One of the main challenges for banks is to encourage the use of electronic channels, web pages and mobile applications to carry out transactions by individuals, because although the volume of transactions represents 50% of the total, this is explained more by what is done at the corporate level than by the individual. Our studies conducted in 2015 and published in this newspaper indicate that the use of the virtual channel in the last 30 days does not exceed 20% of the population.
With this challenge in mind, and bearing in mind that one of the ways to grow channel usage is to improve the current user experience in BrandStrat we started a project using observation and eye tracking with users of transactional virtual portals of different banks performing different tasks such as balance inquiries, downloading statements, reviewing transactions, among others, to find out how they value the experience. We found results with tactical actions that the sector could implement.
- They move between distrust and frustration. The user is not necessarily distrustful of the bank but of himself, he constantly requires signals that validate that he is doing the task and that it is well done.
- Faced with frustration, the user after 50 seconds of trying to do a "task" and not achieving it gives up with this very marked feeling, this is because the new standard of interaction and experience is given by mobile devices (tablets and mobiles) where: one, few steps are required to achieve what is needed and two, the environment is cleaner.
- Habits are repetitive and not very varied. The user behaves unconsciously when navigating the portal, they rarely notice new information, advertising or communication from the bank is perceived as invasive, they expect this type of messages to be in a specific place and not interfere with their process, since it increases the feeling of insecurity for being distracted and frustration for taking longer.
In the next column I will outline some simple but not yet implemented recommendations.