Fortune 100 website reviews : #79 WAMU: wake me up before you go-go

Ya see, I’ve got this kid that I sometimes have to look after. He’s only a few months into the world. He tends to delay my blog posts. That’s okay though. He’s got a really great toothless smile that makes me crack up.

Enough with the excuses, we’re on to Fortune 100 #97 – the web site.

And that would be a recently failing business known as Washington Mutual, which many of us affectionately call WAMU. Said recently-failing-business was picked up by Chase Bank, which leads me to two rants.

The first rant homes in on how much large businesses put into their interactive strategies. While everyone is now on the “I need to have a web site train,” not everyone sees the need to actually put money into a full fledged interactive plan. You’d think, though, as I mentioned in my first Fortune 100 post, that the Fortune 100 would a) have enough money to through money at it, or b) Have enough people on the payroll that were smart enough to know the difference between a cool web site and a really live plan.

I think the evolution has come full circle.

Now that companies realize they need more than just a PDF style home page, especially when it comes to banking, they think a web site is the solution. But when you’re talking about a multibillion dollar juggernaut, “a web site” is not the answer. “An interactive solution” is. That includes an interactive email, and web PRESENCE that includes functionality, microsites and integrated systems.

Every customer needs an account and I don’t care what industry you’re in. Account info should be readily available; company and customer news; something that gives them a piece of the brand. They should be able to receive automated email reminders, newsletters, and account alerts, a WAP site, mobile text alerts, all the bells and whistles. It’s an ongoing dialogue. The conversation should never die.

And that costs money. The good news about this is that people are finally getting it. Interactive spending is expected to continue rising.

A sure sign of this is that small and medium sized businesses are even shelling out the cash.

That’s a good sign. Because, while big companies tend to ride on the fad wagon, the smaller one can’t afford it. That’s not to say the biggies won’t through money in the wrong direction.

And that leads me to my second rant: leave it to the experts. There’s a reason people who work on the web are considered different. They actually are.

They think differently and they work differently. The web is a multi-horned animal. That’s not to say that anyone can’t understand it. But it does take some study. It’s like trying to snowboard after you’ve been skiing. Sure, they’re both downhill sports but the muscles you you are just different.

People who try to redesign a web site or interfere with the process tend to get caught up in the wow factor and forget that the goal is to serve the customer or client. While it’s important to achieve your business objectives, don’t forget your purpose is to drain the swamp.

So what about WAMU?

Well, you’ve got two things going on here. First, you’ve got a takeover/merger. That means a redesign, which most companies translate into re-skinning. Since this post will already be way too long, I’ll save re-skinning for another time.

What about rebrranding? WAMU does have some of that, but not much. WAMU customers need an explanation, front and center. Do I stay on this site. Will I have a new account number? What’s gonna happen to my money. All the obvious stuff. Next, we have a fantastic incredible amazing piggy bank clip art! Hello McFly!! And what’s with the top nav? It’s stacked up so close together with a light grey text that it’s almost unreadable. I went to the Internet Archive to see the old version but alas, my browser could not see it clearly.

I’m beginning to see why, aside from all the extra banking locations, they didn’t make it.

If you do want to see someone who’s doing it right, visit Bank of America.The catch, though, with a bank is that you really can’t appreciate a good banking web without being a customer. And I don’t know anyone who would share their account information without filling out one of those new “5 question banking survey” scams.

You can see that BOA is doing it right though. They were one of the first to have a .mobi site and have a completely integrated system, complete with phone banking, online banking and bill pay, alerts, email, customer-to-customer transactions and much. much more!

They’re constantly tweaking and that can be a very good thing.