Changes made to the Postbank Betaallijn based on the DRs

The Postbank Betaallijn payment system was evaluated against the set of design rec-ommendations, described in Appendix D. Changes that are applicable to this system and to the context of its use, were proposed. Subsequently, the relevant changes were effected into a new version of the system. This means that the validation experiment was restricted to the corresponding design recommendations. Below it is examined how the design recommendations were implemented in the redesigned system. Table 5.1 describes the differences between the systems after the design recommendations were applied.

DR1. Inform users about security measures and provide a security policy;

and DR7. Take measures to address risks and inform users about these measures.

A security policy was introduced in the New system.

DR2. Explain what type and details of personal information are to be re-tained, why and how they will be used.

The privacy policy in the New system explained how personal details will be used.

DR3. Provide a clear and explicit policy on privacy and make it noticeable to users.

An extended privacy policy was introduced in the New system. Links to the privacy policy were added to the payment web pages in the New system.

DR4. Give users control over the costs of the payment system usage.

The users of the New system were informed by the system that they are calling a free number when connecting to the Betaallijn. Since the users of the Old system were

call-ing the Betaallijn from the laboratory telephone, they were informed by the system that they were calling a paid number, and were told by the experimenter in advance that the connection costs would be deducted from their participation fee, to stimulate thinking of the number as a paid one and to make them as cost-sensitive as for real-life payments (actually, no costs were deducted after the experiment).

DR5. Allow users to control critical actions and information.

The ability to block the passwords via the IVR menu was introduced in the New sys-tem.

DR6. Seek reputation and trust transference from reputed partners and technology providers, and communicate trust transference to users.

The logotype of Postbank was exposed on the web site for the New system.

DR8. Interaction with the payment system should resemble users’ expec-tations about the payments process.

This design recommendation presumes that the interaction process could be rendered in a familiar way to users. From this respect the Betaallijn is similar to the existing telephone banking system of Postbank. It was hoped that the above-mentioned changes introduced by the DRs would result in a better interaction design and usabil-ity of the redesigned system. In case the system would not be intuitively understood by the users, the more detailed explanation of how the system operates was introduced for the New system in online help and the paper brochure.

DR10. Provide features of automatisation of payments.

The functionality of multiple (batch) payments was implemented, i.e. ability to make several payments with one authorization. The functionality of scheduled payments was implemented, i.e. ability to set the date for the payments execution.

DR12. Provide well-designed authentication.

The password length was changed: the PIN code for authorisation was reduced to 4 digits in the New system. The authentication process was augmented: the number of confirmations of a payment was reduced from 3 to 2 steps in the New system.

Table 5.1 Changes made to the system, the corresponding design recommendations, and the tasks designed to test the changes, (see tasks in section 5.2.4 below).

DRs Old system New system Task

Absent Made salient on the payment

page Tasks 1-5

DR 3. Privacy policy Standard Postbank

style Made more salient at

Post-bank web site Tasks 1 DR 4. Costs Paid number

notifi-cation Free number notification Tasks 3, 5 DR 5. Blocking

pass-words Via customer service

only Blocking passwords via the

system Task 2

DR 6. Logos No (Postbank) logos

at the payment page Postbank logos are present at

the payment page Tasks 1-5 DR 8. Help means Standard Enhanced with information

about security, blocking pass-words, etc.

Tasks 1-5

DR 8. Interaction design Standard Enhanced by the DRs Tasks 1-5

DR 10. Batch payments No Yes Task 5

DR 10. Scheduled

pay-ments No Yes Task 3

DR 12. Password length 6 4 Tasks 1-5

DR 12. Authentication Standard: 3 steps 2 steps (1 step less) Tasks 1-5

5.1.6 Subjects

The 46 subjects were recruited by the Postbank call center among the banks’ clients who are familiar with Postbank’s existing payment systems (e.g. Girofoon, Girotel; see Postbank.nl for more information). 25 subjects used the Old, and 21 used the New sys-tem. All participants had a good understanding of English. The summary of the demo-graphic data collected through a pre-test questionnaire is listed in Table 5.2. In gen-eral, this sample is quite balanced to represent the most users’ groups of interest well.

Table 5.2 Profiling of the participants of the study

Demographic parameter Dimensions System Version

Old New

Internet payment systems No 14 14

experience Yes 11 7

Credit cards on the Internet No 14 11

Yes 10 9

Yearly income (€) < 26 000 9 8

27 000 - 36 000 5 2

> 36 000 7 6

Computer experience Low 2 0

Moderate Low 5 3

Moderately High 11 10

High 7 7

The participants were divided in two groups based on the demographic criteria, al-though it was not always possible to ensure that the groups are completely balanced, due to scheduling constraints of the participants. The groups were checked on a demo-graphic bias. Based on the statistical analysis of the comparison of the two groups, no significant difference for any of the six demographic criteria was found, see Table 5.3.

It can be assumed that the samples are properly balanced along the demographic fac-tors and experience with payment systems.

Table 5.3 Chi-Square Tests of the data sample

Demographic parameter N CHI² df p