HSBC really knows how to annoy their patrons!
November 10th, 2008Sorry, it’s not the annoying, never ending, black hole of a phone system that all banks seem to love. It’s not even the ridiculously long teller lines or even the 1 out of 7 drive through lanes that are open during your lunch break.
No, HSBC has manage to take something as simple as logging into their online banking system and turned it into a confusing and tedious process that makes one cringe every time you go through the ordeal.
A few months ago when HSBC.com would load, there were no input fields to login a shiny new online banking account. Not even a button to link the user to a login page. Rather, they supplied their users with a secluded “Internet Banking” link in the top right of the page.
One would think to themselves, “alright, maybe clicking this will allow me to log in…”
Unfortunately this is not the case, this is the page you’re presented with:
Not the instant gratification login fields that one would hope for. They have chosen to provide their user with the option to log into either a business account (I won’t go into mow much worse the business access is- but it eventually goes to the same system as Personal Banking).
The problem with this from a usability standpoint is that the two links are exactly identical. A user will either click the wrong link or will become distressed by constantly referencing the section titles “Personal Banking” or “Business Banking to make sure they click the right link.
A simpler and more user friendly approach -besides the obvious login fields- would be to name each link with their appropriate section. Something along the lines of “Personal Banking for United States of America” rather that just “United States of America”.
Continuing on now, lets click the link and login!
Oh wait, what’s this? Is this a sick mind game!? Just show the user a login field already and let them see how much money they have lost in the past 3 weeks.
At least finally there is a visual on a “login” link, so this must be it! On the next page we are ready to login and enter usernames and passwords and forge into the magical world of online fiscal management.
Doh, just a username? Then the user has to click AGAIN to continue to enter a password. But this silly charade wouldn’t be complete without one more shenanigan:
No! The dreaded double password! This is not your standard annoying double password either. This is the cluster-f**k of all logins. One requires the use of your keyboard to login, and the other the mouse to painstakingly click each letter for the second password.
We all understand what HSBC is trying to do here, security is very important. But by requiring two “complex” passwords, HSBC is only asking for trouble for frustrated user who will have to jot down their two separate, complex passwords onto a sticky note and post it on the side of their monitor.
About a month ago, someone at HSBC finally decided to add a link to “log on” right on the home page. When I first saw this, I was excited! No more painful meandering through their website to log into their system. But that excitement was soon lost when clicking it only puts me back on the Internet Banking page with no login box to be seen.
