How Tony C's It

“We have reviewed  your CV and I’m sorry to inform you that we won’t be proceeding any further with your application.”

These are words that many of us will be greeted by as we try and navigate this thing called life. I have recently completed a course in Design Thinking in order to aid my knowledge and develop skills on a new career path. The notion of User Experience was first introduced to me two years ago when I got paid for sharing my opinions on using a banking website for an hour. What interested me from an online background is that there’s more to producing a succesful website than just hiring someone savvy to code and make your presence a graphical one. I have always worked along the lines that good customer service is valued above all else. That’s why the likes of Amazon are succesful, you trust them. User Experience explores the customer construct, what works and what needs to be where so your customer is engaged in your site, not turned off.

I have talked to people about UX recruitment before and brought up the subject of having a degree, this was always my stumbling block. However being told that ‘having an interest’ was a good alternative spurred me on. Having applied with examples of my design thinking work,  I’ve now found out that isn’t enough. It’s just my personal opinion but degrees are overrated. We are now at a point where information is easily accessible, give yourself a structure and you can learn anything. Most educational establishments are just giving structure and some official paper at the end of it. I would hope my experiences of working online, dealign with customers etc gives me an alternate stance on design rather than a great knowledge of technical jargon.

 ”We’re really sorry but as much as we’d like to we are unable to provide you with any feedback in support of our decision.”

Getting feedback on any application is always tough, I’ve had interviews where you don’t even get feedback so why would companies spend valuable time giving feedback to unsuccesful applicants.

So from this setback, I am still being proactive, still learning and trying and eventually something will break. I’m glad that I’m looking into an industry where there is a great deal of interaction and community and that the majority of people are very approachable. I still keeping at it and if I have to, I’ll go it alone.

What I would say to would be recruiters is that there are people out there with a genuine interest in your field, who can be moulded and would welcome the opportunity.

There was an article from This Is Money this weekend that caught my attention. Having been a user of HSBC’s new online banking security for a few weeks, I had been waiting for stories like those in the article to raise their heads.

We use online banking because it’s a help, you can access your finances from a computer anywhere in the world and make transactions with ease. It saves time, save’s you having to queue at the bank, make the trip to the bank or suffer the banality of elevator music as you wait on hold to speak to someone from Asia tying to get a handle on the English Language.

HSBC’s previous method of log in to their services was using a pin number and user name that the user would have chosen. But this in itself was not great from a usability standpoint. Each user would have their own ID, not something you yourself would have picked but rather a long winded letter/number ID. A cookie would remember the ID but wrongly enter your pass details once and this would disappear.Your option then to access your bank accounts would be to either phone HSBC or try and find the flimsy piece of card with the number on in your wallet.

So as technology progresses and our lives and online processes are meant to be made easier, HSBC have gone and added another layer of security to their online banking system. The result is something that is frustrasting, cumbersome and gives an experience that feels like it hasn’t been tested before being rolled out.

What you’re looking at is the HSBC Secure Key. It’s a small piece of plastic and akin to a cheap calculator you may find in a pound shop. Turn it on and enter your pin, press a button and you’re given a security code allowing you to log in to your accounts with a security question for added measure, interestingly this security question never changes. Let’s look at the usability of the device itself. Well touch screen it isn’t . The buttons aren’t responsive to touch and I’ve found the only way to get it to spark to life is to jam my finger hard into it. – not great.

It’s also not responsive to user error, if you’ve put your pin in incorrectly it will come up with an error code, having followed the instructions online, I found it still didn’t want to kick back into life – very annoying.

What annoys me most is the practicality of the device. It’s just another thing you have to carry around with you and due to it’s size it can easily be mislaid unless you attach to something like your keys etc. It’s a hinderance to making the accessible unaccessible.

The log in process is also extended, not simplified and doesn’t take into account that a user may be logging into their accounts from anywhere. Let’s take a scenario where you’re on holiday, you want to check your balance so you find a computer and get online. Most log in processes will rely on your personally set log in details, things you’ve chosen that are unique to you and memorable. The HSBC log in first requires your user ID, as it’s assigned to you and not really a memorable format then I guess your instant access to your online baking from anywhere in the world just became complicated. If you’re able to get your wallet out and get your ID, then move onto the next stage and enter a memorable piece of information that says “this is me, this is unique to me”…fine, that’s what we’re used to but then comes the ID required from your pocket security calculator…left it at the hotel? Well in that case….no online banking for you my friend and that bamboo panda will just have to wait!

In design there is a gap in the site layout of the log in stages  that gives instruction on how to use the Secure Key. Use the key once and you’ll know how it works so it doesn’t need to be interfering with your log in every time. Take into account the 30 second window you have before the device turns off and you have a spanner in the usability works.

For me and it seems a lot of other users, this is a step back in online banking. For a bank whose motto is ‘the worlds local bank’, they have introduced something that is really only making a user’s experience better from a security point of view if they’re sat at their own computer with the necessary tools.

Maybe I’m being too harsh but when something is introduced that has customers thinking about changing banks than you have to ask, were customers asked in the first place for feedback?

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Online Banking is great isn’t it – no longer to we have to wait frustrated in line to pay a bill whilst listening the drawn out chatter from the elderly customer sharing her life story with the counter staff. No, a few clicks and I’m moving money around, paying bills and seeing what’s going where, all from the comfort of my sofa.

But of course when you’re confronted with a message like the one above then simplicity is thrown out of the window and in comes frustration. So looking at this message above, as the user I have no idea what this error code is, it means nothing to me and all I’m left with is having to make a phone call. We all know what this means, waiting on hold to listen to easy listening pan pipes before having to go through numerous security checks, all of which you’ve been asked for online already. So having called Santander, I am told that is a problem they are encountering with internal transations and one which should be resolved within the next few days. We all accept that problems can occur and that they are being addressed. But this was the response I recieved nearly four weeks ago and the error code is still sitting there laughing at me today.

As a user experience, Santander are not really using basic fundementals of online banking and online use in general. It all comes down to simplicity and keeping the user informed. The cost of putting in an update informing the customer of the current problems is non-exisitent in comparison to the time and cost spent on call centre staff having to take calls from customers asking just what a 0000 code is. Time and money which could be better spent on dealing with other customer issues.

If I had to sit down with those in charge of online operations for Santander, my reccomendations as a user would be to implement news and service situation updates. I am also bemused at any online operation that doesn’t give customers the option to contact them by e-mail or via online chat. Having telephone as the only contact option totally negates the online experience.

So I dream of a day when I’ll be able to pay my Santander credit card from my Santander account online again. Until that day do you think they’ll just let me not pay until it’s fixed? (I highly doubt it!)

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Tony Allen is a dabbler in E-commerce, online usability, design thinking and whether the retirement of the Coco Pops monkey in favour of Jedward will bring forth the apocolypse. He is based in Norwich, England and will consider any job offers as long as the money’s good and the tea and coffee are are modest.

There’s nothing more satisfying that taking advantage of an online offer and getting stuff for free/discount. Last week I took advantage of milkandmore’s £10 discount for new customers. On saturday I recieved some goodies direct to my door. This part was great, however as a website and user experience, the site has some issues.

When you click to order a product you are greeted with a pop up window where you can select your delivery date. You have to do this everytime you add something to your basket. I found it a bit long winded, I would say that the large majority of users are going to place an order wanting it all delivered at once. This pop up window also had some bugs with firefox which meant I had to switch over to Internet Explorer.

When you add items to your basket, there is no running total of how much you’re spending. As I had a free tenner, I wanted to choose items up to the value of this, having to start your windows calculator to do your sums takes your attention from the website and really a subtotal of goods in a basket is pretty much standard on any e-commerce site and should be applied here.

Once you’ve placed an order, you’d expect to see it listed under your account details but it isn’t. Should you wish to amend or cancel you have to look elsewhere – again the majority of users will expect their order details to in an account section, as this is familiar practice with e-commerce sites.

So milkandmore is a nice little update to the old days of the milkman but the site needs improvement if it’s going to bring back customers who now get their dairy and grocery needs catered for by the big supermarkets rather than the local milkman.