Schwab.com offers a ton of value, but misses out on some profitable opportunities.

IN A NUTSHELL

Approachable and informative, the Charles Schwab website provides a ton of information geared toward its primary audience: the everyday individual investor. The site is all about providing the tools and information visitors need to make their financial decisions, and it spends little time touting the organization or its venerable roots. The lack of pretention is refreshing, though the site could use a little more polish in its look and feel and clearer navigation to help visitors find what they're looking for.

BRAVO

Charles Schwab deserves major kudos on the quality of its information. All of the products are accompanied with clear explanation and detailed guidance. The tools range from entry-level worksheets to special calculators to specialized software for more advanced traders. The site also includes a section called "Market Insight" that includes feature-style articles about financial topics that are genuinely informative and well written. One great addition to the top navigation bar is the bank's phone number and links for sending an email form or opening an account. Visitors don't have to hunt around to find it—a great addition for a service-based website.

TRY AGAIN

While the site contains pretty much all the information individual investors need to manage their accounts, it might take awhile to find it. There is a lot of text to scan through before you land on the correct tab or link. And clicking through to any given page results in more text with yet more links. Grouping the information into larger buckets might help site visitors determine their direction at the top level a little more easily.

Our biggest criticism of the site isn't so much based on poor functionality, but on a lost opportunity. The "Market Insight" section could be used to develop and maintain relationships with prospective and current Schwab customers, but the section is buried several layers deep and isn't promoted on the home page. A more informed customer is likely to use more of Schwab's products, and feature articles are a great way to deliver that extra information, without the sales pitch. The section could also use some visual refinement to make its great content a little more attractive. It looks almost unfinished in its current state.