“Usability dagene 05” day 1 roundup

I really liked Jakob Nielsen’s keynote.
Jakob Nielsen keynote at Usability dagene 05

Jon Lund has written two excellent posts that sums up on the two most interesting presentations: Users smile back – the Bon’A Parte learnings, Jakob Nielsen: Usability drives up revenue.
Furthermore, Andreas Johannsen of Synkron CMS gave a good presentation where he (among other things) spoke about whats behind the surface of a usable website. He touched on some important points, that I also focus on: Validation. Valid HTML, CSS and validtation of accessibility standards (WAI).
Andreas Johannsen with Jakob Nielsen

Other things
Met a lot of persons and just wanted to link to some of the things we talked about.

Online banking: 37BetterBank
Screenshot of bank suggestion

We’re frustrated with the online banking experience. Too many screens, too many clicks, too much confusion. But, rather than just complain, we put together our ultimate online bank “my account” page. We call it 37BetterBank and people who’ve seen it call it a big step forward. Visit 37BetterBank.

In case you missed the old Jacob Nielsen Gangsta style cartoon here it is:
Jakob Nielsen and Jared Spool - gangsta style okcancel20040206

Also, there is a fantastic follow-up which is a double edition.

By the way, Jared Spool has a good presentation available as mp3 on his blog BrainSparks. One of the things that caught my attention is that he compares two online hiking shoe retailers. One of them has photos of the shoe soles. Which one do you think sells the most? Jared has the answers.

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6 Responses to ““Usability dagene 05” day 1 roundup”

  1. Jesper Rønn-Jensen Says:

    With regards to the 37 Better Banking example, I just want to mention that Capgemini in Spain has worked with a client to deliver an accessible web bank. They’ve developed it and user tested with blind people.

  2. Piotr Says:

    Do You have any numbers of the percentage of users using the web bank beeing blind vs. the amount of money put in making it Blind-user-friendly?

    It would be interesting to se if there is a need to adress those issues acoss the interne or if someone screwed the pooch….

    Love to see that ROI…

  3. Jesper Rønn-Jensen Says:

    I guess you could dig into the server logfile and figure out which user agents are used. I think the majority of users will never be blind or disabled on these types of solutions. However, I think the banking business are on of the examples that can be used here:

    Banks have traditionally done a lot to make their physical banks accessible: Wheelchair ramps, bank desks that can be lowered, ATM machines outside that can be used by wheelchair users.

    The Danish article here goes in depth “analysis of accessibility politics for financial institutes” : Analyse af pengeinstitutternes handicappolitik from Center for Ligebehandling af Handicappede ( Equal Opportunities Centre for Disabled Persons).

    Accessible solutions are definately a topic for this blog, so I encourage readers to share examples

  4. Piotr Says:

    I agree with you that its proapably very few blind users who use the website.. specialy because still so few websites support it.

    I hear your comparison between offline and online, all thou i dont completly agree with it…

    I think you are right regarding there are political and PR-related reasons to make websites blind-ppl friendly …. I thought about that making the prior post, but even including the positive PR etc. – which would be a nightmare to make up in cash – it would be a questionable investement. Thats what i think, in not the expert, and i dont know the numbers.

    Above is said by the Cold cash ROI focused guy ;)

    If i have to try to be human:

    I thinks its a cool interessting idea, and i like it..

    The good thing is that the danish goverment has set web-standarts for how goverment websites have to be. (Dublin Core and stuff like that which i dont know that much about).. I think its a great idea. But thats a needed public service, and i think it should be like that :)

  5. Luis Villa Says:

    Hi, I’m one of the guys who worked in the accessible banking services in Spain.

    Various points, no numbers (I’m sorry):

    1. The Bank has a social compromise with people with dissabilities, not only blind users, also deaf users (In fact, it has a sign language version).

    2. As his main channel is the internet, accessibility has benefit making the services accessible for other devices, platforms and browsers that before had problems to access the services. More market.

    5. Sincere accessibility: What does want any person (disabled or not?): access to information and… over all, services!!

    As other banks say: “We are accessible” but is not a sincere compromise, it’s just an “About Us” accessibility. In this bank, all the key services are accessible.

    4. Their brand has been reinforced: they’ve been pioneers, innovators.

    5. And don’t forget, Fidelity!

    Put yourself in context: If you have a family member who is disabled and a company gives him an accessible service, is probably you simpatize with the company, so it’s easy you also become another satisfied customer.

    Accessibility and usability is about solidarity, making human lifes better for good. A lot of empathy, a bit of standards and you are almost done! ;-)

    Best regards from Spain!

  6. Jesper Rønn-Jensen Says:

    More on banking user experience. There was a meetup in FDIH (Danish ebusiness assoc.) about online banking November 17th, 2005. Notes are available online (but a bit shallow, in my opinion):
    http://fdih.dk/nyheder/referatfrafdihkonferencenonlinebankingden17november2005.aspx

    Faktum er at dagens bankkunder stiller stadigt større krav til de finansielle udbydere samtidigt som konkurrencen mellem virksomhederne er blevet skærpet. På den baggrund er onlinekanalen blevet en vigtig parameter, hvor de virksomheder der forstår at udnytte de tekniske muligheder heri, skaber væsentlige konkurrencemæssige fordele i forhold til konkurrenterne.

    Bent Dalager, partner Accenture, startede dagen med at give et overordnet indblik i de digitale udfordringer, som den finansielle sektor er stillet overfor i dag. Gennem en modenhedsmodel illustrerede han, hvilket udviklingsforløb en typisk moderne finansiel virksomhed gennemløber for at kunne tilbyde kunderne ”online differentieret banking”. En løsning som de finansielle udbydere bør tilstræbe, og som er kendetegnende for en digital markedsplads, der hviler på høj leveringskompleksitet til et højt differentieret marked.

    Dernæst talte Johnny Bennedsen, direktør PBS, om digitale betalingsløsninger med udgangspunkt i netbanker, hvor han først skitserede PBS’ rolle i det store finansielle puslespil mellem alle de forskellige interessenter, og dernæst henledte opmærksomheden på de succeskriterier, der er afgørende for en online løsnings spredning og adoption. Nøgleordene er i den forbindelse: Fokus på behov, modenhed og brugervenlighed. Han fremhævede ligeledes udviklingen i den offentlige sektor, der med f.eks. Nemkonto, Skat og E-fakura er godt på vej til et højere modenheds- og sikkerhedsniveau, dog er der stadig et stykke op til bankerne. I den forbindelse forsøgte han at give sit bud på, hvordan offentlige portaler, netbanker og e-business generelt kommer til at hænge sammen i fremtiden. Sluttelig nævnte han at EU i fremtiden kan blive en ny modspiller, hvorfor fleksibilitet i forhold til nye tiltag og retningslinier fra EU kommissionen er en nødvendighed.

    Edward O’Hara, direktør Jupiter Research, gav derefter sit bud på forståelse af kundernes præferencer. Faktum er, at tiderne er forbi, hvor de ansatte i banken kender alle kunder. Det er simpelthen for omkostningskrævende at opretholde en sådan forretningsmæssigstruktur, idet de fordele som dette kendskab giver, billigere og smartere kan opnås via Internettet. Narrow-Casting er i den forbindelse et centralt begreb, og henviser til de funktionelle muligheder, som 3.generations intelligente Internet rummer indenfor personificering af services og illustrerer overgangen fra traditionelle standardløsninger til et lifecycle approach, der følger det enkelte individ. Ud fra Jupiter Research’s undersøgelser karakteriserede han danske netbank kunder, som havende mere end 5 års erfaring på Internettet og derfor er blevet modne til flere.

    Olavi Luukkonen, CIO Sampo Bank, opstillede efterfølgende et konkret eksempel på, hvordan potentialet indenfor Online Banking med succes er blevet realiseret i Sampo Bank. E-transformationen i virksomheden har krævet en grundlæggende ændring i tankegangen om, hvordan virksomheden gør forretninger, hvor perspektivet har ændret sig fra distribueret revolution til ideen om kunde centraliseret banking. Dette er en afledt konsekvens af strategien om, at kunne servicere kunden, hvor, hvornår og hvordan denne måtte ønske det. I dag har virksomheden store fordele af den implementerede strategi og fungerer som rollemodel for, hvordan Online Banking kan udnyttes i finansielle virksomheder. Et af hans ”take aways” var, at der skal investeres for at spare penge, hvorfor IT omkostninger ikke må mindskes, da de er en del af e-transformationen.

    Efter frokost fremlagde Henrik Lykkesteen, Head of Lead Generation Saxo Bank, deres model for, hvordan der genererer nye kunder. I indlægget introduceredes begrebet Lead’Ometer, som omhandler transformationen fra et ukendt individ til kunde i virksomheden. I denne proces gennemløber personen følgende stadier: Unknown à Potential à Interactive à Lead à Client.

    Basalt set handler det om at skabe et positivt første indtryk, og målrette budskabet gennem en handlingsorienteret tilgang, hvor værktøjerne indenfor business intelligence i vid udstrækning anvendes sammen med CRM systemet til at målrette deres online marketing og differentiere deres kampagner mod den enkelte bruger. To af hovedkonklusionerne var at ”knowledge is the key to success” og at der skal tages action på alle målinger.

    Endeligt redegjorde, Frank Georgi, for trends i mobile og Internet Banking, hvor han indledningsvis synliggjorde de oplagte muligheder som Internet Banking giver sammenlignet med et traditionelt approach. Dernæst ræsonnerede han over, hvordan kommunikationskanalerne vil ændre sig fremover, og introducerede i den forbindelse tankegangen omkring mobile banking. I den forbindelse fremlagde Frank de muligheder/begrænsninger som teknologien giver og vurderede, at mulighederne for mobile banking hovedsageligt vil forelægge indenfor kombinationen SMS/Smart Clients.

    Referatet er udarbejdet af:

    Lasse Faurby og Kenneth Hedorf Christensen – begge studerende.