Usability drives Improvements in Bank Site Business

The Royal Bank of Scotland has seen a dramatic increase in customers doing business over the internet since the recent relaunch of its website.

Following the launch of the new website earlier this year, online applications to open a Direct Saver account rose by 47%. Similarly, applications for the bank's internet only personal loan rose by 26%. As well as undertaking extensive research to establish what users were looking for, the bank employed usability consultancy User Vision and specialist online agency Heath Wallace.

Commenting on the new success of the site, Birna Einarsdottir, the bank's Web Strategy manager, said: 'We took a long hard look at the usability of the site, asked people what they wanted and we made the improvements. We firmly believe that the key was to keep it simple and we're delighted with what we’ve seen.

'Through a combination of iterative design and rounds of usability testing, the public ultimately shaped the new website.'

In addition to the more tangible measurements of success such as account openings, other aspects such as a 100% increase in brochure requests and a significant increase in visitors to the small business and mortgage sections, have demonstrated the new flexibility and usability of the site.

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