- U.S. Bank Takes First for Overall Customer Experience and Scores Tops in Site Reliability

- Citi Takes First for Responsiveness (Speed) in Technical Quality Portion Study

- PNC scores in Top Tier for Ease of Exploring Online Services and Security and along with U.S. Bank Was Considered “Friendly,” “Helpful,” and “Easy to Deal With”

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SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2012-- Keynote Competitive Research, the industry analysis group of Keynote® Systems (Nasdaq:KEYN), today announced the results of the new Keynote Competitive Research Industry Study examining the business and technical effectiveness of U.S. credit card websites. In the 2011 Credit Card Prospects study U.S. Bank took first place for Overall Customer Experience, while in the Technical Quality portion of the study Citi came in first for Responsiveness (Speed) and U.S. Bank took first place for Reliability. The entire study is available for immediate purchase. To request more information please visit: http://www.keynote.com/company/contact/request.html

Winners of Keynote Competitive Research studies are invited to participate in the company’s Online Excellence Program which recognizes the "best of the best" websites as ranked in the studies. The rankings are based on responses from real users, who are observed as they accomplish tasks on each of the sites studied, as well as real data collected through Keynote website monitoring to assess the technical quality of the sites. For each study, Keynote recognizes the companies with the overall top ranking, as well as those exhibiting excellence in specific categories.

For the ‘Customer Experience’ portion of the study, Keynote observed and conducted online interviews with 1,815 online adults as they interacted with the websites of a total of eight leading US credit card issuers: American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Discover, PNC and U.S. Bank.

For the ‘Technical Quality’ portion of the study, Keynote performed 6,000 total measurements for each site, for a total of 48,000 total measurements, from 12 locations in the U.S. The data was collected every day over a one month period during the websites’ peak period (8:00 AM-Midnight, EST, Monday-Sunday).

Keynote Competitive Research produces leading industry research using the company’s commercially available Web performance monitoring and real user experience testing products. Keynote regularly evaluates the current state of online customer experience, technical quality (responsiveness/reliability) and implementation of best practices on leading websites across a wide variety of vertical markets including financial services, automotive, media/entertainment, retail, travel and technology.

More Information about the Customer Experience Rankings for US Credit Card Issuer Websites

For the Customer Experience component of the study, Keynote sent 225 U.S. resident Internet users to each of the eight credit card websites. All panelists had no prior relationship with the eight credit card issuers and were considered, “new to issuer.” The online panelists were first asked to spend a few minutes on the credit card issuer’s home page and assess how helpful it is in developing an understanding of the site’s unique offerings and what they will be able to accomplish there. Next, participants were asked to use the site to find a credit card (for personal, not business, use) that meets their individual needs and proceed through the process of applying for the card, going as far as possible without submitting the final application, and then ascertain approximately how long it would take to receive their new credit card if they were to complete the application. Finally, the panelists were asked to explore the online services available on the site for accessing and managing their credit card account (e.g., viewing account balance, paying credit card bill, etc.), and then take some time to learn about other online account features, benefits and policies.

The study revealed that when tested by actual users, U.S. Bank offers the strongest Overall Customer Experience. To achieve the top Overall Customer Experience ranking, U.S. Bank placed first in two of the four indices -- Customer Satisfaction and Online Adoption -- that the Overall Customer Experience Index is comprised of. Other key findings include:

• Credit Card Satisfaction and Site Organization are the most important business drivers, impacting users’ brand perceptions and likelihood to get a card in the future;
• Ease of Exploring Online Services, Security Satisfaction, Ease of Applying Online, Visual Appeal, Online Services Satisfaction, and Site Performance are also key drivers of brand, acquisition, and online adoption;
• PNC, U.S. Bank, American Express, Discover, and Capital One are the top sites for Brand;
• PNC, U.S. Bank, Discover, Chase, and Capital One are the top sites for Acquisition and Customer Satisfaction

“Through mathematical analysis Keynote has identified and detailed eight Success Drivers -- tangible aspects of the overall site experience that predict brand lift, acquisition and online adoption – that issuers should focus on to maximize the return on their online investment,” said Christopher Musto, general manager of the Keynote Competitive Research group at Keynote. “For example, Keynote found 10 metrics, ranging from the topics on the homepage to overall site organization, combine to describe the driver Site Organization and Design, a leading predictor of Brand Impact.”

More Information about the Technical Quality Rankings in the U.S. Credit Card Issuer Websites Study

In addition to evaluating customer experience with its panel of actual users, the Keynote study also examined two broad aspects of technical quality: responsiveness and reliability. Responsiveness comprises: high speed response, DSL (midband) response, response time consistency, geographic uniformity and load handling, while reliability is comprised of availability and outages. For the ‘Technical Quality’ portion of the credit card study, using measurement computers located in 12 cities across the U.S., Keynote measured a typical transaction of starting at the site’s home page, navigating to the List/Details page, then proceeding through the process of applying for a new credit card. Based on the thousands of transactions monitored over the course of the study, Citi scored highest for Responsiveness, (or speed), while U.S. Bank took first for Reliability.

“Based on tens of thousands of measured transactions that Keynote performed for this study, Citi distinguished itself among credit card issuer sites for the speed of its download times (Responsiveness), while U.S. Bank was best among its peers for Reliability,” said Ben Rushlo, director of performance management at Keynote.

In order to collect the Technical Quality data Keynote uses its Transaction Perspective® product, the leading real browser-based service for measuring and monitoring website performance from the end user perspective. With Keynote Transaction Perspective the company examines website performance from multiple geographic locations by simulating users clicking through transactions on a website. Keynote collected approximately 6,000 data points that detailed each of the sites’ technical performance in terms of page responsiveness and reliability.

The study is available for purchase from Keynote and comes with extensive analysis of brand impact, acquisition impact, reliability and responsiveness and the factors that drive sites’ performance in these areas. Clients will receive an executive presentation, extensive back-up charts and illustrations, and online access to all clickstreams, verbatims, question responses and panel facts for all panelists at all sites for all tasks and can download and use this data in their own research. To inquire about a copy, please visit us online at: http://www.keynote.com/company/contact/request.html

About Keynote Systems

Keynote® Systems, Inc., (NASDAQ:KEYN) is the global leader in Internet and mobile cloud testing and monitoring. Keynote maintains the world’s largest on-demand performance monitoring and testing infrastructure for web and mobile sites comprised of over 4,000 measurement computers and mobile devices in over 275 locations around the world that enable companies to continuously improve the online and mobile experience. Known as ‘The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority™, Keynote offers three market-leading product platforms:

Keynote Perspective® provides on-demand performance monitoring for enterprise web and mobile sites including online portals, e-commerce sites and B2B sites. Over 2,000 customers rely on Keynote Perspective services to know precisely how their websites, content, and applications perform on actual browsers, networks, and mobile devices.

Keynote DeviceAnywhere is an enterprise-class, cloud-based, mobile application lifecycle management (ALM) testing & quality assurance platform. It is used by over 1,000 mobile developers and enterprises to deliver mobile applications, content and services faster while reducing downtime and testing costs.

Keynote SIGOS offers active end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) testing and monitoring solutions for mobile, fixed and VoIP communications. Its SITE and Global Roamer products are used by over 200 network operators, content providers, carriers and regulators in over 100 countries worldwide.

Keynote's 4,000 customers represent top Internet and mobile companies and include American Express, AT&T, Disney, eBay, E*TRADE, Expedia, Google, Microsoft, SonyEricsson, T-Mobile and Vodafone. Keynote Systems is headquartered in San Mateo, California and can be reached at http://www.keynote.com/ or by phone in the U.S. at 1-800-KEYNOTE.

Keynote®, DataPulse®, CustomerScope®, Keynote CE Rankings®, Keynote Customer Experience Rankings®, Perspective®, Keynote Red Alert®, Keynote Traffic Perspective®, Keynote WebEffective®, The Internet Performance Authority®, MyKeynote® , SIGOS®, SITE®, Keynote™, The Mobile & Internet Performance Authority™ and Keynote FlexUse™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2012 Keynote Systems, Inc.

Source: Keynote Systems, Inc.

Keynote Systems, Inc.
Dan Berkowitz, 650-403-3305
dberkowitz@keynote.com