Fusionbox was recently featured in the technology section of the national publication, the credit union journal.
The article discusses the use of eyetracking data and how we used this data to place certain elements of the site for better usability.
Fusionbox has designed three Los Angeles based credit union websites. The full article is posted below:
CU Uses Eye Tracking Studies To Create More User-Friendly Website
11/22/2006
by Kevin Jepson, Technology Correspondent
A burst of orange and persimmon floods the eye at the new E1Financial.org.
But not for long.
"We're ready to change the colors," explained LJ Tarman, vice president, marketing, at the $375-million E1 Financial CU here. "Our biggest complaint from members is about color."
Despite the color fumble, E1 Financial mainly hears compliments from members about last year's website "facelift," which was synchronized with the CU's new name and brand campaign, Tarman said.
Text Is "En Vogue"
E1 has also learned that text is "en vogue."
"Web users are jaded," explained Ivy Hastings, director of business development at the Denver-based website development and support firm, Fusionbox, Inc., which helped with E1's new site.
"Better websites are moving away from images and design elements to a clean, text-based call to action and list of the services and features of the site," she asserted.
In deciding where to put things on its new site, E1 Financial relied in part on multiple "eye-tracking" studies, which reveal what users see-or miss-on the web.
"We had six weeks to redesign the site-not a lot of time to really do it right," Hastings explained. "But there were a couple quick and immediate fixes that we knew we could make based on eye-tracking and best practices."
First, E1 moved its logo to the top left, where users' eyes first land, said Hastings.
"This lets the user know who you are, and what you do," she said.
A clearly branded website was especially important as the CU changed its name and logo, said Tarman. "The last thing we wanted was for members to log in and think they were in the wrong place," said Tarman. "To address that concern, for the first several months we had our new logo and our old logo flipping back and forth while members had the site open."
Next, E1 filled the dead center of the page with large, graphic promotions and "calls to action," Hastings said.
"Eye-tracking shows that you start at the top left and move towards the middle," explained Hastings. "Also, we didn't want to use a size that looked like an advertisement, and we didn't use anything blinking or moving."
E1 then dropped in a link to homebanking on the upper right side. "That's where users expect they can perform some kind of action after they have stopped scanning back and forth on the site," Hastings said.
Three Clicks Away
In March, the site will reveal the results of an overhaul that is intended to improve navigation, Tarman said. "Best practices tell us that it shouldn't take more than three clicks to get to anything on the site," she said. "That way, members have more success finding the information they're looking for."
For example, every product on the site will link back to the rates page so that members don't have to search for rates.
E1 won't stop there. "We'll be working with Fusionbox and our agency, Simon + Associates Advertising, for a while. The web is always getting better and faster, and our members continue to demand more information from the site."
"You can never get a site perfect," Hastings added. "You constantly test and refine."
And how will E1 refine the opus in orange on its current site? "We haven't decided on any colors in particular, but our next colors will be more soothing," said Tarman.
CUJ Resources
For info on this story:
* www.e1financial.org
* www.fusionbox.com - a Denver Website Design Company
* www.useit.com
* www.boxesandarrows.com
* www.clickz.com
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