Understanding the digital experience among banks and credit unions
My first assignment at Extractable was to lead a research project into the current state of the public marketing sites at credit unions. As a design agency that specializes in financial brands, we wanted to help our clients understand the broader landscape while demonstrating our industry expertise. The main goal was to generate sales leads.
In the end, we found a lot that we expected, but there were also some interesting surprises—and the success of the first report led to two additional studies.
Background
Good user experience always starts with research. You need to do discovery to understand the user, the market, and the brand. Extractable had conducted plenty of competitive audits for specific banks and credit unions (CUs), but they focused on the local area.
I started by looking at the top 20 U.S. credit unions by asset size. We chose this sample based on the assumption that bigger CUs would have more resources and therefore represent the best of the best in digital experience.
Spoiler alert: it turns out that the largest credit unions didn’t necessarily have the best experiences.
Approach
First, I interviewed stakeholders within the agency to understand the project requirements. The original idea was to produce a quick “scorecard” to rate the CU websites. However, it quickly evolved as I dug into who the report was for, what they wanted to know, and what our own goals were. It was clear we needed something more in-depth.
For the agency to demonstrate thought leadership, I knew that the content had to have real value to our audience. I put together a plan and defined the heuristics criteria.
Second, came the actual research. For the first report, I did most of it myself; for the next two, I was able to get more resources. I trained a few colleagues to help me. Many hands don’t just make light work—getting more perspectives from a variety of disciplines improves the quality of the research. I led a team from design, analytics, and content strategy. Once the research was complete, I worked with them to evaluate the data and look for patterns and insights. I also worked closely with the design team to come up with the best way to use data visualization to represent our key findings.
Categories we evaluated:
- User Experience
- Analytics and SEO
- Key Features and Functionality
- Visual Design and Branding
- Content
- Digital Marketing
From the initial concept of a one-off, ad hoc “scorecard” of credit union websites, I put together a formal strategy presentation and project plan to serve as a model for future research projects. I realized that this was really a thought leadership campaign, and we needed to apply campaign best practices the same way we would for any client.
The Reports
Results
The reports brought attention and positive feedback from current and prospective clients. There was a strong appetite for thought leadership among financial institutions. Credit unions and banks know that FinTechs are disrupting their industry, and that they need to transform their organizations to meet higher user expectations. But where to start? These reports provided a benchmark and validation for leadership teams.
The reports also generated new business leads for the agency and demonstrated the case for devoting more internal resources to thought leadership content.
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