“My account”, a global UX study of the client area

UX best practices for “My Account” was the theme in an international study performed in 14 countries by UXalliance partners, including Mercedes Sanchez Usabilidade e Pesquisa, in Brazil.

The “My Account” area is an online environment that is protected by a login and password, offering personalized content and features to the user. This area is sometimes called the “Client Area”.

In most countries, two companies in each of the sectors chosen for the study, telecom and electric, were analyzed. In total, 52 “My Account” areas were evaluated around the world, on desktop and tablet.

For each company, 5 basic activities that clients can perform in the “My Account” area were analyzed, including, for example: address change, verification of consumption, view previous month’s bill. Analysis began last year and ended a few weeks ago, with consolidation of the results.

UX professionals rated the companies from 1 (Very bad) to 6 (Excellent) using several User Experience evaluation criteria. The global average for User Experience in the “My Account” area for telecom and electric companies was “Sufficient”, with the following grades:

• Telecom: 3.7
• Electric: 3.2

Brazilian telecom companies were below the global average, occupying the bottom positions. Brazilian electric companies were closer to the global average.

Few companies around the world were rated “Very Good” and very few were rated “Excellent”.

During the months of the study, 77% of the companies evaluated worldwide did not offer their clients one or more of the 5 basic activities.

In Brazil, none of the 4 companies evaluated offered all 5 basic activities.

To see how to improve the “My Account” experience and to check the practices adopted by companies in countries like the USA, the Netherlands, Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic, you can download a summary of the study, in poster format, that has been translated into Portuguese. If you want the entire study, in English, you may contact us and request it.