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Online off the mark
Australian superannuation funds may be increasingly using the Internet to communicate with members, but web site design flaws and other issues are undermining their efforts, according to a consultancy specialising in web site design, .
Usability One said it had decided to independently evaluate the user experience of eight superannuation web sites in light of the choice of superannuation fund environment and the manner in which funds have opted to use their web sites as a selling tool.
The company said it assessed the sites using a 152 point compliance audit on known and tested usability principles, and the outcome suggested there was considerable room for improvement.
“All of the sites contained major design flaws that are costing them money because they force their users to use the more expensive call centre channels or switch to competitors in frustration,” the Usability One analysis said.
“On average, the eight sites complied with just 70 per cent of the 152 usability principles,” it said.
Usability One examined the web sites of , CBUS, HESTA, , MaxSuper, Rest Superannuation, and Virgin Super.
According to the analysis, the internet-specific Max Super performed most strongly, with 81 per cent compliance, while at the other end of the spectrum was Rest, which complied with just over half the usability principles.
According to Usability One, the main areas covered by its audit of the superannuation web sites were:
* navigation;
* content and content writing;
* design and graphics;
* search;
* error prevention and recovery;
* trust;
* internationalisation;
* windows titles;
* news and press releases; and
* branding and company information.
According to the survey, the web sites finished in the following rank order:
Max Super 81 per cent
Virgin Super 77 per cent
HESTA 73 per cent
AustralianSuper 72 per cent
State Super 72 per cent
Hostplus 65 per cent
CBus 63 per cent
Rest Super 55 per cent
According to Usability One, the average across all the sites was 70 per cent.
Looking at the sites, the analysis said that, despite navigation being one of the most important elements of any web site, basic compliance with basic navigation principles across the sites survey was poor.
It said the average level of compliance with navigation principles was 59 per cent, with CBUS the worst performing fund at 42 per cent.
The analysis said Max Super and AustralianSuper were the best performers, with 71 per cent compliance, albeit that there was “still the opportunity for substantial improvement”.
The Usability One analysis suggested the funds performed better with respect to content, with the average level of compliance being 82 per cent, with Max Super leading the way with 96 per cent, prompting the statement that it was “a standout, with exemplary content and content writing”.
Where design and graphics were concerned, the analysis said the degree of compliance with the relevant principles averaged 75 per cent across the web sites.
Dealing with the “searchability” of the web sites, the analysis said the average result was “an exceptionally poor 44 per cent”.
It said this clearly demonstrated that important changes were required to site search capabilities by the vast majority of the superannuation web sites, with three of the sites not including a search function at all.
Interestingly, two of those three web sites belonged to very web-specific funds — Max Super and Virgin Super.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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