Picture this: a new friend invites you to their house and you excitedly drive over, ready to see how they like to decorate and what kinds of delicious meals they cook. But when you leave the car and hurry up the sidewalk…you stop dead in your tracks.
Their front porch is a total mess. A cataclysmic disaster.
Dust coats the whole thing. Knick knacks from the 1990s litter the ground. You almost slip on a wet spot you doubt is ever truly dry. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a mangy cat peeking around the side of the house. Do you really want rabies today? No, you decide; you turn around and leave.
But this isn’t just the story of a failed dinner party –it’s the story of consumers visiting your community bank or credit union’s website.
Your website is your front porch, and it leaves a powerful first impression (good or bad). Make the wrong impression, and consumers will immediately leave. Here are some ways to clean up your front porch and have a website that actually makes you money:
1. Update Your Website
People don’t want to visit a dusty front porch. They want to go where there’s activity. Your community bank or credit union websites need to welcome them into that environment.
That means frequently updating blogs or newsletters (if you have them) and keeping webpages current. Otherwise, the site looks dead. For example - if it’s 2023 and your last newsletter was in 2021, a visitor will assume your institution is inactive.
Besides making a positive impression on visitors, website updates ensure Google continues visiting and indexing the site. This gives you the potential for better rankings.
2. Modernize Your Website
Modernizing community bank or credit union websites is different from updating your site’s content. Modernizing means picking up all those 1990s knick knacks and bringing your site to the present. A sleek look and feel is especially important for younger consumers, who grew up in a digital environment.
Optimizing your site for mobile, using consistent type across the site, using white space effectively, reducing menu sizes and creating videos are all places to start.
3. Make Your Site Convenient
Community bank or credit union websites must be convenient to welcome today’s consumers. The last thing you want is someone slipping and sliding all over your site, never able to reach the place they want to go.
Make it obvious – put “Open an Account” or “Apply for a Loan” above the fold on every page. Keep clarity in mind too. How easy is it to get to a relevant page? How about when submitting an application?
It doesn’t need to be three clicks, but it should be clear and uncluttered to save visitors time.
4. Prioritize Safety
That’s right – it’s time to shoo the rabies-ridden cat away.
Community bank or credit union websites should both be safe and feel safe. Going back to the cat – even if it’s not diseased, it doesn’t make your visitors feel safe. It’s the same way with your website.
You might have the most secure site in the world, but frequent misspellings or sloppy design set off red flags in visitors’ heads. Be meticulous; painstakingly ensure every page is high quality and feels secure.
Cleaning up your website is a necessary step to face off against some of your biggest competitors today – FinTechs. Read our latest Credit Union Times article to see how else you can compete with them. And if you need a completely new front porch to welcome visitors, On The Mark Strategies helps redesign community bank and credit union websites for the modern day.
