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Websites Ranked for Best Retirement Investment Help
Oct. 11, 2005 – Looking for help with investing and
planning for retirement? The fastest place to look is the Internet but a
company that consults about online business says many searchers are
coming away dissatisfied with the Web experience. Change Sciences Group
today released their ranking of 27 web sites from the perspective of
people looking to make sense of retirement investing and planning.
| |
Customer
Experience Ranking |
|
| |
|
Rank |
Site |
Friction Index |
Score |
|
1 |
Vanguard |
19% |
2.507 |
|
2 |
Wells
Fargo |
51% |
4.112 |
|
3 |
Piper
Jaffray |
54% |
4.440 |
|
4 |
American
Express |
58% |
4.876 |
|
5 |
Edward
Jones |
60% |
5.103 |
|
6 |
Prudential |
62% |
5.302 |
|
7 |
T. Rowe
Price |
62% |
5.341 |
|
8 |
American
Century |
62% |
5.394 |
|
9 |
E*Trade |
64% |
5.612 |
|
10 |
Fidelity |
65% |
5.804 |
|
11 |
Merrill
Lynch |
68% |
6.351 |
|
12 |
Charles
Schwab |
69% |
6.470 |
|
13 |
National
City |
70% |
6.709 |
|
14 |
Citibank |
70% |
6.801 |
|
15 |
TIAA-CREF |
70% |
6.846 |
|
16 |
Washington
Mutual |
71% |
7.107 |
|
17 |
Wachovia |
73% |
7.437 |
|
18 |
A.G.
Edwards |
73% |
7.501 |
|
19 |
Smith
Barney |
74% |
7.718 |
|
20 |
WaMu
Financial |
74% |
7.932 |
|
21 |
Scottrade |
75% |
8.140 |
|
22 |
Chase |
76% |
8.671 |
|
23 |
Morgan
Stanley |
77% |
8.867 |
|
24 |
Harris
Direct |
78% |
9.217 |
|
25 |
Ameritrade |
79% |
9.550 |
|
26 |
Bank of
America |
80% |
10.289 |
|
27 |
MetLife |
83% |
12.391 |
|
|
The research identifies dozens of best practices
that firms offering retirement solutions can use to improve their sites,
benefiting both customers and the bottom line.
"Gen Y is rolling into the workforce over the next
decade. They are the largest generation since the Boomers. They need
retirement solutions, they don't know much about it, and they're going
online to figure it out," said Steve Ellis, a Change Sciences partner.
"Companies that want to dominate are going to need to make changes to
meet the needs of the online prospect."
Highlights from the research include:
-- Discount brokers are not doing much better than
full service brokers.
-- Only 40% of sites provide a good first
impression to people who are completely new to retirement planning.
-- Only three out of 27 sites provide a good first
impression to people looking to roll over a 401k to an IRA.
-- 60% of sites do not provide even the most basic
information about retirement fundamentals.
-- Many of the sites that do provide this
information are taking a kitchen sink approach to content about
retirement: throw in everything you can think of and perhaps something
will work.
-- Significant confusion exists over how to present
the different types of retirement accounts, and only 63% make it easy to
compare the two main retirement account types: Roth IRAs and Traditional
IRAs. Of these, only 29% make it easy to get to this information.
-- 45% of sites don't provide interactive tools to
help people learn if they are saving enough. 66% of these tools have
well-known usability problems that can be eliminated with improved
designs.
-- Only 44% of sites make it easy to find out how
to apply for an IRA.
For a detailed research overview and complete
ranking of all 27 sites visit:
http://www.changesciences.com/d/research.html
Change Sciences was founded in January 2000 to help
companies optimize online business by basing decisions on how people use
technology while they live, work, and play.
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