Search?Navigation Term of the Day: Wow

After scouring my bank’s Web site for information about purchasing foreign currency, I gave up and called.

The lady at the branch couldn’t have been nicer. After providing the information I requested, she suggested I could have found it on the site. I explained I couldn’t — that’s why I’d called.

“You mean you didn’t visit the ‘Wow Answer Guide?'” she replied.

Well, no. Because even after she told me about it, it took some effort to find the lone, undifferentiated text link among many on the bank’s home page. I’ve been a client for years. Never knew it was there. You don’t see the question mark graphic until you’ve landed on the page — which turns out to be plain, old fashioned site search.

You’re supposed to grok all that from “Wow! Answer Guide?”

My search term was “foreign currency.” I would have settled for “search this site,” “other services” or something omnibus. But Wow! Answer Guide? That stretches all notions of usability, keyword navigation, interface and design.