Look around your credit union. Is the exterior inviting, or does it look rundown or dated? Does the overgrown landscape obstruct the entrance?
What about the lobby? Do you have automated doors so disabled customers can easily enter and exit? Do your employees still use CRT monitors?
If your credit union is difficult to access, your furnishings look dated, and your employees work on obsolete equipment, what message are you sending to customers?
The same could be said about your virtual branch — your website. If you haven’t changed your website in a few years, users may question your credibility and view you as untrustworthy. While you should be updating your site regularly, how do you know when the time has come to invest in a complete overhaul of the site?
Your credit union website may be ready for a redesign when it causes technical issues for customers, no longer meets your marketing goals, and uses outdated programming code.
Technical Issues
As we mentioned, you should update your site consistently to ensure it meets your and your customers’ needs. However, if you’re spending more time fixing technical issues, you’re probably due for a redesign.
While 404 errors associated with broken links are usually an easy fix, an unorganized site structure can quickly make this easy task overwhelming. Customers may also encounter slow load time of your website caused by excessive or unnecessary code, too many or obsolete plug-ins, or Flash files that may be too large or incompatible with browsers.
A DoubleClick by Google study discovered sites that load within five seconds had 70% longer sessions and 35% lower bounce rates. If your site takes longer to load, you could lose customers.
A website redesign will give you a blank slate to remedy these issues so that you can spend more time optimizing your site for user experience.
Marketing Goals and Branding
Your marketing strategy has probably changed as your business has grown. Perhaps your marketing goal was to build brand awareness when you first designed your credit union website. Now that you have name recognition, you might want to focus on communicating your company stance on important social issues, like diversity and inclusion.
Maybe you’ve updated your logo to be more streamlined or modern, or you’ve merged with another company. Redesigning your credit union website will allow you to communicate these changes.
You want the look and tone of your site to match your values and mission. The design of your website can accomplish this through the colors, fonts, and type of images and iconography you use.
Remember that your website may be the user’s first impression of your credit union or credit union. The overall layout of your site will set the tone and personality of your business so that your customers know what to expect when they walk through your doors.
Outdated Programming Code
The aesthetic of the website is not all you need to consider. The functionality of the site, or should we say dysfunctionality, can indicate the need for a redesign. While web designers are responsible for the way the site looks, web developers write the code in the backend that determines how the site acts.
Outdated code can cause major problems, like security issues. The same goes if your site does not use hypertext text transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) and a secure sockets layer (SSL). This type of security is crucial if you want to allow customers to submit online applications or identifying information without concern for their privacy.
Updating your code is also a good time to ensure your credit union website is responsive and optimized for mobile use. With customers conducting more business online, you want to make sure they’re able to view your site on their mobile devices as easily as they would on their computers.
Final Words
If your credit union website is harming your user experience, is difficult for you to manage, no longer aligns with your business needs, or doesn’t meet today’s standards of security or usability, you should consider investing in a website redesign.
People are increasingly turning to online banking with 82% banking virtually at least once in the last 30 days compared to 68% who visited a physical location during the same time. Likewise, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how vital a modern website is to conduct business operations with no interruptions or hiccups.
CUWebsite™ Services can redesign your site, usually with a 30-day turnaround. Not only will we address the issues mentioned above, but we can also assist you with certifying your site to be ADA compliant. With our hosting services, we can guarantee your site will be secure and running smoothly 24/7. Contact us to get started on your redesign project.
