Warning: This site has changed!
September 9th, 2007 Posted in Grade BToyota did a good job redesigning its financial services site but notification of the change was hard to find.
Event: Online car payment
Location: Online
Company: Toyota Financial Services
Customer Experience Grade: B
What was done right:
The last time I visited the Toyota Financial Services Web site, I found that they had done a total overhaul of the site. It was not just window dressing but they made a real effort to improve the customer experience. Even the decision to use a thumbnail of the customer’s car was a good touch that helped personalize the experience and increase the connection with the customer.
What was done wrong:
Upon arriving at the site, my first reaction was that I had mistyped the url. I eventually found information about the redesign on the bottom left of the home page but I found their efforts to publicize the change lacking. In an era where it definitely pays to be suspicious about sites that don’t appear as they should (or as you expect), I would have appreciated more transparency from Toyota about the change to the site. In particular, for sites that deal with private financial information, the ultimate measure of customer satisfaction and of good customer experience is that customers have confidence in the security of the site and the safety of the online transactions they conduct.
Suggestions to Improve the Customer Experience:
- Provide information on the old site leading up to the change to help align customers expectations.
- For at least the first month or so, make more of an effort to highlight that a change has taken place. This could include more prominent location for the “Tour our new Website” feature and, personally, I would like to see a date on the page indicating when the change was effected.
- Make more of an effort to reach out to customers via email prior to the change
