BofA Ramps Up Mobile, Social Media User Experience

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is stepping up its focus on user experience with a series of upgrades to its Benefits OnLine platform, which is part of its financial benefit plan programs. BofA currently has more than 3.6 million clients using its Benefits Online platform across 1,750 large ad mid-sized companies.

With a growing number of users checking their benefit account balances on their smartphones and tablets, BofA has boosted its mobile capabilities by offering users access to detailed information in their equity, defined benefit and non-qualified deferred compensation plans through its Benefits Online Mobile app. Other enhancements include a new Education Center, which aims to promote ongoing engagement by providing educational resources and content directly relevant to a user’s life stage, financial goals and interests. BofA has also ramped up its social media capabilities, allowing users to share articles and content on its Education Center prior to log-in through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

“We added social sharing capabilities, mirroring how people share outside the industry,” says Eve Varner, director of Interactive Platform Management, BofA.

Each piece of content is tagged so that employers can promote more targeted, relevant content to employees through their communication campaigns.

Meanwhile, BofA has also redesigned its Benefits Online homepage, offering content targeted to each employee based on how they consume information.

“We really wanted to go at it with a focus on participants and shine a lens on user experience. We wanted to look at ways to better deliver information in a more consumable way that sits on a level of parity with how people consume information outside the [financial] industry,” says Varner.

Melanie Rodier has worked as a print and broadcast journalist for over 10 years, covering business and finance, general news, and film trade news. Prior to joining Wall Street & Technology in April 2007, Melanie lived in Paris, where she worked for the International Herald ... View Full Bio