2002 Credit Union Website Usability Issue One - Crucial Forms Hidden from View

By Donovan Myers
Posted on Jan 1, 2003

Surely these forms aren’t meant to be hidden intentionally…they are simply hard to locate, buried under layers of clicks. Blame poor web site architecture, lack of growth-management, non-standard maintenance or a new term, “link decay” which refers to shuffling pages and links without proper testing. Regardless, if a member has to search for a loan application, membership change of information or inquiry form that resides three or more clicks below the surface, research shows they are not likely to use them.

Note the breadcrumbs at the top of the page indicating how many levels your users had to click.

The Fix: No crucial form should be more than three clicks below the main page. Optimally, crucial forms that enable member self-service should be two clicks away. An Application/Form Repository page linked from the main page can accomplish this purpose nicely. This does not mean that these forms can’t appear deeper into the web site. Numerous opportunities for the placement of links to forms exist within product and service specific sections, and these should be taken advantage of.