By Wade Arnold, CEO, T8 Webware, a financial web strategy and personalized services firm that caters specifically to financial institutions.

 

 

Although online bank services have progressed, many aspects of financial institutions’ website design and structure remain unchanged. Institutions of all sizes follow the same templates that began when web banking was at its most primitive state. Bankers must come to the realization that such formats are no longer applicable, nor are they beneficial to leveraging the potential of the web as the greatest marketing tool.

Pioneers such as USAA Banking and Ally Bank are evolving their customers’ online banking experience by restructuring content organization. Newcomer Bank Simple is betting that a better online user experience will lead the way to new accounts.

Other bankers should follow suit and confront the top four myths about financial institution websites:

 

 

Myth No. 1. Banks have an established website format that is recognized and comfortable to customers. Why is it that bankers compare their websites to other financial institutions to measure success? A better alternative is to evaluate against consumer sites to gain a more accurate understanding of what people expect in an online experience. With nearly all bank websites looking the same, the bar is set relatively low for any improvement to functionality and design.

Customers spend much more time on social and retail sites than on financial institution sites, and that is where they develop their expectations for web browsing. They have become accustomed to a simple, retail–oriented structure. Thus, bankers need to look outside their own vertical for inspiration.

 

 

Myth No. 2. Customers want “one click” access. Most bank websites have list after list of products on their homepage. They are sure to mention almost every online banking product, and sometimes by its name rather than function. Financial institutions believe that customers want to access everything with just a single click of the mouse. The problem, however, is that this format is often overwhelming because its lists are too long and product names generally mean nothing to the average customer.

Instead, banks should design their website to guide customers to the relevant information for which they are searching. Look at www.apple.com as an example. It does not try to tell you about every iPad, iPod, computer, and phone at the homepage. If it did, customers’ destinations would be buried among hundreds of useless links. Clear-cut paths to the services being provided can better organize product pages for qualified prospects and create a simpler, valued user experience.

 

 

Myth No. 3. Web content should mirror existing brochure and branch materials. The beauty of the web is its speed of information dissemination, where banks can easily update and change their website content. Unfortunately, many banks have fallen into the misconception that online marketing materials should mirror their print materials to promote consistency.

Websites can be part of an overarching marketing plan–an added tool–without copying existing brochure materials, which are often limited to vague language because of their need to last for a given time. Conversely, the web lends itself to sharing current rates, detailed explanations about how accounts are managed and customer testimonials–all of which can be key differentiators to any financial institution’s services. Most importantly, the content must continually be refreshed so that customers do not ignore what they have already seen. 
 

Myth No. 4. Just as many prospects visit a bank’s website as existing customers. With greater emphasis being lent to organic search rankings and search engine optimization, many banks have fallen under the perception that there is an equal mix of existing customers and true new visitors coming to their websites. Realistically, approximately 90% of web traffic is just from current bank customers, oftentimes logging on to use or monitor the services they already employ.

With the unfortunate misnomer that people are always searching for something on the web, banks dominantly promote another free checking product as the first image in a rotating deck and focus their efforts on a wrongly perceived volume of newcomers to their sites. Instead, banks should build online promotions around their most profitable services to up-sell customers, leading to both increased loyalty and value.

The web’s relevance is threefold: 1) Cross-sell opportunities to existing customers, 2) potential for growth as competitors are losing nearly 20% of their customers annually, and 3) interest and opening of new accounts. Banks need a balanced approach to each opportunity. There is more activity online than free checking, and the web is much too valuable a tool to be limited to such simple services.

The web is one of the most vital marketing tools for any growing financial institution, and not a single one can afford to fall into the trap of a generic site that does not set itself apart from competitors. Banks must establish the same brand equity and trust online as they have offline in-branch. Financial institutions must react now to become part of the evolution of real online banking. 

http://www.t8webware.com