Sub-Standard User Experience of Online Car Loans Plague Indian Banks Websites

HYDERABAD, India, November 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

- Out of 32 Prominent Banks in India, Only 1 Offers Decent User Experience to Customers Seeking Car Loans Online

- Customers Actually Turn Away From Other Websites Due to Poor Usability

Released on the World Usability Day, the research report Acquiring Car Loan Customers Online, UX Benchmark Research 2012, throws shocking insights about the poor usability of banking websites in India that offer car loans to customers. This is the first-ever syndicated UX research report in India that quantitatively benchmarks online user experience of financial institutions.

According to Ripul Kumar, Director User Research at Kern, "It is disturbing to see how poor usability of online car loans websites turns away a significant chunk of customers everyday." "Despite the Internet being a valuable channel for customer acquisition, banks neglect the user experience of their websites," he adds.

According to the report, the top 5 banks in the UX Index, in alphabetical order, are Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of Hyderabad, and Tata Capital. The leading bank has a UX Index score of 75.31, while the worst is 18.07. The runners-up has a UX Index of 58.32, poor enough to turn customers away! Although foreign banks do offer car loans in India, none offer them online. New private banks lead the pack with an average score of 52.51. Contrary to popular belief, public sector banks actually provide overall better user experience than private banks. Out of 32, only 1 bank provides the complete process of applying for car loans online.

This 100 page report analyzes the relative UX of competing websites. Illustrated with more than 110 annotated screen shots of featured websites, graphs and tables; the report provides more than 60 major UX insights. Banks can instantly use these to increase online engagement and conversions. Supplemented the insights are over 70 design recommendations along with industry best practices.

This benchmark UX report will be useful for product owners, customer experience managers, marketing heads, digital channel owners, and chief executives of financial institutions. Institutions planning to launch their online services will significantly benefit from the research findings. Syndicated research companies will find this specialized report useful for banking industry analysis.

The report comes in at a time when the volume of car financing is increasing rapidly at 40% per year and active Internet users in India are more than 11.1 Crore. Banks and leading financial institutions now consider the Internet as an important channel to offer loan services to customers.

Financial institutions covered in the research report are Andhra Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, Indian Bank, IndusInd Bank, Karnataka Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, Kotak Mahindra bank, Mahindra Finance, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of India, South Indian Bank, State Bank of Hyderabad, Sundaram Finance, Tata Capital, The Saraswat Cooperative Bank, UCO Bank, Union Bank, United Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, and Yes Bank.

About Kern

Kern Communications Pvt. Ltd. is a global user experience consulting company. Headquartered in Hyderabad, India, Kern has been improving the user experience of banking technology, medical products, mobile phones, enterprise software, online gaming, and aviation services for the past one decade.

Kern's user experience consulting services are:

            • Expert usability reviews

            • Lab-based usability testing

            • Ethnographic user research

            • User experience design

            • Innovation consulting

Kern consults with global clients like Nokia, Research in Motion (Blackberry), Samsung, Sony, Google, Philips Healthcare, Lufthansa, ESPN, Standard Chartered Bank, and others to innovate and improve the user experience of products and services. Kern also works closely with leading user experience (UX) research agencies across the globe. To know about Kern, go to http://www.kern-comm.com

Kern is a part of International User Experience Partners (IUXP), a global alliance of leading UX companies. Together, IUXP provides UX services across the globe. Get more information about International UX Partners network at http://www.iuxpartners.com

Primary Media Contact : Ripul Kumar, [email protected], 91-98-66342166

Secondary Media Contact : Amit Kumar, [email protected], 91-97-04501135