Open Web Study
How a site stacks up with competitive offerings leads to significant improvements
A leading financial services company wanted to optimize its web experience for a particular service. It was necessary to understand how users shopped for this service and how the website compared to competitive offerings.
AnswerLab recommended an open web research study in order to measure the reactions of a large sample of users. The sample consisted of nearly 200 prospects and 200 switchers, and participants were asked to search for a company that provided the particular service, and then rate competitive offerings.
Several key areas for improvement were uncovered by the research: the site didn’t show up for some of the leading search terms participants used to find the service, and user ratings found that only 60% of visitors said their needs were met by the site, compared to 90% or more of competitive site visitors. The lack of pricing information was a leading reason for visitor dissatisfaction. The company was able to add important keywords to their search engine marketing efforts. The addition of pricing information and other key comparison charts led to increased user adoption.
