The Co-creation Hub in Yaba, Lagos has a mobile experience lab (MXLab), where they perform all kinds of usability tests, research et al. Last week, they tweeted about a usability test they conducted for Nigerian bank websites. I think it makes sense, because banks are the custodians of pretty much all our funds, and we have to interface with them in one way or another every single day. At least, I know I do.
Banks are heavy tech users & are one of the major drivers of internet use in Nigeria & their primary information outlet are their websites
— CcHUB Africa (@Cc_HUB) February 19, 2016
They picked 10 of the most popular banks in Nigeria for the test: Guaranty Trust Bank, UBA, Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank, Diamond Bank, First Bank, Access Bank, Skye Bank, Union Bank and Wema Bank.
In the first round, they asked users to find information about opening a savings account with each bank. Here are the results:
It took users an average of 1 minute and 14 seconds to find the information they needed. First Bank performed the best in this round with 37.4 seconds, and Guaranty Trust Bank took the longest, at just over 2 minutes.
Next, they asked users to find each of the banks’ internet banking portals. In this round, GTB performed the best, at 14.4 seconds and UBA took the longest time, at 1 minute 22 seconds. It took users an average of 36.98 seconds to find the online banking portals, and 20% of them couldn’t find it at all on UBA, Union Bank and Skye Bank websites.
In the third exercise, users were asked to find local branches or automated teller machines (ATMs). Here, it took users an average of 64.46 seconds to complete the task. Fidelity Bank did the best, at 23.8 seconds, and UBA did the worst, at 2 minutes, 22 seconds. Wow. And none of the users were able to use the branch/ATM finder for Wema Bank and Union Bank.
Of course, when an internet-savvy user can’t find something on a website organically, the first instinct is to look for a search bar, and use it. CcHub asked users to find information on BVN, bank verification number using the search function.
Wema Bank did the best in this round, at 19 seconds. No one was able to locate anything useful with Union and First Bank’s search function while Fidelity Bank’s was buggy.
.@wemabank search was easy to locate & functional. Nothing for Union & First Bank; & @fidelitybankplc was buggy pic.twitter.com/tzbMfsJsel
— CcHUB Africa (@Cc_HUB) February 19, 2016
Next, users were asked to file a complaint about a missing debit cards via the bank websites. Interesting results. Guaranty Trust Bank took the shortest time, at 28 seconds, while Wema Bank took 1 minute and 32 seconds. GTB & Fidelity had the highest success rates at 100%, while UBA had the least, at 56.6%.
Finally, CcHub conducted a speed test using the same Nigerian 3G network for all the websites. Diamond Bank’s site loaded the fastest at 25.4 seconds, and GTB took the longest time at 54.1 seconds.
Honestly? I think all the banks need to do better in this department. If it’s taking 25 seconds to load a webpage over a 3G connection, imagine how long it’s taking in places where users only have access to 2G connections.
*shudders at the thought*
The mobile experience lab team conducts a wide range of experiments like this one across a wide range of sectors. Interested? Take a look at cchubnigeria.com/mxlab.
Photo Credit: Alan Grinberg via Compfight cc
