The client
MyState Limited (MYS), a non-operating holding Company, is a diversified financial services group listed on the ASX and provides a broad range of financial services through two wholly-owned subsidiaries, MyState Financial (MSF), an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) and Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees (TPT), a trustee and wealth management company.
Headquartered in Tasmania, its diverse business operations cover:
- Banking Services
- Trustee Services
- Wealth Management
The research
As part of the MyState evolution the business needed to improve the online banking and transaction channel MyState.com.au. Additional View had been consulting with MyState for a period of time to optimise the online channel conversion process by applying our unique method of Customer Conversion Architecture.
At the tail end of this process, Additional View were engaged to conduct online qualitative research in the form of a focus group which included wire-frame usability testing. The research methodology was designed to achieve a number of key behavioural objects around the website customer engagement.
In preparation for the research, Additional view worked with MyState to undertake a complete information architecture review. We worked with the online and marketing team to ensure the proposed website not only delivered on the business requirements but also met the needs of each of the target markets. Our process focused on using the online channel to deliver the right information at the right time to facilitate product decision making.
The research project required the testing and evaluation of a set of website wire-frames around the following objectives:
- Navigation structure and presentation of information
- Terminology used in the navigation and key elements on the page
- Information architecture and customer segmentation of information
- Immediate reaction to the overall content layout
- Conversion optimisation to ensure the banking product online applications process was correctly mapped to the target market.
- Testing of the conversion optimisation to ensure it effectively facilitated enquiries, leads, arranging an appointment, or offline contact requests.
Additional View built a comprehensive working wire-frame of the new website to test during the focus group session. By building a prototype based on previous consultancy work undertaken, our objective was to gain immediate top-line feedback from participant interactions and experiences with the wire-frame.
Research method
Our hybrid research process involved inviting 6 to 8 participants to take part in an online focus groups. The session was conducted online using the real-time focus group & website usability technology provided by Group Quality. The session took place in real-time secure environment, where participants logged in to the group from their home computer. Three MyState stakeholders and an Additional View client manager were also invited to observe the sessions. Each of the observers logged into the secure group environment from their own computer at various locations.
The moderator took the participants through a number of usability tasks and discussion topics based around the research objectives. They were presented with the wire-frames and also asked to answer a number of quantitative poll style questions during the group discussion. The live group concluded after 90 minutes and each participants was paid a cash incentive for their time.
Outcomes
The qualitative insights gained from the research group confirmed a number of flagged usability issues. We immediate isolated areas of information and conversion process improvement, and pinpointed customer behaviour which could potentially lead to conversion roadblocks. Internal jargon and complex terminology was questioned by participants, and it was clear that the customers ability to quickly learn the information architecture and page layout would directly influence product choice and online application conversion.
The ability to pre-test the online channel, by delving into the proposed information architecture, layout, language and processes, meant that MyState could make quick and supported decisions about where to invest its resources. Pre-testing well formed ideas and concepts enabled them to effectively reduce the investment risk, and eliminate potential customer dissatisfaction.
