The best approach when designing your credit union website is to think about your customers and what they would love to see there. Any website should be easily accessible, simple to navigate, and pleasing to the eye. Above all, customers need to be able to enjoy using it and find it useful. However, credit unions usually target different age groups, hence the need for adjustment of the credit union websites for all generations.

In order to make your credit union website user-centric, you need to understand the differences between each generation and even more importantly what are the similarities in their thinking and habits. Based on their mental models, the ways they are approaching the digital world, and how this influences website design, people are grouped into five generations of digital users. 

 

Technology Across Generations

Each generation brings its own shared key aspect of its mental models. To put it simply, people from the same generation share similar experiences and usually approach technology in a similar way. These are the five living generations of users who are usually your credit union website visitors and also your potential customers.

  • Silent Generation (born 1928–1945) – people who were in their 50s or 60s when personal computers became available and popular, which makes them hesitant to use digital technology and overly careful when it comes to using it. 
  • Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964) – these people were halfway through their careers when they first encountered the digital world. Around 80% of this generation have been active users of the Internet and have quickly adopted new digital technologies.
  • Generation X or The Sceptical Generation (born 1965–1980) – this generation is caught in the middle of the Baby Boomers generation and the impatient Millennials which made them develop a skeptical attitude and mentality toward technology. 
  • Generation Y or Millennials (born 1981–1995) – is the ‘online generation’ and as the people from this generation reached young adulthood the entire transition from landlines to smartphones was complete.
  • Generation Z (born 1996–2010) also known as Digital Natives are individuals who live with technology since birth. 

 

In addition, we have the last generation called generation Alpha which is all individuals born in the period from 2011 until today and will last until 2025. In a way, every generation consists of potential customers for credit unions, apart from the last – Alpha generation as it encompasses minors who haven’t reached the appropriate age to have their own credit union accounts. 

 

General Guidelines for Building a Credit Union Website Design for Every Generation

The financial industry is a comprehensive area of business that targets many different generations as we’ve already pointed out. Consequently, building a credit union website design for one generation is not a smart move to make. When a business has such a wide website audience, designing for different generations can help you reach a larger number of customers. In order to do that, there are some general guidelines to use across every section of the website.

 

Avoid Using Small Font Sizes

Regardless of the user’s age or abilities, small letters on websites can be very difficult to read. Not being able to easily read the content can be frustrating for customers which can make them lose interest and leave the website. Using small font sizes can be particularly difficult for seniors, and these are the customers that you would want to keep on your credit union website.

 

Use Clear and Plain Language 

When creating your content avoid slang or jargon as that kind of language limits your audience to a specific generation. If you want to create a credit union website design for every generation be sure to use plain, clear language with proper grammar and without excessive use of emojis.

 

Implement Identifiable Well-Defined Buttons

Well-defined buttons with a clear message such as ‘submit’, ‘go’ or ‘click here’ will greatly help all your customers navigate through your website easily. These buttons should have a color that is in contrast to the background and it’s not advisable to add any flickering effects. 

 

Showcase Inclusive Imagery

Based on the demographics of your credit union website don’t forget to add images of people of a similar age to your target audience. To be more precise, if you offer student loans include images of young people, and for the services intended for senior citizens add images of older people. In that way, the users can identify themselves with these images and they may prompt them to engage. Additionally, this will bring demographic diversity that will help you attract customers from different generations.

 

Follow Accessibility Guidelines (ADA)

Last, but not least is ADA compliance. Especially now that the accessibility guidelines are mandatory for credit union websites they shouldn’t be overlooked or not fully implemented. Simply put, credit union websites have to be designed in a way that they are accessible to everyone including people with disabilities. Implementing the ADA guidelines means adding ‘alt text’ descriptions to images, color contrasting, and making the websites compatible with screen readers which usually helps people with damaged eyesight to access websites. 

 

To sum up, when designing your credit union website it’s crucial to consider the differences between generations and try to adapt to them. The ultimate goal of every business is to reach as many people as possible, therefore having a website that is appealing and useful to every generation is of utmost importance.