UX Lessons from Internet Banking websites

Following up from my previous post about a netbanking website, I thought it is just fair to name and shame another player. This time its ICICI bank, the largest private bank in India with a real horror of a website when it comes to user expeience. I must admit, they have some major overhauls in the past few years, but nothing that improves UX, or makes me come back again.

Lets start with the login, which is a painful experience in itself. Its slow and cumbersome.

Here is the home page

Its a decent looking website, especially for marketing their products and features. I do not know how many people visit their website for finding about their products, buts it serves a purpose. Login page is visible on the right. However, clicking/hovering on it is tricky. The whole pane on the right expands and moves. I hate moving interfaces.

Right pane expands on hovering over Login

Now, I need to move my mouse from over Login, (notice Login has now moved from under my mouse to the left), to the right to make the right choice. (I am after the Personal, NRI and Young Stars link).

In summary, it should not be this hard, its just a link clicking it should give me a text box to login. It does not.

Intermediate page

Now once I have managed to locate the right link and click on it while the whole pane was moving, I am now served an intermediate page. The page does not have a header, it does not explain why is it here. I do not have the patience to read this, but being a regular user I know I need to click ‘Continue to Login’. All the information on this page is a waste of space and time.

Finally, I am at the login page.

Login page appears after a few clicks

This is a much decent page, sort of a prize after negotiating the initial hurdles. Although the fonts, textbox height and padding could have been a bit more expansive.

After logging in, I am now served a dashboard. This is where the whole mess begins again.

Account Summary — part 1

At least it shows me an account summary. However, the top section of the page takes up too much space. I have taken this screenshot of the whole page from my laptop, and I can even see the bottom half of the page. Almost all of the top of the page could go away.

Account summary — part 2

This is the second half of the page, after I scroll down. Totally unnecessary.

The left menu and top menu items are also excessive and could be shortened. More on them perhaps in a later post.

In summary, a performing a login and viewing balance in a netbanking website should not be this difficult. It should be simple and enjoyable. I am no UX expert, but can suggest a few changes immediately, ICICI if you are listening, this is for free:

1. Login page with clickable link. No css mumbo jumbo. Breaks the basic principle of UX design — Simplicity.
2. Big textboxes with bold labels.
3. Reduce clicks, should be on account summary in no more than 2 clicks.
4. Reduce clutter of menus and other useless stuff on account summary page. Show critical information that user is looking for immediately and prominently.
5. Use Scrolling only for secondary information.
6. And finally, please move the Logout button to the right. Its the norm. Breaks the basic principle of UX design — Intuitiveness.

More people should voice their opinions about websites they use regularly. Companies that spend millions in sales and marketing should spend some time and effort in listening to their users as well.