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Meeting the Needs of the Retirement Market Online; New Research Shows Who Does What Well When It Comes to Meeting the Needs of the Retirement Market OnlineMeeting the Needs of the Retirement Market Online; New Research Shows Who Does What Well When It Comes to Meeting the Needs of the Retirement Market Online WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2005--Change Sciences Group released new research today ranking web sites of the retirement industry from the perspective of people looking to make sense of retirement investing and planning. 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. The top three sites are: 1. Vanguard 2. Wells Fargo 3. Piper Jaffray Sites surveyed include: A.G. Edwards, American Century, American Express, Ameritrade, Bank of America, Charles Schwab, Chase, Citibank, E*Trade, Edward Jones, Fidelity, Harris Direct, Merrill Lynch, MetLife, Morgan Stanley, National City, Prudential, Scottrade, Smith Barney, T. Rowe Price, TIAA-CREF, Wachovia, WaMu Financial, and Washington Mutual. 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. Business open community website http://www.business-business.biz Submit articles http://www.business-business.biz/submitstory.php Retirement forum http://www.business-business.biz/forums.php Retirement open community website http://www.retirement-retirement.com Submit articles http://www.retirement-retirement.com/submitstory.php Retirement forum http://www.retirement-retirement.com/forums.php Investment open community website http://www.investment-investment.us Submit articles http://www.investment-investment.us/submitstory.php Investment forum http://www.investment-investment.us/forums.php |
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