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In an email interview with American Banker, the group also says it has no ties to Iran or any other state and disavows attacks on the Tel Aviv stock exchange or El Al Airlines.
November 1 -
Despite the hand-wringing over destributed denial of service attacks, this is a cyber battle that can be won. Here are some of the best ways to fight back.
November 1 -
The Common Global Implementation Initiative, based in Brussels, said Wednesday it has published best-practice guidelines for ISO20222, a format designed to give companies and banks a common worldwide language for their communications.
October 16
It's a common conception that bank customers are faced with an arrangement of inconveniencies when it comes to trips to the bank: uncomfortable working hours, minutes wasted on waiting in line and the daunting task of schlepping a load of paperwork to have signed and approved by the notorious, impatient bank teller.
As such, when the online banking services era began at the beginning of the century, the expectation was that a large majority of bank-goers would resort to the online solution and that most bank customers would not travel to their branch to conduct simple tasks available to them digitally.
A decade later, however, those expectations have yet to be fully realized, and online banking – while it has seen increasing use – still has a ways to go in order to reach its expected potential. It's important that bankers understand how best to increase activity on their online sites, as online banking does indeed benefit the financial institutions as well as customers, and understand the factors necessary to idealize their customers' user experience.
Compliance issues and poor user experience on websites have prevented banks' customers from utilizing online banking services. Here are simple yet crucial ways to improve the user experience of your online banking services:
Communicate a positive message. According to
Keep it simple. Less really is more when it comes to the appearance and messaging of banking websites. Create rich and valuable content that speaks to the specific needs of the users and refrain from presenting overbearing or overwhelming information that confuses them. Remember, while sophisticated jargon on sites may impress some visitors, not everyone has an advanced degree and even those that do, sometimes appreciate having things explained to them in a simple and concise manner. According to Bayles, 31% of online banking users dodge sites because the terminology is too confusing. When dealing with the riskiness and sensitivity of the e-Banking sector, simple instructions are the key to successful financial usability.
Regarding website appearance, users tend to run from loud, large, and blinking images that greet them upon arriving at a site. Make certain the homepage is welcoming and professional, from graphic design, to color choices, to the layout. Optimizing your homepage to tell a story will provide all the details necessary for users to understand the required actions while eliciting trust in them. Display the key benefits of the service with a distinct headline, subheading, bullet points and a testimonial. Relay simple and minimal information so as to not scare the user away, which includes fields for sign up.
Provide an interactive experience. Sometimes, no matter how great a website looks, there will always be someone who is lost. Bayles states, however, that numerous banks "have attempted to address these issues by implementing interactive capabilities such as secure chat and email help." It is crucial to supply support, in addition to the online chat boxes that pop up, in order to create a more interactive experience for the users. Online tutorials or help files that take the user away from the user interface are time-consuming and can cause frustration, thus creating a huge drop-off rate and decrease in revenue. External services and technologies, such as live chat, interactive online guidance and video tutorials, can be implemented in order to create an easier, more efficient experience for an online banker.
With today's technologies and abundance of talented UI and UX designers, online banking issues should no longer impose on users. With the appropriate tools and knowledge, a banking site can go from being a daunting maze to a helpful, practical and productive source for user banking needs.
Stefanie Amini is marketing director and specialist in Customer Success at
