LONDON, ENGLAND, — October 11th, 2007 — Keynote Systems (Nasdaq: KEYN) UK today announced that the Lloyds TSB Web site provided the best online experience for consumers researching and applying for bank accounts, according to a comprehensive study of UK banking sites by Keynote Competitive Research, the industry analysis group of Keynote, the global leader in on-demand mobile and Internet test & measurement solutions for continuously improving the online experience.
The 2007 Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for UK Banking Prospects examined the online experience of more than 1,800 consumers as they interacted with leading bank’s public Web sites. The study details how each bank’s Web site performed versus competitors across key business objectives including customer satisfaction, brand affinity, and customer acquisition. The company’s customer experience studies employ Keynote WebEffective™, an on-demand software platform for conducting in-depth user experience studies which integrates the best aspects of usability, behaviour and attitudinal research. Keynote captured 250 separate metrics from more than 200 consumers at each site included in the study. Over the past year, Keynote has used its WebEffective platform to examine more than 50,000 online consumers across a dozen vertical industries as they interacted with 120 leading Web sites. The 2007 Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for UK Banking Prospects is available for purchase from Keynote. For more information or details on purchasing the complete study, please visit: http://www.keynote.com/keynote_competitive_research/industry_studies/financial_services.html
Lloyds TSB achieved pole position in the Overall rankings by achieving strong rankings across the three Impact indices that comprise the Overall Rankings—Customer Satisfaction, Acquisition and Brand. Notably, panellists visiting the Lloyds TSB site were the most likely to agree with the statement ‘this site cares about its customers.’
Lloyds TSB also performed well across several experiential measures that Keynote’s analysis demonstrates drive online success. In particular, Lloyds TSB won three of these success drivers, ‘Customer Support’, ‘Ease of Opening an Account’ and ‘Privacy and Security.’ The other sites measured were Bank of Scotland, Barclays, HSBC, Halifax, NatWest, RBS and The Co-operative Bank. The findings show that Web sites of the leading banks vary widely in how effectively they cater to the needs of the consumers shopping for a bank account.
| Keynote Customer Experience Rankings Overall Rankings |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lloyds TSB | ||
| 2 | Coorperative Bank | ||
| 3 | Natwest | ||
The Co-operative Bank was overall runner-up, topping the rankings for the Brand Impact index and for the success driver, “Environmental Consciousness,” while being voted by the panellists as ‘least likely to provide inadequate help.
NatWest achieved third place in the Overall rankings, scoring high for the Acquisition Impact component of the Overall rankings and ranking first for the success driver, ‘Design and Organisation.’
Breaking the Overall rankings down into its components—Customer Satisfaction, Acquisition Impact and Brand Impact—reveals how Web sites are either helping or hindering banks’ efforts to reach out to prospects.
Customer Satisfaction
The Customer Satisfaction index aggregates nearly 100 metrics to determine overall consumer satisfaction with a site including ‘site organisation’, ‘in-context help’, ‘options to resolve’, ‘frustration’ and ‘look and feel’.
| Keynote Customer Satisfaction Impact Index | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lloyds TSB | ||
| 2 | Coorperative Bank | ||
| 3 | Natwest | ||
With research showing that brand affinity and purchase intent are significantly influenced by a customer’s online experience, measuring e-business performance from the end-user perspective is becoming increasingly important.
Acquisition Impact
The Acquisition Impact index looked at a sites’ ability to encourage prospects to apply for an account. RBS topped this pole just ahead of Lloyds TSB and NatWest. Through its WebEffective platform, Keynote can examine how panellists seek out information and products on the Web site and how using the site impacts their readiness to buy.
| Keynote Acquisition Impact Index | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RBS | ||
| 2 | Lloyds TSB | ||
| 3 | Natwest | ||
Brand Impact – does your site measure up?
Another key index measured in the study was ‘Brand impact’. Participants, who were enlisted to evaluate a site other than that of their own bank, were asked for their impressions of the bank immediately before and immediately after their online visit. The study uncovered unique insights into how a bank’s site can impact consumer brand perceptions of the bank.
| Keynote Brand Impact Index | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooperative Bank | ||
| 2 | Lloyds TSB | ||
| 3 | Natwest | ||
“Our research has pinpointed not only those elements of a site that make it successful and those which don’t, but how dramatically a user’s perception of a brand can change following an online experience,” said Malcolm Otter, director of consulting for Keynote Systems EMEA. “To evaluate a site’s attractiveness to prospects, participants were only asked to visit a bank of which they were not currently a customer. Often people who had initially perceived a bank to be extremely approachable and friendly were disappointed when they visited the site. Equally, those brands that from a distance appeared overtly corporate or hard facing often surprised the participants with a well-organised site, offering users the help and assistance they were looking for.”
Keynote Systems conducts its Customer Experience ranking studies annually to examine online customer experience and Web site service levels (responsiveness and reliability from the end user perspective). This provides subscribing companies with ‘hard measures’ of success on their site investments, together with a robust, ongoing competitive benchmark of their position relative to their close competitors.
About Keynote
Keynote Systems (Nasdaq “KEYN”) is the global leader in on-demand test & measurement solutions for continuously improving the online experience. As an independent and trusted third-party, Keynote provides IT and marketing executives with an unbiased view into their Internet services from around the world. For over a decade, Keynote has been providing measurement data and testing capabilities that allow companies to understand and improve their customer’s online and mobile experience. Keynote has four test and measurement businesses: Web performance, mobile quality, streaming & VoIP, and customer experience/UX. In addition, Keynote’s industry analysis group called Keynote Competitive Research publishes proprietary studies measuring customer experience and service levels across a wide range of industries.
Known as The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority™, Keynote has a market-leading infrastructure of 2,400 measurement computers and mobile devices in over 240 locations around the world. Keynote also maintains one of the most representative panels of online users consisting of 160,000 consumers. Keynote’s on-demand, hassle-free infrastructure allows businesses to access services they need, when they need them to pinpoint and fix mobile quality and Internet problems before they impact customers.
Keynote helps over 2,600 corporate customers become “the best of the best” by helping them improve online business performance and mobile communications quality. Keynote’s customers represent top Internet and mobile companies including American Express, BP, Caterpillar, Dell, Disney, eBay, ESPN Mobile, E*TRADE, Expedia, FedEx, Microsoft, SonyEricsson, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone.
Keynote Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Mateo, California and can be reached at www.keynote.com or by phone in the U.S. at (650) 403-2400.
Keynote, The Internet Performance Authority, Perspective and Customer Experience Rankings are registered trademarks and The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority and True Experience are trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2007 Keynote Systems, Inc.
Editorial Contacts:
Ryan Whelan & Andy Chatterton, Johnson King, +44 (0) 20 7401 7968, keynoteteam@johnsonking.co.uk