For Customer Experience Professionals

Web Site Brand Experience 2010: Auto Manufacturers

Forrester Applies Its Web Site Brand Experience Review Methodology To Five Top Sites

by Adele Sage, September 2, 2010

The multibillion-dollar auto industry features some of the most recognized brand names in the US, like Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota. But how good is the brand experience offered by major auto manufacturer brands' Web sites? To find out, . . .

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

Web Site User Experience 2010: UK Grocers

Forrester Applies Its Web Site User Experience Review Methodology To Four Top UK Grocers

by Jonathan Browne, August 18, 2010

Forrester evaluated the user experience at the Web sites of four leading UK online grocery retailers: Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose. Overall scores were above average, but no site passed our review. The most common usability flaws we uncovered . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Web Site Functionality Benchmark 2010: UK Grocers

Top UK Grocers

by Patti Freeman Evans, Lauriane Camus, August 18, 2010

Forrester evaluated the grocery Web sites of the four largest UK grocers — Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose — using our Web Site Functionality Benchmark methodology. The results: Sainsbury's led the pack, but the overall functionality experiences . . .

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 eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Global Online Population Forecast, 2009 To 2014

An Overview Of Global Adoption To Help Plan For International Initiatives

by Zia Daniell Wigder, August 17, 2010

Between 2005 and 2009, the global Internet population increased from fewer than one billion to more than 1.6 billion; by 2014, it is projected to grow by another 42%. The bulk of the population growth will come from Asia, which will represent 44% of the . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How To Make Mega-Drop-Down Menus Work

by Ron Rogowski, August 4, 2010

Mega-drop-down menus enable designers to quickly route site visitors to content that resides deep within a site's hierarchy without obligating them to sort through multiple menu layers. But once users are past the home page, forcing them to rely on hidden . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

US Physician Web Sites: Poorly Designed And Underutilized

by Elizabeth Boehm, July 13, 2010

Most industries take basic Web capabilities, such as offering essential information about the business and some basic communication capability, for granted — but the medical industry can't. Physicians and other health professionals have been late to the . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

BBVA Makes Online Banking Customized, Aggregated, Relevant, And Social

CARS Improves Customer Experience And Supports The Bank's Growth Strategy

by Jonathan Browne, July 8, 2010

Forrester has predicted that the next generation of online experiences will be customized, aggregated, relevant, and social (CARS). We can already see early examples of companies that are transforming their digital offerings with these attributes. At . . .

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 Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

How To Build A Mobile Web Site

Choosing An Approach To Meet Your Objectives Cost-Effectively

by Julie A. Ask, June 29, 2010

The browser-based mobile Web experience is more important than ever, with dramatic growth in the usage of the mobile Internet — especially from smartphones — in the past 24 months. In 2009, consumer brands built iPhone applications; they are now asking . . .

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

Web Site User Experience 2010: UK Banks

Forrester Applies Its Web Site User Experience Review Methodology To Four Top UK Banks

by Jonathan Browne, June 16, 2010

Forrester evaluated the user experience at the public-facing Web sites of the four leading UK banks by share of primary current accounts: Lloyds TSB, Barclays Bank, NatWest, and HSBC Bank. No site passed our review, but overall scores were above average. . . .

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 eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

2010 US Auto Insurance Secure Site Rankings

Progressive Secures The Top Position, Barely Edging Out GEICO

by Chad Mitchell, June 14, 2010

Forrester evaluated the secure Web sites of the four largest US private passenger auto insurance providers — Allstate Insurance, GEICO, Progressive Casualty Insurance, and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance — using our Web Site User Experience and . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How Satisfied Are Consumers With Web Site Experiences In 2010?

Consumers Rate Their Satisfaction With 87 Web Sites Across 13 Industries

by Megan Burns, June 14, 2010

Forrester recently asked US online consumers to rate their satisfaction with Web site experiences at companies they've done business with across multiple industries. When the results were tallied, retail and financial services dominated the top 10 rankings. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Scorecard: Mobile Web Site User Experience Review 2.0

by Vidya L. Drego, June 7, 2010

This is the working scorecard for Forrester's Mobile Web Site User Experience Review, version 2.0.

For Customer Experience Professionals

Web Site Brand Image Best Practices From UK Interactive Agencies

by Jonathan Browne, May 20, 2010

As part of a recent evaluation of UK interactive marketing agencies' Web design capabilities, Forrester applied its Brand Image Review methodology to 18 reference sites provided by nine agencies. We uncovered several best practices. Nike's remarkable . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Introducing Forrester's Online Video Product Scorecard

Evaluate And Improve Your Video Product Strategy

by Nick Thomas, April 30, 2010

Over the past year, our video strategy series has presented the business-case goals and best practices for adding video to your Web site. This report introduces an online video product scorecard that enables companies to score and benchmark their efforts, . . .

For CMO & Marketing Leadership Professionals

Create An Adaptive Global Organization

Your Geographic Context Frames Your Route To Adaptive Marketing

by Steven Noble, April 27, 2010

Economic turmoil, digital marketing, social media, and maladaptive organizational charts are converging, encouraging marketing leaders to restructure their global teams. They should create an adaptive global organization. However, marketers will have . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Search And Email Marketing Tactics To Attract International Online Shoppers

A Look At US Online Retailers' Marketing Efforts Outside Of The Country

by Zia Daniell Wigder, April 6, 2010

US-based online retailers looking to attract international shoppers rely on multiple online marketing tactics to support their global offerings, but paid search and email marketing remain two of the most popular. Despite the fact that most companies have . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Understanding Asia Pacific IT Users' Demand For Language Interfaces

by Tim Sheedy, April 1, 2010

The Asia Pacific (AP) region is one of many complexities for regional firms and for those entering the market from outside the region. Understanding language requirements is one of the many challenges that sourcing teams face when designing their specs . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: UK Interactive Agencies — Web Design Capabilities, Q1 2010

Detica And Sapient Interactive Lead With AKQA Closely Following

by Jonathan Browne, March 31, 2010

In Forrester's evaluation of the Web design capabilities of nine leading UK interactive marketing agencies across 19 criteria, we found that Detica and Sapient Interactive led the pack for transaction-led projects, due in large part to the high usability . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Site Search Best Practices: Methods For Creating A Positive Search Experience

by Ron Rogowski, March 5, 2010

Site search is a critical but unfulfilling part of Web site user experiences. As complex as search may seem, users only need two things for a positive site search experience: relevant results and a useful interface. Today's leading sites use a number . . .

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 . . .