There is a lot of competition between community banks and larger, national banks. The larger banks may offer products and services that community banks do not, or they may have more convenient locations. Your website should give them information about why you’re the best choice. Below are several ways to make your community banking website more effective:

Simple design with ease of navigation

Your website needs to be easy for your customers to navigate. Navigation goes hand in hand with a clean design. Keep it simple; a study by Google indicating that visitors would rather interact with a simple, clean design over a complex one. This study shows that websites of high complexity tend to have a negative first impression as compared to those of a lower complexity. A simple design allows your visitors to not only move more quickly from one section to another, it’s also visually more appealing to them.

Everyone likes to do things fast!

Who doesn’t love to finish things in a timely fashion… or even better, ahead of schedule! The quickness of your website affects the impact on your users. If your site is slow and/or unresponsive this negatively affects your current customers or prospects looking to move to a new product or service. Research indicates it does influence everything from user satisfaction to conversions. It is crucial to invest in making your site as fast as possible.

Explain what your bank offers

Make it clear to your customers what products and services your bank offers. If you specialize in home mortgage loans, but not in student loans, let them know. Otherwise you may leave customers frustrated, looking for something that isn’t offered by your institution.

Graphics and people are the best

A great way to present what your bank offers is to include pictures illustrating what a certain product or service can do for them. People like to connect with others, in real life and online. A case study by Basecamp showed and increase in conversions by 102.5 percent when changing from a text-based page to one with a photo of a person.

The more scrolling the better

This goes along with a simple design. Visitors like to scroll more than they like to click on things. Having a longer web page with more information works better than a shorter page with an abundance of links to different locations. A case study by Crazy Egg proves this when they went changed from a short sales page to one that was over 15 times longer than the original version. They illustrated, “the proof is in the pudding”, their conversions went up 30 percent!

Explain why you're the best choice in the community

A website isn’t just about giving information to your customers, it’s about selling your products and services to the community. Make it clear to potential customers why your bank is the best choice for them by showcasing what you do differently from the rest.

Your website can reflect positively or negatively on your bank. You want a website that fits the needs and interests in your community, keeps your customers happy, and draws in new clients. Remember: keep it simple, have relevant information, and explain why you’re the best choice in your community for banking.

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