I’ve been interviewing online banking customers for the past 10 years and one insight has not changed over time: customers feel reassured when they see the lock icon on their online banking site.
I’m surprised that such a simple icon still holds so much power, especially since it is no guarantee for security at all (for that you should look out for the https: prefix in the browser URL). The lock is just an image, nothing more, and anybody can use it in any way they want. You may as well draw a lock on your wallet or purse and tell yourself that it’s now protected from pickpockets.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to see how customer would react if you take the lock away? Will they think the site is less secure or will they trust their banks to protect them adequately? There are many online banking app on the market and some of them do not have the lock icon. In those cases I found that most customers either don’t care or with a stay that they miss the lock icon. It’s absence doesn’t seem to stop them from using the app and they trust their bank to provide them with a secure service, no matter what channel or device.
I think it’s high time for organisations to better understand this measurable, economic driver that can impacts performance and stakeholder value.
“My eBay Error”
This error message is something that I haven’t seen before and it reminds me how much customers take for granted these days. Customers are increasingly enabled and connected with smartphones, Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G and become to expect an “always on” environment where services are there whether you need them or not. A system outage or fault stands out even more and brands work hard to either disguise them (e.g. planned downtime for routine Upgrade) or not let them happen in the first place.
I believe we’ll see less and less of these errors in the future so why not treasure them when you come across your next error message?
OK
How much Bond is too much Bond?
I love the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and have for many years but the current advertising campaign for the new Bond movie “Skyfall” is becoming very annoying.
I use IMDB search a lot and over the past 2 days I have triggered the banner involuntary so many times that I spend more time closing the trailer that starts playing than searching for movies. Even a non-rollover event (e.g. just entering something in the search field) seems to trigger the trailer.
If that’s not enough, you can play the trailer from the banner AND from the MPU advert elsewhere in the page which results in a right mess (see photo).
The current experience is going against everything that we have learned about online User Experience (UX). Users should be in control of their environment, otherwise you’re confusing them and you lose them to other channels or competitors.
So, if I were responsible for the media campaign I’d use click-on banners that users can control and make sure that only one trailer can be played by a banner or MPU.
Parts that make the “colleague” experience - speed dating with colleagues to get to know them in a different way.
5 Reasons why “Contactless Payment” doesn’t work
This has been bugging me for a while. My bank replaced my perfectly working debit and credit cards and introduced “Contactless Payments” enabled cards. After ignoring this hot and new feature for a while I got a reminder to “go and try it” which actually prompted me to put the new payment method to the test. Here are my observations and reasons why it doesn’t work for me.
1) It’s not “Contactless”
Unless I’m wrong I still have to touch the pad or sensor when I want to pay? That’s not “contactless” in my book. If anything it is “touch and pay” which incidentally VISA is now using to explain the technology (http://www.visa.co.uk/en/products/contactless.aspx).
NB: VISA also describe the logo as a “Ripple” but I think it looks more like a “Signal”.
2) Not all retailers are offering it
And the ones that do often say it’s not working or install the machine incorrectly (see photo). Upside down displays don’t fill me with confidence and trust.
3) You don’t get a receipt
On the few occasions where I have paid using this method I didn’t get a receipt and was unsure whether the payment went through at all or more than once. Apparently, “to help speed up your transaction”, you don’t get a receipt unless you ask for one. I wonder how much research they conducted when they designed the end-to-end process.
4) It messes with my Oyster Card
My brand new credit card (a result of mapping a customer journey for a balance transfer) interfers with my oyster card. I put my bank cards and oyster card in my wallet and until now had no problems touching in to enter the London Underground. One morning I only got error beeps and first I thought the touch pad or oyster card was faulty. By the time I worked out what went wrong a queue of angry passengers built up behind me leaving me uncomfortable and frustrated.
5) No one knows the limit of how much you can pay
Apparently you can pay for small amounts up to £15 (or is it £20?).
I don’t know about you but I’m happy with PIN payments and don’t see anything wrong with it. Entering a PIN doesn’t take too much time and my kids enjoy pressing the green button after I enter the numbers.
I don’t think that a technology that messes with my travel (oyster card) and leave me uncertain whether I paid in the few places that do offer it will win me over.
I hate to think about the cost of replacing old debit and credit cards with new “contactless” ones that only few people are using. Let’s see if the mobile phone version fares better. You’ll currently see adverts for this feature everywhere with a massive £50 incentive to make people use it. Surely, a well design process or doesn’t need incentivising?
