If your credit union is planning for a new website in your 2023 budgeting, here are the primary steps to ensure your best chance for success.
Find the right partner
Myriad credit union website design companies exist. So, how do you identify the right one for your credit union?
Before you begin work on a new website for your credit union, consider your primary objectives for your new credit union website. Your objectives might be financial, like growing loans, or they might be strategic, such as making it easier for your team to update your website to reduce stress and free up their time. Also, ask colleagues who they’re using and how it’s going.
Your credit union should also begin researching credit union website design firms. Review the messaging on their websites to ensure it aligns with your credit union’s goals. Don’t forget of course to pay attention to how easy the company’s own website is to navigate to just the right information you need.
Once you’ve narrowed down you list of possible partners, you’re on to making meetings for demos.
During your meetings with your prospective credit union website design firms, actively listen to what they’re saying and how they’re saying it. You should expect the company representatives to be feeling your credit union and your team out as much as you are them to ensure a good fit. At this stage, credit union leaders have to trust your gut a bit on the confidence you feel working with each potential partner.
Your prospective website developers should be asking for your objectives and trying to learn as much about your needs as possible. If they are simply telling you about all the great things they do, they likely aren’t interested in your goals but implementing the latest shiny object. CAVEAT: Once you’ve selected a website design partner, you should expect pushback on some of your wants, because they are the experts and their experience in websites should be respected and carefully considered.
Follow the Leader
The partner you’ve selected has likely built dozens if not hundreds of websites, and while each one is unique, you should expect a standard, tested process from your credit union website design company. The processes may not make sense to you, but there’s a method to their madness that will ultimately avoid frustrations on both sides and lead to quicker turnarounds and better results.
Generally speaking, the website development process should include 4 steps: discovery, drafts and feedback, layout approval and finalization of content and launch.
Expect Results
Early on in the process, you outlined your objectives for yourself and your website development partner. You should expect certain immediate results because many people are excited about a new website, such as increased traffic and more pages per visit as members explore your new site, so give your stats a month or to normalize.
Track KPIs that align with the objectives your credit union set out to achieve. Is your website traffic and engagement increasing? Are you growing loans and members to meet your expected ROI over the long term? Is your team spending less time hassling with website updates and more time growing your credit union and serving your members? Is your credit union in control of your digital presence?
After years of frustration managing website edits for our credit union clients with other website developers, we took matters into our own hands, giving credit unions nationwide control over their websites. uncommn offers as little or as much help as your credit union needs.
We’ve taken the same care for brand new website as we do for our clients – creating a frictionless, optimized and mobile-friendly user experience. What’s your website development company doing for you? Get uncommn and get unscrewed.
