The Website Audit is Corporate Insight’s most comprehensive benchmarking service, enabling you to compare the performance of your firm’s website against the sites of your competitors in all major online competencies. The Brokerage Website Audit was introduced in 2004 and was re-launched in 2007 with updated criteria to reflect the continuing evolution of the retail brokerage industry. The Bank Website Audit debuted in late 2005, with grades regularly refreshed by our team.

Using a weighted scoring model based on actual customer survey data, the Audit provides you with a clear view of your key strengths and weaknesses relative to the industry. Employing our proprietary Audit software, our consultants are able to deliver you a set of customized recommendations that will make your website a true competitive asset.

The Website Audit encompasses both the public and private (client access) websites, dividing them into more than half a dozen major categories (e.g., Account Information, Products & Services, Prospect Experience, etc.) and some three to four dozen sub-categories, which vary based on your specific industry (e.g., bank, brokerage, credit card, etc.):

• Online Bill Pay
• Customer Service Email/Chat
• Online Account Application
• Menu Structure/Navigation
• Stock Trading

We grade your site and the sites of your competitors on the basis of 200+ individual website attributes, which reveal your core competitive strengths and weaknesses and allow our industry analysts to create a customized set of recommendations to help you become “best of breed.”

Methodology

The Website Audit uses our proprietary methodology to provide you with a full assessment of your site’s strengths and weaknesses:

• Defining the Framework – We have created a set of fundamental categories, sub-categories and attributes for each industry that focuses on the full range of services offered by retail financial websites; all significant public and private site features are analyzed in a methodical and detailed fashion, using such attributes as:
  • Usability
  • Navigation
  • Printability
  • Customizability
  • Data Detail
  • And other attributes, as merited
• Consumer Survey – For the Bank Audit, a large-scale survey of bank website users was conducted in 2005 to determine the importance of each category, sub-category and attribute to several key consumer groups. A similar survey was also conducted for the Brokerage Website Audit in 2004 and again in May 2007.
• Establish Grading Criteria – Each firm will receive a grade on a 4-point scale – from Poor to Excellent – for each analyzed attribute. Our objective, transparent grading criteria allow us to evaluate all sites on a consistent and fair basis drawing on our detailed knowledge of industry best practices.


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• Detailed Website Analysis – Our expert analysts will perform an exhaustive analysis of your site and the sites of your competitors, grading each site on the 200+ attributes that make up the framework of the Audit.


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• Proprietary Software Analysis – Analysts’ findings are entered into our sophisticated, proprietary software that allows you to apply importance weightings to scores, to determine how well sites in the study meet the needs of various user groups identified in our survey. The software also allows you to run “What If?” modeling, enabling you to better plan site enhancements by gauging the impact of site changes before they are implemented.
• Recommendations – Our analytical software determines changes that need to be made to your site to make it “best in class,” identifying those areas needing particular attention that, if improved, will yield the most significant positive impact on your scores given the results of our customer survey.

Since 2004, Corporate Insight has completed several Bank and Brokerage Website Audits for leading financial firms; 401(k), Credit Card and Mutual Fund Website Audit services are in development.

For more information about how the Website Audit service can help you improve the online experience of your customers, helping to build brand and client loyalty, please contact Bob Burlin at 212-832-2002 x.115, or email him at rburlin@corporateinsight.com.

We look forward to serving your competitive intelligence needs.