As consumers expect faster and more efficient online interaction, companies must be able to evaluate, respond and fulfill those expectations accurately and more quickly than ever. Building on the trust consumers and brands have put in J.D. Power studies for decades, the marketing data and analytics company today announced the J.D. Power Website Certification Program to recognize brands that provide an exceptional online experience.

This exclusive program reflects the commitment and dedication of select brands to provide their customers with an online experience that meets today's consumer expectations.

"Why is this certification program important? Because consumers are always looking for an exceptional online experience, whether they're shopping, paying bills or banking," said Bob Neuhaus, Vice President of Banking and Credit Card at J.D. Power. "For example, 76% of bank customers used web banking in the past three months, making it the most widely used channel. With customers seeking seamless online experiences, certified brands will be able to leverage the J.D. Power brand and promote their organization's commitment to an outstanding online customer experience."

Bank of America is the first organization to achieve J.D. Power Website Certification powered by Centric Digital.

"With 36 million digital clients, we strive to provide the best user experience no matter how they choose to do their banking," said David Tyrie, Head of Advanced Solutions and Digital Banking at Bank of America. "Our clients are at the center of everything we do, and we couldn't be more proud to be the first to receive this prestigious J.D. Power certification for anticipating client needs and driving innovation."

As the first qualification criterion, brands must rank among top performers in the most recent J.D. Power North America Website Satisfaction Index. Benchmark rankings are based on overall customer satisfaction with the website experience for 1,069 brands across seven industries.

In addition, qualifying brands must pass a rigorous evaluation of more than 500 online experience and operational best practices conducted by J.D. Power in collaboration with Centric Digital. The 500-plus best practices are a subset of Centric Digital's DIMENSIONS, a classification system comprised of more than 3,000 digital best practices called "classifiers" and used by industry leaders to benchmark digital performance. These online best practices include, but are not limited to, navigation design; usability; on-site search; product development practices; user interface design; and digital process and governance.

Once certified, a brand is permitted to market its achievement for 12 months with such marketing tools as a J.D. Power Website Certification trophy, online marketing collateral and in-store merchandise displays. Certified brands also will be listed on jdpower.com/business for consumers to search while shopping.