Strategy is an art, and science
Creating a website takes a lot more thought and planning than what it looks like. Successful bank and credit union websites begin with some institutional soul searching.
- What are the goals of your institution?
- What are the top goals of visitors?
- Is the website helping attract prospective customers or members?
- What is an obstacle for current visitors?
- Are you able to track conversions to measure success?
- What is planned for the future so that the site can easily accommodate it?
Each page layout should have a defined strategy and every single element on each page should have a direct tie to one of the goals defined at the beginning. Nothing should exist because an executive asked for it, or it “looks pretty”. This digital branch doesn’t need house plants – it needs clear paths to delivering visitors exactly what they want, at the right time that they need it.
Designing for user experience
Many institutions struggle to define what truly makes them distinct and it’s obvious. If you remove your logo from the equation, can a visitor understand why they should bank, borrow or invest with you? Have you taken a look at what other institutions in your area are doing that may be enticing to current and prospective members and customers?
A modern, clean, consistent user experience is key to success – and something every visitor expects. Define key audience groups (aka personas) and what key user paths each may take. This will allow you to answer these simple questions:
- Is it easy to find the most common actions (typically Login, Locations, Contact, Rates)?
- Do I immediately know what to do on each page?
- Does the content cater to a variety of decision-making stages?
- How do I get help if I need it?
Visitors are easily frustrated and intolerant online so don’t give them a reason to doubt how easy it is to bank with you. Make them love your brand because you are considerate of their time and needs. And talk to them in a way that is decidedly “non-banky” so that they can understand how what you offer meets their specific goals.
This user experience should also extend to any platform that you are integrating with your site. A visitor will not recognize that they’ve moved to a different domain or vendor as they go through your various digital platforms so consistency is key.
Modern, considerate functionality
Website owners make choices in their CMS based on their functional needs and budget, but along the way, decisions also need to be made about the way the website is built and what features it offers.
- If you have more than a handful of branches or belong to a nationwide ATM network, give users a Location tool to allow them to find a branch or ATM near them. The mobile experience for this tool is key – as many users will be accessing this part of your website on their phones as they are on-the-go.
- Managing rates is essential for nearly all institutions and displaying those rates consistently – in a way that is easy for visitors and site administrators is equally important. Your site should have a Rates Management Tool that minimally allows for scheduled publishing and unpublishing and dynamically updates rates within page content including promotions. Bonus points if your rates tool can dynamically integrate with third party calculators and other platforms where rates may be displayed. This allows the user to always work with real time data when at key buyer cycle stages.
- Content modeling is an important consideration when building a site. In addition to rates, website owners should determine what content should be centrally managed so that it can be updated once and appear in many places in the site. This could include FAQs, disclosures and a variety of resources.
Campaign destinations that work as hard as you do
Digitally successful bank and credit union websites use their website as the destination point for integrated campaigns. The odds are that a campaign includes tactics that require a significant investment – from paid search and programmatic advertising to social media to print. Successful tactics include:
- Developing targeted landing pages for each campaign that are visually consistent with your marketing tactics. These landing pages should be 100% focused on conversion so the elements included on the page should strategically align with visitor goals and the offer.
- Adding a QR code to each print piece – with unique tracking for specific pieces. This allows visitors to be tracked as soon as they come to your website, and conversions to be attributed to specific pieces. This also affords the opportunity to personalize the website experience if personalization is part of your technology stack.
- Tracking all digital tactics in a single report to understand what’s performing well (or not) and constantly managing campaigns to optimize for results.
Measuring results quantitatively and qualitatively
Determining a website’s success is not difficult with a well-planned infrastructure in place, in addition to defined quantitative and qualitative goals. Some institutions treat their digital branch with the same goals as they would use for a brick-and-mortar branch. Are visitors being helped? How many accounts are opened? How many products or services does each of your customers or members have?
Your website can and should be so much more than it may be now. Do not shortchange your website as far as strategic planning, resource investment and budget or you will be missing out on how vital a modern banking website can be. A digital hub doesn’t take place of a branch and in fact helps support in-branch interactions – offering a surround sound brand and serving experience that can help attract and retain members and customers.
Need some help redesigning a website for a bank or credit union? Contact the experts at ZAG today.
