How Banks Are Using Their Web Sites to Win Small Business Customers

A new report released today by Change Sciences Group, the leading financial services benchmarking firm, reveals what banks are doing to win small business prospects online, and which banks are doing a good job using their web sites to distinguish themselves from the pack.

To get complete details on the report visit: http://www.changesciences.com/d/reports.html

Small business prospects who are thinking about switching banks or starting a new business are increasingly turning to the web to learn about bank offerings. Many banks have invested heavily in improving the online customer experience for small business prospects. Trends include:

- Almost 75% of the sites make it easy for prospects to compare deposit account offerings online

- More than 60% of the sites reviewed offer some form of online resource center for small business prospects and customers

- Almost 40% of the banks reviewed are accepting online applications for small business deposit accounts

- Over 30% of the banks reviewed support some form of automated product suggestion for small business prospects

In addition to these positive trends, most banks can improve their small business sites in a number of critical ways:

- Of those banks that offer online applications, all but four exhibit well-understood usability problems

- Of those that offer automated product suggestion tools, only three make the suggestions persuasively

- Only a little over 10% of the banks reviewed provide a first impression that addresses all of the immediate questions small business prospects have

- Although most sites make it easy to compare deposit accounts, only three banks answer all the questions small business prospects have on the comparison page

- Only 30% of the banks reviewed provide meaningful and compelling content on an important small business service: online banking

- Only three banks provide completely meaningful and compelling content on another key small business service: online bill pay

- Only a little over 30% of the banks make it easy to learn about and provide compelling content on business services other than deposit accounts

- Only two banks make it truly easy for the online prospect to switch to their services through the web site

“Banks can offer significant time savings and convenience to small business people. The challenge that most banks face right now is getting that value proposition across clearly and consistently,” said Steve Ellis, a Change Sciences partner.

The three best sites overall are:

1. National City

2. Hibernia

3. Wells Fargo

Other bank web sites covered in the report include: AmSouth, Associated Bank, Bank of America, Bank of New York, BB&T, Chase, Colonial Bank, Comerica, Compass Bank, Fifth Third Bank, First Citizens Bank, FirstMerit, Frost Bank, HSBC, Hudson United Bank, Huntington, Key Bank, LaSalle Bank, M&T Bank, Marshall & Ilsley, NetBank, North Fork Bank, PNC Bank, RBC Centura, Regions, Royal Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sky, SunTrust, Synovus, TD Banknorth, US Bank, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, and Zions Bank.

For the complete site ranking, sample data, and report table of contents visit: http://www.changesciences.com/d/reports.html