Santander Login Translations

Dec 21, 2011 by Tom Philip    2 Comments    Posted under: Usability

From the immortal words of Steve Krugs usability book Don’t Make me Think, Santander makes me think every time I have to login to their online banking site. So here’s a handy translation guide to what they’re really asking you to enter to login.

Step 1

Personal ID = Username.

Like what everybody else asks for and not to be confused with the other code/id they give you, the Registration Number (see step 2).

Step 2

Passcode = Password.

 

Beyond just the bad labelling, the Back and Submit buttons are the same. I have to read each one to know what to click. What’s up with ‘login’ or ‘signin’? What am I submitting?

Nice friendly memorable url too, well done. https://retail.santander.co.uk/LOGSUK_NS_ENS/BtoChannelDriver.ssobto?dse_operationName=LOGON

 

About Tom Philip

Freelance .NET/Android/Boxee/Rails developer. This week I am mostly loving Lean Startup. It’s got me thinking differently and helping me succeed with my products.

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Tags: usability, ux

2 Comments + Add Comment

• 
  Andy December 21, 2011 at 2:02 pm

  It’s worse than that… Try getting it wrong a few times (easy to do because of obscurity, I almost always have to click their links to find out which is which) then you’ll feel real pain – you have to call them up and get new codes sent out by post. And then when they think your real transactions are fake when they aren’t, it becomes even worse, locked out…. It’s the worst of all the online banking websites I’ve used.

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  Tom Philip December 21, 2011 at 2:11 pm

  Wow! Sounds like their online banking poor ux cuts much deeper, more than just poor labeling. Luckily I’ve not had a lockout. I did have to change my address with the some years back and I had to send a fax. Who has a fax these days?

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