The User Experience when making an online bank transfer
Research Goal:
Banco Popular is a Costa Rican state bank; their service is widely used among Costa Rican population. The website provides the user with services such as: reviewing their bank account, transactions or payments made, transfers, payments for services (electricity, water, education and so forth) and others. When accessing this website, you can see that the interface is not the best, for this reason the user may have several problems with the website. For that reason, I want to investigate: what kinds of problems do users face when making an online bank transfer from Banco Popular website?
The participants in the study talk about the issues they have to face every time they make an online bank transfer from “Banco Popular” website. They talk about specific issues about the transfer page and general website issues, which also affect the actions that they do at the transfer page. The two key issues founded are:
● Issue #1: The requirements of password when logging in.
● Issue #2: The system when the user takes an action fail.
Affinity Wall:
Recording all observations, an affinity wall was created to visualize the problems that users have when using the transfer payment option on the Banco Popular website.
ISSUE 01: The requirements of the password when logging in.
Participants were quick to point out that the first problem that they have is when logging on the home page. The users need to logging in to make a transfer. The website asks to the user to put a password, but this has to meet certain requirements. Both participants agree with the fact that those requirements are difficult to accomplish and then, hard to remember. One participant said that she had to write her password on a notebook, because she usually forgets it. Also, the participants don’t like when the website ask them to change the password for a new one, because it is the same bad experience.
Besides to remember the password, the users has to memorize their username given by the bank.
Recommendations for Design
Add a “dynamic password” (or an OTP) to the log in. Users could choose the password that they want or a password with a few requirements and then, for security protocols, they have to put their “dynamic password”. This must be given by the bank to each user. This could avoid that the user have to write their password on something.
Use the ID instead provides a username for each user. This could be easier for the user to remember.
ISSUE 02: When the user takes an action, the system fails.
Participants mentioned that sometimes, the system fails. Not only in the transfer page, also in many actions of the website in general. Some of these actions would be: when the user has to go to a new page, the website doesn’t load at all or it is “slow” to load the new page. Participant A1 mentioned that sometimes the website doesn’t load the pages, it displays an error, but when she clicks again to make an action, the website works. Participants described it the page like “slow”. Also, the participants found that the system crashes during the transfers. This issue provokes the user can’t make the transfer.
Recommendations for Design
Check the code and the servers that make the transfer to avoid the system crashes or put “slow” while the transfer is making.
If the system turns slow, the website could display a message that notify to the users that “reload” or the “transfer action” is taking more time and they have to wait. It’s important to notify the user
Change the design of the website. Sometimes, the design of the website is very heavy. That could make difficult to loading the page. The participants mentioned that they would like a fast, simple and dynamic website. Besides, the participants complain about the typography of the website. Participant M2 said that letters used on the website are pretty little and difficult to see. With this in mind, it could update the website with a fresh and modern design.