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National City, Bank of America Top Customer Experience Rankings"
SAN MATEO, Calif. -- National City Bank and Bank of America provide the best overall online experience to prospects, tying for first place in the latest Vividence Customer Experience Rankings for the online banking industry. Chase and Fleet prospects were the least satisfied with their online experience.Vividence conducts semi-annual studies of the banking and credit card industries, examining the online experiences of both current and prospective customers. For this study, Vividence monitored 2,000 prospective customers as they interacted with 10 top banking Web sites.From first to 10th, the online banks were ranked as follows by prospective customers:National City Bank and Bank of America (tie)US BankWachoviaWashington MutualWells FargoBank One (First USA)CitiBankChaseFleetThe success of National City, with 2003 annual revenues of $9.5 billion, illustrates how relatively smaller banks can use the online channel to more effectively compete with larger banks, such as Bank of America, which reported $49 billion in revenues in 2003.Findings from past Vividence banking studies continue to substantiate the gap between how the leading Web sites perform as compared to the least appealing sites. In the previous study of prospects, released in September 2003, Bank of America and National City finished at the top of the rankings -- while Fleet again finished last. Online Banking: The Competitive EdgeOnline banking has become an increasingly important factor for consumers in determining where to open a new bank account. Close to 50% of consumers in the study said online banking and bill payment services are a very important factor in choosing a bank; while the physical location of a bank and ATMs are becoming less of a factor in choosing a bank (42% stating it as a factor compared to 47% in previous studies).Prospective customers are most likely to open a new account when the bank offers a special sign-up bonus. In fact, a sign up bonus more than doubles the likelihood that a prospect will open account, with just 16% likely to open an account without a sign-up bonus, and 36% likely to open an account with a sign-up bonus.Application Process Impacts Customer AcquisitionOne of the biggest hindrances to a prospect opening an account is a poor online application process. Consumers are frustrated with most online bank applications, specifically with the inadequate instructions and support provided for these processes. Consumers also consider many online bank applications to be too long. One-quarter (25%) of all prospects who chose to start the application process did not complete it, an abysmal record compared to the completion rate of online applications and registrations in other industries.Web sites that provide information upfront regarding the length of the application process and information requirements have the highest completion rates. Companies that do not set expectations usually cause frustrations and thus suffer higher application abandonment.Not only did Washington Mutual have the lowest completion rate, they were also reported as having the most difficult online application process, with one in 10 prospects complaining about the length of their application process and 13% noting inadequate instruction or customer support. National City, which clearly delineates the application process up front, has the most user-friendly application process, the study found.Aside from the application process, there are many specific frustrations consumers have with bank Web sites, with the average user experiencing a problem every three and a half minutes. Approximately one-in-three (31%) prospects complained that they could not locate customer service options on the site they were visiting, and 21% expressed concerns about privacy and security issues.With ever-present links to its "Help Center" and strong FAQs, Wachovia was ranked as providing the best access to customer support, whereas Bank One and Fleet were seen as offering poor service as illustrated by their failure to provide a customer support link on their home page.Prospects also reacted poorly to sites that used highly technical or legal language in their privacy statements. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chase were the sites most prospects felt managed privacy and security issues the best.The initial online experience at a particular bank site can significantly impact the likelihood that a prospect will sign up for additional online services with the bank. Although a person may sign up for online banking and perform basic tasks, such as checking account balances, they aren't necessarily predisposed to using online bill pay services.Less than half of Wachovia prospects indicated they would also use online bill pay services according to the study, whereas close to 80% of Bank of America prospects indicated they would use such services. The study found that Bank of America benefits from an accessible online bill pay demonstration and clear, persistent messaging about its online bill pay services.Vividence studies, across industries, have consistently found that the consumer's experience online can have a significant impact on the overall brand -- and loyalty to that brand. Here, too, National City received the greatest improvement in its brand perception based on the consumer's online experience, with just 5% of prospects reporting a highly favorable opinion of the bank prior to their online experience and 57% doing so after experiencing the National City Web site.Vividence Customer Experience Rankings are competitive benchmarking studies that allow companies to better understand their target customers and their competition on the Web.Visit Vividence: www.vividence.com "