Segment: Credit Cards
Publication date: Friday, February 26, 2010
# Pages: (75 pages)

Abstract | Table of Contents

This Bank Monitor Report investigates the layout and design of the FAQ sections currently available from online banking site. Though all FAQ sections share the same basic “question and answer” format, the way these sections are laid out is different at each firm. In addition, some banks offer a centralized repository of FAQs accessible from all areas of the public and private sites, while others offer embedded FAQ sections and linked questions directly within product pages and next to private site tools.

In particular, our examination of Online FAQs focuses on the following questions:

• What topic areas are covered by FAQs?
• How and where do firms link to their various FAQ sections?
• How are FAQ answers generated?
• Are product-based FAQs offered?

Currently, every firm offers at least a limited FAQ section for clients, with 15 of the 16 banks we track providing public site FAQs that cover general account and/or online banking questions. Only 31% of firms also offer dedicated private site FAQs, though more than half of all firms offer links to their public FAQs from the private site, making dedicated client-site FAQs less of a necessity. Oddly, only a few firms offer prominent static links to their FAQ sections. Instead, many banks locate links to their FAQ mainpage inside either a Customer Service area of the site, or with their static Help centers.

Among the various banks, there are three prevalent FAQ designs. The classic FAQ design provides a list of hyperlinked questions at the top of each FAQ page, each of which is connected to the appropriate answer further down the page. This design is still utilized at six firms. Newer FAQ designs include pages where answers load just beneath expandable questions when the question is clicked, and two-framed designs with questions and topics listed in the left column and answers loading in the right. Both of these designs provide a more streamlined FAQ experience, as clients are not forced to jump around on a page in order to have multiple FAQs answered.

Subjects

Customer service, help, & support

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