For Customer Experience Professionals

Web Site User Experience 2010: Marketing Software Vendors

Forrester Applies Its Web Site User Experience Review Methodology To Four B2B Software Vendors

by Vidya L. Drego, August 25, 2010

Forrester evaluated the user experience of the Web sites of four large business-to-business (B2B) marketing software vendors: Alterian, Oracle, SAS, and Unica. Overall scores were mediocre: No site received a passing grade. SAS came out on top, standing . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

When To Redesign Your Site: Seven Indicators That It May Be Time For An Online Overhaul

by Vidya L. Drego, August 17, 2010

Clients frequently ask Forrester how often they should redesign their Web site. The answer? Redesign your site when it no longer supports business goals, brand attributes, or user goals. How will site owners know that their sites fall short in one of . . .

For Customer Intelligence Professionals

Organizing For Site Optimization

by Joe Stanhope, August 10, 2010

Incorporating testing into marketing and customer experience management programs is crucial because consumer behaviors change continually and vary by a multitude of dimensions that are nearly impossible to divine by intuition. Fortunately, it's not necessary . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

The ROI Of Personas

by Vidya L. Drego, Moira Dorsey, August 3, 2010

Although spending for research and persona creation is strong among persona advocates, many firms still report difficulty convincing their organizations that personas are worth the seemingly large investment, compared with the overall cost of a site redesign. . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The New Email Marketing Review

Introducing Forrester's Email Marketing Review Methodology 4.0

by Shar VanBoskirk, July 14, 2010

Email is still a fundamental in the interactive marketing tool kit. While its tried and true best practices haven't changed dramatically in the past few years, much about other interactive media has. Forrester updated its email marketing review (EMR) . . .

For Market Research Professionals

A Market Researcher's Introduction To The Future Of Online Customer Experience

by Reineke Reitsma, June 30, 2010

The types of devices people use to connect to the Web are proliferating. Portable devices are rapidly getting more powerful, and as a result, the tradeoff between mobility and capability is shrinking. And as the hardware evolves, the interfaces on the . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Best Practices For Launching Site Redesigns

by Harley Manning, June 23, 2010

When companies redesign sites, users' aversion to change results in problems like spikes in call center traffic and social media backlash. That's because changes in site design force users to learn new interfaces and new process flows in order to accomplish . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

The Four Essentials Of Effective Web Site Intercept Surveys

How To Make Getting Visitor Feedback A Positive Customer Experience

by Andrew McInnes, June 21, 2010

Web site intercept surveys are a popular tool for finding problems with the online experience. But a poorly designed site intercept survey can hurt more than it helps by providing misleading insights and negatively affecting customers' online experiences. . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Benchmarking UK Banks' Sales Sites, 2010

The Co-Operative Bank Has The Best Content And Functionality

by Vanessa Niemeyer, Ph.D., June 16, 2010

Forrester evaluated the Web sites of the 10 largest UK retail banking brands — Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, first direct, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander, The Co-operative Bank, and Yorkshire Bank — using our Web Site Functionality Benchmark methodology. . . .

For Application Development & Delivery Professionals

Business Analysts: Seize The Opportunity To Deliver Compelling User Experiences

Make A Big Difference To Your Organization By Focusing On Its Customers

by Mike Gualtieri, Mary Gerush, May 10, 2010

Is anything more important than how users experience your Web sites and software applications? If your customers can't effectively and efficiently meet their goals by using your sites and apps, they will go elsewhere, leading to lost revenue and increased . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Web Site User Experience 2010: Canadian Banks

Forrester Applies Its Web Site User Experience Review Methodology To The Six Largest Canadian Banks

by Ron Rogowski, April 30, 2010

Forrester evaluated the user experience at the public-facing Web sites of the six leading Canadian banks by assets: Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Scotiabank, and TD Canada Trust. Overall scores were disappointing: . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Web Site User Experience 2010: US Banks

Forrester Applies Its Web Site User Experience Review Methodology To Six Top US Banks

by Harley Manning, April 30, 2010

Forrester evaluated the user experience at the public-facing Web sites of the six leading US banks by assets: Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, PNC Financial Services, US Bank, and Wells Fargo. Overall scores were high, compared with the average for US . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Web Site User Experience 2010: Australian Banks

Forrester Applies Its Web Site User Experience Review Methodology To Australia's "Big Four" Banks

by Steven Noble, April 27, 2010

The "Big Four" players in Australia's well-regulated banking sector emerged from the global financial crisis highly profitable and ready to invest in customer experience. To test how well they serve potential customers through their public-facing Web . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Making Agile Customer-Centric

by Vidya L. Drego, April 7, 2010

Agile offers some advantages for customer experience professionals. But the limited time for user research, design, and testing can pose significant challenges as well. Our interviews have uncovered a number of recommendations to help customer experience . . .

For Customer Intelligence Professionals

How Web Analytics Will Emerge As A Cornerstone Of Customer Intelligence

Using Site-Based Intelligence To Drive Multichannel Marketing Improvements

by Joe Stanhope, March 29, 2010

Marketers today have a dizzying array of online and offline touchpoints at their disposal, but without a doubt all roads lead through the Web. For most organizations, Web sites, microsites, landing pages, communities, and other interactive properties . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Web-Phone User Experience 2010: Discount Retailers

Forrester Applies Its Web-Phone User Experience Review Methodology To Four Top US Firms

by Adele Sage, March 26, 2010

Forrester applied its Web-Phone User Experience Review methodology to the experiences at the four largest discount retailers in the US: Costco, Kmart, Target, and Wal-Mart. The results: Target led the pack, but the overall experiences across the retailers . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

UK Site Search Best Practices: Creating A User-Centered Search Experience

by Harley Manning, March 26, 2010

Users only need two things for a positive site search experience: relevant results and an easy-to-use interface. Fortunately, today's leading sites help users get what they need by implementing best practices like autosuggest features, error recovery . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Scorecard: IVR User Experience Review 8.0

by Adele Sage, March 2, 2010

This is the working scorecard for Forrester's IVR User Experience Review, version 8.0.

For Customer Experience Professionals

Web Site User Experience 2010: Health Plans

Forrester Applies Its Web Site User Experience Review Methodology To Seven Top Health Plans

by Elizabeth Boehm, February 25, 2010

Health plans have invested a lot in their public consumer-facing Web sites. But have those investments yielded consumer-friendly experiences? To find out, Forrester evaluated the public Web sites of seven leading health plans: Aetna, CIGNA, Health Care . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Six Steps To Member-Centric Health Plan Sites

Aligning Member And Business Goals To Get Member Sites Back On Track

by Elizabeth Boehm, February 17, 2010

Health plans track a lot of data about their member sites but still struggle to understand what value it brings to their business and how to improve it. These issues are a sign of a bigger problem: Member sites are flawed. To fix these critical online . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Scorecard: Cross-Channel User Experience Review 8.0

by Adele Sage, February 16, 2010

This is the scorecard for Forrester's Cross-Channel User Experience Review.

For Customer Experience Professionals

Web Site Brand Image Best Practices From Interactive Agencies

by Ron Rogowski, February 12, 2010

As part of a recent evaluation of interactive marketing agencies' Web design capabilities, Forrester applied its Brand Image Review methodology to 36 reference sites provided by 18 agencies. Overall, the agency-created sites we evaluated averaged a passing . . .

For Content & Collaboration Professionals

The Online Customer Engagement Software Ecosystem

Understand Your Options For Supporting Public-Facing Web Sites

by Stephen Powers, February 8, 2010

Information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals who support public-facing Web sites face a potpourri of product options from software vendors. Currently, persuasive content functions — such as content services, analytics, and more — remain . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Trends 2010: North American Retail Banking eBusiness And Channel Strategy

Ten Areas Of Focus For The Next 12 Months

by Brad Strothkamp, February 5, 2010

2010 is shaping up to be a much better year for retail banking. While there will undoubtedly be lingering effects of the recession, the industry feels that that the worst is behind it. So what should eBusiness and channel strategy executives expect for . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Mapping The Customer Journey

Best Practices For Using An Important Customer Experience Tool

by Bruce D. Temkin, February 5, 2010

Left to their own devices, companies often neglect customers. But they don't need to. We recommend that organizations use customer journey maps to examine interactions from their customers' points of view. Mapping the customer journey requires five steps: . . .