Banking Review

Why is it so difficult to search Australian bank websites?

The search experience offered by Australian banking websites has come under scathing criticism from Forrester Research in a new report comparing the web site user experience delivered by Australia’s Big Four banks.

The report scored the banks on website value, navigation, presentation and trust and none received a score at the pass level of 25. ANZ performed the worst with a score of -4. Westpac managed 24. The Commonwealth Bank and NAB received scores of 17 and 9 respectively.

The research found patchy search results hampered the ability of customers to find the information they needed, and limited the effectiveness of the search tools offered by the banks.

Forrester analyst Steven Noble says none of the sites provide enough clear, useful information in search results “For example, a search for “weekend banking” on NAB’s site returned a result from the FAQ section, with no indication of whether the FAQ would actually answer the question, which it didn’t.”

The search results on ANZ’s site were also jumbled, delivering many irrelevant results and failing to allow the user to narrow their search results according to content type.

Noble says the major banks should learn from the big online retailers such as Target in the US and eBay, both of which offer more effective search functions on their websites.

Similar research conducted by Forrester in North America found US banks outperformed their Australian counterparts. Bank of America and Citibank top scored on navigation, trust and value elements. Canada’s RBC took the top spot in the 2010 Canadian bank ranking, performing well on trust, research content and functionality.

It seems ironic that Australian bank websites search functionality is so poor given the millions of dollars they spend on search advertising every year. Commercial search tools are readily available, including one from the search market leader. What will it take to fix search on Australian bank websites?