The Experience Design Scout

In short: ING Direct, RBS, and Barclays are best-positioned to grab the available £5 billion from ex-Icesavers.

Although an exact date is not set, at some point the 300,000 Brits with an Icesave account will get their £5 billion back. The question becomes what will people do with their money? And which banks are most likely to attract the funds?

For this post, let’s assume they are opening a similar (online-only) account somewhere else. I’ve also assumed that the online customer experience (CXP) is the only factor driving consumers’ choice. A quick-and-not-at-all-exhaustive CXP scan learns that ING Direct, RBS, and Barclays are best placed to win. Here is what I looked at.

• Simple and quick account opening process. Can only existing consumers apply for a savings account? How long does it take to go through the online application forms?
• Clear and visible security and privacy statements. Can consumers instantly see security and privacy statements on the main page (so not in footer or hidden link)? Are the statements written in a way it is easy to read and understand?
• Human assistance during application process. Can consumers easily find a phone number? Is the company offering innovative solutions like click-to-call and chat?
• To-the-point product information. Is there a penalty-fee for withdrawals? How is interest calculated? Is there educational material (like a demo) what an online-only account is and how to manage it? What are existing customers saying about the product?

Winner.

• ING Direct. Very simple and short application process. Quick approval process. Product content is enriched with customer videos. Negatives: bad treatment of security and privacy, hard to find phone number.

Followers.

• RBS. Good help section for a range of queries. Clear expectation setting for the application process. Good product content and functionality.
• Barclays. Looks like Barclays tried to reduce the number of form fields to a minimum. Good progress tracker. Aesthetically one of the better sites of the pack.
• First Direct. Easy to find phone number, good and easy-to-find product information. Contextual integration of privacy and security information. Aesthetically attractive too.
• NS&I. Usability-wise not a good performance, but largely made up with strong content about savings accounts, an easy-to-spot phone number, and information about the application process itself.
• Cooperative Bank. A leader with privacy and security content. Very short online form and in-context escalation paths to human support.

Contenders.

• egg, Abbey, Tesco PF, NatWest, Bradford & Bingley, Halifax, Nationwide, Bank Of Scotland, and HSBC. Little effort is done to differentiate the customer experience. Egg for example tries with the copy – the tone and manner are different than the pack, but lets potential customers down in other areas.

Losers.

• Lloyds TSB. No clear information about penalty fees regarding withdrawals and interest calculations. As far as I can tell, you need to be or become a current account customer to open a savings account.
• Alliance & Leicester. Apart from the placement of a security logo, little effort is made to really engage with prospects, in a different way than the other banks in the market.

Let’s see what happens. 

PS: Compared to a few weeks ago, when I tried to find which bank is best at treating worried customers around the credit crisis, several banks added content around this to their sites.