When it comes to brokerage firm websites, designed to inform investors about their transactions, one of the first things one would think they'd get right would be providing them with their account information. Apparently, they don't.
When it comes to brokerage firm websites, designed to inform investors about their transactions, one of the first things one would think they'd get right would be providing them with their account information.
Apparently, they don't.
In a survey by customer experience researcher Corporate Insight, just 15% of brokerage firms earned a “good” rating for providing adequate account information. That's despite 89% of the 1,000 retail investors they surveyed saying that a company's brokerage website is fundamental to their connection with their primary brokerage firm. Mediocre account alerts and the lack of performance analysis tools are two of the biggest issues.
Of the nearly 100 website features that investors rated in Corporate Insight's 2011 Brokerage Website Audit Investor Survey, nine of the 15 most important features are account information-related.
Quotes and other trader tools remain an essential part of the brokerage website, according to survey respondents. The survey, which included investors who logged into their brokerage account at least once in the past month, revealed that 72% of investors think that it's very important that a website provide detailed quotes, while 68% said charts for stocks, mutual funds and indexes are very important. Through the auditing process, Corporate Insight found that most brokerages have improved their quotes, charts, and ETF- and options-screening tools substantially since 2007.
“Since our first investor survey in 2003, account information has been, and continues to be, the single-most-important component of the brokerage site to investors,” said James McGovern, vice president of Corporate Insight.
Robust features and the ability to perform a higher range of activities on a company's website comparatively do much better when it comes to customer satisfaction than when the website lacks performance-enhancing features. Incorporating more developmental online features appears to be a pressing matter for brokerage firm websites, and in the age of hip and new technological advancements, it seems they have quite a ways to go.
“Firms, especially smaller, more regional brokerage firms, are used to a more traditional adviser/investor relationship,” Mr. McGovern said, “but they're beginning to come around.”
