web – whether it is to validate a referral, get contact information or to find out about services and fees before a meeting. Private banks have the opportunity to improve acquisition of wealthy clients by converging the most exclusive part of private banking – the advisor, with the most accessible information channel – the web.
Experience Principles # 1. Web
March 26, 2010
Ask yourself the question “What should the online experience of your company be like?”.
Then ask your colleagues the same question.
Could you easily give an answer?
Did your colleagues give the same answer?
Does the reality of your website match your opinion?
If the answer is “no” to those questions, then your organisation needs a clear and shared picture of your desired online experience.
The experience principles for your website should reflect the values of your brand, your business strategy and the needs of your customers. Web Experience Principles will help you make decisions about design, content, usability and functionality.
To get you started, we propose a minimum set of principles that ALL banks and financial institutions should consider in the development of the online experience.
The ExB Web Experience Principles are:
1. Relevance
2. Ease
3. Professionalism
4. Engagement
5. Efficiency
Usability and Return on Investment
March 25, 2010
Easy, Useful and Enjoyable Banking does not happen by accident. Invest in usability specialists and techniques early on and use solid arguments to gain stakeholder support.
Banks tend to be bad at usability. Whether it’s finding a contact number on the website, understanding the terms and conditions on your mortgage or finding a place to put your shopping bags at the ATM, banks are just not easy to use.
The reason is that when bankers design things (websites, brochures, branches, services etc) they do it to impress other bankers and not the customers who will use it.
It boils down to this, hardly anyone is looking after usability in banks, and those that are may be lone voices among a crowd of project managers who are incentivized by deadlines and budget – NOT by usability.
At ExB we believe that banks should be easy to use; and that this is good for business. We have compiled arguments and references to build a business case for including usability testing and specialists in your project.
Can transparency get you fired?
March 21, 2010
A Bank of America employee is fired because she’s tells the truth on You Tube about BoA’s sharp practice around credit cards. She was demonstrating the growing trend of banking customers demanding more transparency and acting in the spirit of creating a better customer experience. No company wants their employees bad-mouthing them online, but Bank of America comes out of the affair with a damaged reputation – through lack of transparency about credit cards and by treating employees badly.
What will the iPad mean for banking?
March 21, 2010
The Apple iPad looks and feels like a big iPhone. The larger screen size and touch interface are great for watching movies and reading books. But what does the iPad have in store for banks and their customers?
An obvious application is online banking. The multi-touch screen means that simple tasks, like moving money between accounts by pointing and swiping your finger will be an intuitive, tactile experience. All very cool but, the real opportunity is for wealth management.
Wealth Advisors often use paper reports as a relationship management tool in face-to-face meetings. This feels exclusive and works well, but limits scope for spontaneity. The iPad could allow immediate scenario modelling based on the conservation with the client; or to do on the spot transactions. Some banks are already investing in Microsoft surface technology for similar uses in branches, but the portability of the iPad means it has the potential to further personalise and heighten the exclusivity of the service away from the branch.
Private banks might even want to give iPads to wealthy clients in order to replace volumes of paper that are currently sent out. Customers complain that their bank sends them too much useless paper and the advisor may spend valuable time manually configuring reports to be relevant and concise for clients. Since the iPad is designed as a medium to read books, it would make a great medium for accessing, explaining and storing the vast array of documentation that banks spew into clients’ lives.
Although a word of caution – don’t let the iPad’s capability result in “feature-creep”. The simplicity of the iPhone is driven by the size of the interface. iPhone App designers are made to focus on what’s important in order to fit the screen size. This has the effect of keeping it easy to use. I fear that banks will see the opportunity of a bigger screen to add more stuff: more features, cross selling, upselling and so on.
Whether it’s an investment product, an account opening document or a website Banks already have tendency to add features and functions without considering the customers’ real needs, usually because the competitors are doing it.
For banks to succeed in designing banking services for iPads they need to focus on what’s important to the customer and leave out everything else.
For a demo of the iPad take a look at New York Time’s video discussion.
1. What Does the New Apple iPad Mean for Banking www.netbanker.com/2010/01/what_does_the_new_apple_ipad_mean_for_banking.html
2. iPad Banking www.yardassociates.com/press/ipad-banking
3. Thou shalt bank on an iPad www.bankingreview.com.au/2010/01/thou-shalt-bank-on-an-ipad.html
4. Mobile application sales to reach ‘$17.5bn by 2012′ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8571210.stm
