Photo Credit: Wells Fargo Corporate Archives. We got a real sense of getting something done.” This paper brochure was used to market the bank’s new online features. One member of the digital team later summarized the experience: “It was a very fast implementation, and it was great for our customers, since they got value-add every six weeks or so… but it was also really great for us. Quickly the bank added new functions and over the next few years customers gained the ability to transfer money in between accounts, set up recurring bill payments, and more. In May 1995, Wells Fargo made history again by being the first major bank to use its website as a platform for customers to access their accounts.Īt first, the experience was limited to passively reviewing account activity and statements. The team built new security features and installed new servers to handle the volume of online activity. Another common question asked by customers was: When can I check my account balance on the website?Ī small task force was established to take actions on building better online experiences for customers. It was one of Wells Fargo’s first learning curves in understanding customers’ expectations online. Customers used the built-in feedback button to submit their frustration and disappointment with the slow speed. Unfortunately, with dial-up internet access the norm, the colorful stagecoach pictures downloaded one line at a time and took several minutes to load the whole site. Launched in 1994, the Wells Fargo website was mainly informational at first. It also featured history trivia and high resolution pictures of Wells Fargo’s iconic stagecoaches. It functioned mostly as a marketing platform by offering customers access to brochures and product descriptions. It launched its first website on December 12, 1994. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo was exploring new possibilities of the internet. Advertisement for banking online using software in the early 1992. In 1989, Wells Fargo customers could access their accounts using a floppy disk and a subscription to Prodigy services. Wells Fargo started offering online account access through Prodigy in 1989, and by the mid-1990s it found that only about 10,000 of its 3.5 million customers used the service. Customers had to use floppy disks and dial up modems to connect to their information. Customers had to buy a software package and pay a monthly fee for their software’s subscription in addition to any fees charged by their bank. The sophisticated system had severe drawbacks. They could also transfer money, read news, play games, and even order groceries online using the community bulletin feature. Customers using the Prodigy service were able to access their bank accounts from the comfort of home for the first time. Prodigy, owned by Sears, offered a secure network that Wells Fargo and other banks and businesses allowed to access their own company computer systems. Other software companies realized that there was potential to become the platform of choice for customers to do their banking. Customers still had to input their transactions by hand, and there was no way for them to easily import a spreadsheet from the bank. Wells Fargo saw the potential for customer convenience, and agreed to sell the software in its branches. It allowed customers to keep detailed financial histories and even print checks. In 1984, technology company Quicken launched its new bookkeeping software. Demonstration of Quicken software’s check register (left) and check printing (right) features in 1984. Secured software on floppy disks offered some of the earliest solutions, but encrypted web-based platforms had the lasting legacy and are still used by customers today. Realizing that banking customers would start to expect their account access to extend online as well as in-person, banks started to experiment with new technologies to make banking online at home possible. In California, almost 36% of people used a computer at work or home by 1989. By the 1980s, computers had shrunk to fit on most desks, and had evolved to become more user friendly. Early computers filled entire rooms and required a dedicated team of skilled programmers to operate.
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