In February 2016, WUA conducted research into the orientation behaviour of consumers looking for a current account. In this study, 200 respondents searched for a new current account on their desktop and 200 respondents on their smartphone. This article focuses on the results of the smartphone research and discusses what other banks can learn from the bottom performer on the list: Triodos.nl.
4 major banks in the Top 4
Just like in the desktop research, the top 4 is reserved for the 4 major banks. ING.nl finishes first again (82 points), now together with Rabobank.nl. ABNAMRO.nl takes third place with 79 points. The gap with the rest is large, just like in the desktop research. The top 3 captures no less than 64% of the total first preference in the market. This means that numbers 4 through 7 have to make do with just 36%: a much smaller piece of the pie. The ranking shows that Triodos.nl finishes last with 59 points.
This low score is due to the fact that respondents don't find Triodos.nl at all or find it late in their search for a current account. Respondents who do manage to find the provider are very positive about the Look & Feel of the website, the displayed Offering and the company behind the website (Brand). In fact, Triodos.nl leaves the competition behind on most detailed questions.
In this article we therefore zoom in on the Look & Feel component. Triodos.nl takes first place on no less than 8 of the 13 underlying questions. On the remaining 5 questions, the provider always finishes in second place. How is this possible? What does Triodos.nl do exceptionally well? What can other banks still learn from this?
Ensure the appearance and product match well
*"Looks professional, as you would expect from a bank."
"No nonsense, directly find what you're looking for."
"Reasonably sober therefore trustworthy, not flashy."*
A selection from the quotes of respondents who assessed the appearance of Triodos.nl. Triodos succeeds very well in presenting potential customers with a website whose appearance fits well with opening a current account. The straightforward way information is presented and the calm colour scheme (white background, green buttons) contribute to this, among other things.
Present honest information in clear language
A website's offering can be excellent, but if it's not explained in an honest and clear way, there's a good chance potential customers won't choose it.
Triodos.nl knows how to explain their current accounts in a clear way. Respondents appreciate what they see as honest information that the website presents. This generates various positive reactions: "The texts are clear and easy to read. No use of difficult words." and "Clear story."
Moreover, Triodos.nl clearly and systematically arranges the most important information. You quickly gain insight into the key features of a current account, with information presented concisely and powerfully.
Ensure fast and flawless website performance
It may be stating the obvious, but it's certainly no less important: make sure the website functions quickly and without technical problems. Nothing is more annoying than slow loading times or malfunctioning input fields during ordering or looking up information.
Triodos.nl has this well organised and scores first place on both components among the 7 websites examined. Particularly the difference for 'the website works fast' is quite large at 3 points compared to the competition.
Why then that low ranking?
We see this more often in WUA orientation research: websites that score very well on the themes Look & Feel, Offering and Brand but still end up low in the overall ranking. Findability plays a crucial role in this. And findability happens to be exactly the area where Triodos.nl scores by far the worst. Where the examined current account providers are found by an average of 56% of respondents, Triodos.nl does significantly worse with 21%. The same applies to the speed at which the bank is found: only 4% of the 200 respondents managed to find Triodos.nl first.
And then to realise that the WUA Benchmark shows that the earlier a website is found, the more likely the ultimate preference for that website...
