Centralis & Computershare help investors manage their online portfolios
The Client
Computershare is a global market leader in transfer agency and share registration, employee equity plans, proxy solicitation and stakeholder communications. Through its Investor Centre and Employee Stock Purchase Plan (SPP) websites, the company enables investors and employees around the world view and manage their holdings online.
The Challenge
Computershare recently undertook a major redesign of its Investor and Employee Stock Purchase websites. The focus of this initiative was to improve the overall user experience both by enhancing existing functionality and introducing new features and capabilities. To help ensure the success of this initiative, Computershare enlisted Centralis to conduct usability testing at multiple points in the project timeline.
Our Work
The initial study focused on the existing interfaces and revealed that participants struggled to grasp the overall organization of the site, which interfered with their ability to perform key tasks and locate critical information about their accounts. To address these issues, we recommended several changes in the site information architecture, such as eliminating overlapping categories and moving actions related to managing holdings from the primary navigation to the body of appropriate pages. With each subsequent study we were able to test the site redesign and help Computershare gauge their progress toward solving issues uncovered during prior testing.
The Outcome
Iterative usability testing provided Computershare with valuable feedback throughout the site redesign. With each cycle of Design, Test and Revise, the resulting site redesign showed significant improvement over earlier iterations. Centralis continues to work with Computershare as their offering evolves.