Lifestyle Editors/Business Editors

IRVINGTON, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 3, 2003

Change Sciences Group, Inc. released its new research report covering the online banking industry today showing who's making it easy to open an account online and who's not. Consumers want their account options described clearly and concisely and demand a hassle-free application process. Some sites are more successful than others at making it easy to get both.

The web channel provides the banking industry a key tool for customer acquisition and cost reduction. Banks face the challenge of presenting account options clearly and making the process of opening accounts online simple. "Banks that make it easy to choose among account options and apply are in a much better position than their competitors. This research shows not only how the sites compare competitively, it provides a complete blueprint of current customer acquisition best practices," said Steve Ellis, a Change Sciences founder and partner, and one of the authors of the report.

If you're thinking about opening a new bank account, and don't want spend a lot of time comparing account options or muddling through a complicated or confusing application, National City is your best bet overall. The sites from easiest to use to hardest to use follow:

1. National City
2. Wells Fargo
3. Bank of America
4. Bank One
5. Washington Mutual
6. Citibank
7. Chase
8. E*Trade
9. Fleet

For more information on this and other Change Sciences research please call toll-free 888-864-1160 or visit: http://www.changesciences.com/research.html

Change Sciences Usability Benchmarks are based on its Typifi(tm) benchmarking process. Typifi allows for the empirical comparison of sites across more than 30 usability metrics. Using the Typifi process, site owners can see how their site compares with competitors, as a customer would use it, thought-by-thought and keystroke-by-keystroke, revealing current usability best practices, allowing companies to ensure that critical business processes are as easy or easier than the competition.

Change Sciences was founded in January of 2000 with the idea that companies can optimize key business processes by basing decisions about technological change in how people use technology while they live, work and play.

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