Why so slow?

Yes, Internet Banking, I’m talking about you. You, with your self service features, your reduced TCO and your oh so shiny new graphics. Yes, you’re faster than the call centre (if my call is important to you, then why don’t you pick up the phone?) and yes you’re faster than going into a branch. But I can buy a book on Amazon faster than I can move money between my accounts. Or pay a bill. And every page takes an AGE to load...

Next time you log into your Internet banking and need to do more than one thing, count the number of times you have to enter your password. My last visits were 5 and 6. Seriously. Then time how long a statement takes to load. Or a search. IF the search even works correctly. Then compare THAT to Amazon.

I like coffee. Bear with me. Since working at home full time, my little Nespresso machine has been working harder and harder. Why? Well, I like coffee and I like good coffee. But what I really like, is good coffee fast. I could find the best beans, patiently grind them, get a complex Italian machine with a 100 page manual that talks about pressure and evacuating steam. Spend the time learning how to do it properly and make a great coffee. I use my little Nespresso machine. It’s just as fast (faster?) than instant, and it makes a lot better coffee. The coffee may not be quite as good as doing it “properly”, but it is a lot faster. And easy to use.

I like snowboarding. Actually, I love it. But since the kids came along, my regular trips to Canada have disappeared. This year, we went on our first family skiing holiday - I snowboarded, in Europe. As I sat on a button lift - my quads screaming in agony as meter by terrifyingly slow meter passed by, it struck me that I was only using this horrible drag lift because there was NO OTHER WAY to get to the top. If it had been faster it would have hurt less.

It's not just me. Research shows that fast response times leads to higher flow states (Skadberg & Kimmel 2004), improved conversion rates (Akamai 2007) and lower user frustration (Ceaparu et al. 2004) while slow download times reduced perceived trustworthiness (Nielsen 1999). Nielsen also calls responsiveness a "basic user interface design rule that's dictated by human needs" (Alertbox, June 2010).

So, yes Internet Banking, I use you but only because there isn’t really another way.  But like that drag lift, I want you to be faster. A high speed chair lift would be nice.