Know Your Audience

Meet the Company	Quoted from the Web site:With more than 60 years of experience, Putnam (https://www.putnaminvestments.com/individual/index.html) now has $310 billion* in assets under management, over 100 mutual funds, over 14 million shareholder accounts, and more than 2,800 institutional and 401(k) clients.
Meet the Clients	Mrs. and Mr. B____ want to invest in a low-risk fund. Because they are publicity-shy people, I’ll give them code names: “Mom” and “Dad,” respectively. They are my clients.
The Setup	I knew it was trouble just from the tone in Mom’s voice. An investment counselor opened Putnam SIMPLE IRA accounts for Mom and Dad. The counselor told the clients that the only way to transfer money into this type of account was to use the Putnam Web site—a check in the mail wouldn’t work.Mom tries to transfer money into the account. Dad tries to transfer money into the account. Nothing works. They call tech support. Tech support gives them different answers: “The Web site isn’t working properly,” is the most common one. That’s when they call me.
Who Am I?	Some people call me “The Kid.” That’ll do for now.
The Story	The clients tell me where to find Putnam’s Web site for individual investors. I type the URL, press the Enter key, and over the twisted pair connection came the GIF images flickering a happy hello. As I stare into the blue glare of the monitor, I realize that someone had done something terribly, terribly wrong.This page, this beautiful site, would not work correctly on Mom’s computer no matter what I did.Mom bought her computer about four years ago. The monitor supports 640 by 480 resolution only. Putnam’s site is designed for 800 by 600 resolution—ordinarily not a problem—but the developer used frames, and the navigation was in the top frame. There was no available scrolling to see all the links at the top right of the page.I explain the problem to my clients. Then I try to solve the problems I can solve. I call tech support and get their passwords reset. Once this is done, the tech support person asks why Mom and Dad want to use the Web site when they could just mail a check.Somewhere in the December silence, a cricket chirped.We get the tech’s name. We ask the tech to confirm that we can mail a check. He does so. We get the mailing address and some specifics, thank the tech profusely, and hang up the phone.Later, I go back to the Web site. I set up passwords that my clients can remember, and aren’t obvious.I get ambitious. I decide to see whether I can transfer money into the accounts. I’m in this Web gig, after all. I’m devious. I should be able to figure this out.The printed documentation provided with the account materials is wrong.The FAQ fails to explain how to transfer money into any type of Putnam account, including the SIMPLE IRA account, using the Web site.The online help fails to explain how to transfer money into any type of Putnam account, including the SIMPLE IRA account, using the Web site.I fail to find a button or tab in the user interface that says, “Transfer money to your account.” Or any words like that.I give up.
My Advice	I tell my clients that it appears Putnam is not in the investment business. It appears that Putnam is in the computer hardware sales business. Why else would they require people to invest in a computer with a monitor that supports a resolution higher than 640 by 480, rather than let that investor, oh, INVEST that money?If Putnam is serious about online investing, they would:Support all monitor resolutions. I know as a developer that stinks, but do you want people to invest, or not? And folks over 65 are more likely to want to see a return on their investment. Hint: computer equipment only declines in value.Perform a usability evaluation of the Web site with actual investors to see if they can actually do the tasks they need to do without calling tech support.Update printed materials, FAQs and online help to explain how to perform this task.Inform their tech support staff of corporate policies so that they can share accurate information with clients.Ask their tech support staff what the most frequently asked questions are, and use that information to redesign the site to make it work for their audience.The delays caused by the confusing user interface and unhelpful documentation cost my clients a chance to invest money in 2001, and about one month of interest on that investment.
Epilog	Putnam returns Dad’s check with a note that a SIMPLE IRA account must be funded using the Web site.My clients call Putnam, and finally get an account representative on the telephone who uses her computer to complete the transaction.I’m relieved. I’m going to call Benefits and tell them how much I love direct deposit.