The www.desjardinsfinancialsecurity Web site of Desjardins Financial Security, Desjardins Group’s health and life insurer, was ranked first among the top 25 Quebec consumer sites, against nationally-known companies.

Second place goes to www.desjardins.com, which placed first the previous two years.

The two Desjardins web sites successfully meet the main criteria of the SECOR-COMMERCE Index evaluation. The DFS site was given top marks for “customer-value creation”. Analysts drew particular attention to its client path.

The site allows Internet users to save the results of their simulations and calculations performed with the various on-line tools in a personal file. Autosegmentation by life events section on the website, which became “legendary in the insurance world”, supports the effort to personalize the site. The Desjardins.com site took second place in this category.

For a fourth time, Desjardins.com was the leader where “user experience” is concerned. The analysts noted in particular “that [this site] continues to amalgamate ergonomic standards and technological performance”. The DFS site placed third for this evaluation component as a result of its transactional security, technological performance and ergonomics.

For the “communicability” evaluation component, new this year, the DFS site took second place. Criteria include text clarity, coherence and concision, as well as reader sensitivity.

”We’ve worked hard to tailor our offer to the needs of Internet users,” says Constance Lemieux, vp, e-business and technology, DFS. “Individuals, Groups and Businesses, and Business Partners can quickly identify the content of interest to them. Internet traffic statistics for average time spent on the site, multi-page consultation and frequency of visits confirm our success, along with the SECOR-COMMERCE Index.”

”Such recognition is greatly appreciated as it highlights the remarkable efforts of our team for whom this work has become a real passion over the years,” says Roger Tessier, Director, Virtual Access, Convention and Distribution, at Desjardins Group. “The popularity of the www.desjardins.com site demonstrates the extent to which e-commerce is also a powerful business development tool for us, both in the province of Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, where Desjardins’ presence is being increasingly felt.”

Desjardins Group is the largest integrated cooperative financial group in Canada, with overall assets of more than $106 billion.

DFS specializes in life and health insurance as well as retirement savings and manages more than $14 billion in assets.