Actually it’s not my favourite colour but Chrome is my favourite browser. So why do I love using it? Well Chrome is a Google app, so maybe it’s because I enjoy the Google integration and the app store that comes with it.
Google me Chrome
Of course this does mean that every time I go into the app store and buy something they get more information about me, which makes me a target for ‘personalised’ marketing. But in this regard, I’ve given up on privacy. I figure if Google want to sell ads to someone that may have something I might want to buy, they should go for it. Facebook on the other hand (in my opinion) has lame ads; I’m not interested in over 50’s single clubs, weight loss or calcium regeneration. If they popped up an ad for an obscure, unplugged Cure album, or retro cycling gloves then maybe I would bite. But that’s a tangent. Back to Chrome…
The other feature I love in Chrome is the integration with Google docs. I keep all my really important information in Google docs such as my hottest 100 albums or holiday itineries.
The people behind the app
Actually, I went back and used our NetBank app for Chrome today, which is our repurposed ipad app running customised for the Chrome store. When we built it we had some of my favourite people in the Bank work on it (there are a lot of great people in the bank but I will call out five).
Ed came up with the original design, which was to cut down NetBank to the bone in a super fast HTML5 (apparently this is good). Gin pulled together the designs to make it work for the customers, and then on the success of the app, went and joined a travel start up. ET, our useablity whiz, took it to customers to make sure we were not smoking and told us what the customers really wanted. Then we had our super grad, Nelson, add his insight on how to make the experience move from good to great. Finally our design agency took our yellow schema and turned it black which really works well across all devices.
Why I (still) love this app
1. Only the accounts you want to see are displayed, we had lots of debates about this. In the end we went for five, as that covers most customers. The rest of your accounts are just one click away, for example, the stuff you don’t need to see every day, such as your insurance policy.
2. Your most recent transactions on your quick accounts are displayed on login. This was tricky as we needed to pull data from various accounts. Not sure if I have seen this one elsewhere.
3. We used colours and symbols to let you know if you owe us money or we owe you money.
4. No matter where you navigate your balances are always visible. We know that when you are moving your money around you want to see the balance of the accounts you are playing with.
5. Your balances change after each transfer. This actually challenged our Tech Heads because of the way we display data, but they sorted it out.
6. When you look at your transactions you can go straight to transfer from this account. I now know we need to add transfer to this account.
7. Transfer is one function, regardless of who you are transferring to, either between accounts, BPAY or third parties. There are also some neat visual cues in this that Nelson insisted on.
8. No ads, actually that’s bad as that’s how banks get new customers and business, so I need to figure out how to slip them in.
9. Finally when you log off, the login page is ready for you to log in again, with your user ID locked and loaded waiting for your password. Which makes it probably the fastest way to check your account.
We are really at a crossroads with this app. Do we make it more like Kaching or make Kaching more like this app; or do we pick up the best of both worlds?
