The Principal Financial Group High-level Site Audit

2The Principal Financial Group Site Audit Agenda Introduction General Observations on User Experience Site Examples General Observations on Strategy Site Examples Opportunities

3The Principal Financial Group Site Audit Introduction A high-level review has been performed on Principal.com. The purpose was to create a list of site recommendations. Improvement opportunities were summarized and broken down into the following 4 user experience and strategy criteria: –Architecture & Navigation –Usability –Marketing & Sales –Customer Acquisition & Retention

4The Principal Financial Group Site Audit General Observations – User Experience Architecture & Navigation –The architecture of Principal.com is comprehensive in displaying all the business lines, however it does not utilize user-centered design –Current site architecture does not encourage an existing user to sign up for additional products or services because the site does not do a good job at showcasing useful related content –Global and local navigation elements change unpredictably making it hard to navigate the site –Groupings of content and navigation links are labeled in a confusing and unintuitive manner thereby reducing usability

5The Principal Financial Group Site Audit User Experience Architecture & Navigation Global Navigation is segmented by user type. However, once the user selects his or her type, only content and navigation for that specific user should be displayed. See Merrill Lynch example bellow. The second level navigation on the home page is currently directly related to an individual investor –If the intention was to have the site targeted towards that type of user then the content of the home page should reflect that goal. The Principal Financial Group offers a broad range of products and services. Until we know what type of business sector the user is interested in, there is no need to provide quick links or generic tools. Home Page

6The Principal Financial Group Site Audit User Experience Architecture & Navigation While navigating through products offered to an individual investor, the user loses the sub-navigation from one page to another. This results in frustration. –The content should be re-architected such that only section-related links are located in the primary left-hand navigation. –Creating breadcrumbs would additionally benefit the user There is a lot of information presented on internal pages, such as For Individuals. –A stronger visual hierarchy with graphical representations would help users better sort through the information There are too many links on the page. –Content areas should be regrouped to facilitate page scanning For Individuals

7The Principal Financial Group Site Audit General Observations – User Experience (continued) Usability –Overall content strategy is unclear; content is unfocused and does not do a good job at driving users to intended areas of the site –Site forms are hard to complete; it takes the user several pages to complete what should be done in one or two steps –Example: the enrollment process –Online forms are not pre-populated with user profile data and previously entered information forcing the user to reenter the same information over and over –There are system messages displaying incorrect information –For example, after the user creates an online account, the system displays the message that it has been more then 90 days since the user verified his/her address.

8The Principal Financial Group Site Audit User Experience Usability Users intentions to create an account are painstakingly tested during the 11 step process –The opportunity here is to streamline the registration process into fewer steps Online form completion process should be made more efficient –Forms longer than two steps should include a process bar –Whenever possible only offer options which lead to a successful form completion –Otherwise, warn the user when a selection has been made which will not allow the user to proceed with completion of an online form –The PDF files should be repopulated with known user information Create an Online Account Form

9The Principal Financial Group Site Audit Information Architecture Usability Login page creates a lot of frustration for users. Improving this page will have a great effect on the overall user experience. –The list of login types should be moved into a dropdown list and placed below the Username and Password fields –Change Username and Password functions should be performed after the login in a new My Profile section. Creating an online account access should be made more apparent to a first time user –There should be two columns on this page: First time user and Existing user Login Form

10The Principal Financial Group Site Audit General Observations - Strategy Marketing & Sales –Key Challenges –The Principal currently fails to engage and promote existing website marketing touch-points (e.g. newsletter, product offers). –Content copy and content organization do not actively encourage user to learn about principal products and subsequently fail to drive cross-sell opportunities. –Opportunities: –Increase number of users ( subscriber list) who are exposed to timely principal services and products. –Increase ROI of marketing campaigns featuring special offers and promotions. –Increase customer buy-in of principal services products through better delivery of relevant marketing materials.

11The Principal Financial Group Site Audit Strategy - Marketing & Sales Newsletters & Product Offers Marketing Opportunity –Opportunity to engage user in the value in subscribing to specific content sections.

12The Principal Financial Group Site Audit General Observations – Strategy (continued) Customer Acquisition & Retention –Key Challenges –The Principal currently fails to leverage opportunities to remind users of what differentiates Principal products vs. those of its key competitors. –Potential risk of losing existing users who may not be aware of products or the benefits of enrolling in other Principal product lines. –Opportunities: –Increase exposure and awareness of Principal product and positioning (incl. insurance, health products) lines to existing users at all web-touch points. –Increase customer buy-in of principal services products through better delivery of relevant marketing materials.

13The Principal Financial Group Site Audit Customer Acquisition and Retention Message Center Opportunities –The message center is an important location for users to receive targeted Principal material and information regarding product lines they are not currently enrolled in. –Add product links/product info within message center navigation to deliver immediate view of product touch-points (including insurance, health product lines, PAGA, enewsletter opportunities). –Encourage site interest and re-entry after completing actions in message center.

14The Principal Financial Group Site Audit Customer Acquisition and Retention Planning Center Challenges –Limited exposure or positioning statements identifying what makes Principals IRAs different from other companies. Opportunities –Present opportunity to expose user to advantages in Principal IRA opportunities.

15The Principal Financial Group Site Audit Opportunities Architecture & Navigation –Site architecture should be redesigned to improve findability of content –Global navigation should be segmented by user type, such that once the user selects his or her type, only relevant content and navigation are displayed for that user –Intuitive navigation should be developed to provide an experience consistent with user and business needs –Navigation labels should be clear, meaningful and follow industry standards to improve user experience Usability –Give the user a reason to continue interaction with the site and provide convincing calls to action to covert the user to the next lifecycle phase –Hierarchically group relevant information to the intended audience –Streamline online forms –Restructure content copy and implement graphical representation of subcategories to facilitate site scanning

16The Principal Financial Group Site Audit Opportunities (continued) Marketing and Sales –Create features & functionality for cross- and up-sell. –Provide cross linking to useful information when possible Customer Acquisition & Retention