Personal Banking With a 99.8% Satisfaction Rating
The Challenge
SC Telco is a Federal credit union that has proudly served the communities of South Carolina for over 75 years. Staying true to their mission to “Improve the Financial Lives of Our Members,” SC Telco realized that the online experience of their members needed to improve as well. The site was cluttered and confusing, with no clear way to navigate. It was difficult to find the answers to common questions. “Where is the nearest branch? How do I apply for a personal loan? Do you offer financial education?” SC Telco needed to create top-of-mind awareness and a site that appeals to a wide range of people from a socio-economic perspective while providing a way to find substantial content information on a variety of financial topics.
The Solution
How do you improve the financial lives of your online customers and win members? In short, you have to earn and keep their trust. Your Creative People and the marketing team of SC Telco met several times to put a trust-building plan into action, starting with a redesign of their existing site. A survey of members showed that SC Telco already had a 99.8% member satisfaction rating in their branches. The web site was often the first place that both prospective and existing members went for information. For SC Telco, the web is their main branch. With this in mind, Your Creative People set out to build a satisfying web experience for each member.
First, we organized the site’s information into broad categories, and we created a site map that helped members to easily find relevant information. While building the site, our designers asked questions like “Who is using the site? What are they looking for? What is most important for them to know?” In designing the site, we opted for a homepage that doesn’t overwhelm a user, but rather ushers him into the various SC Telco services. A strong visual hierarchy makes navigation fun and easy—but never boring—and pertinent information is displayed in an easily digestible fashion. Lifestyle images were chosen to pair well with each section. Every part of the layout, menus, color, and style were designed to work in harmony and communicate a unified look and feel—the SC Telco brand. Basic member needs like finding the nearest branch or ATM were addressed. One click from any page of the site pulls down an intuitive branch locator and lists all locations with maps, hours of operation, and a link to get direction. With online credit applications and downloadable forms, the web site is each member’s first place to start.
“Too often in today’s world, companies make promises about their products and services that they just can’t keep. That was not the case with Your Creative People. I was blown away at the new design of our web site and Backstage is everything it was advertised to be. The more I learn about Backstage, the more excited I get. Thank you YCP for fulfilling your promise and living up to your brand!” —Jody Powell of SC Telco More Testimonials
Updating the former site required a team of technically-minded people. Now, the marketing team at SC Telco keeps their site updated all on their own (and on their own schedule) by using Backstage, a non-technical content management and marketing software system provided to them by Your Creative People. With Backstage integrated into the new site, the constant need to provide customers with the latest and most relevant information becomes a very simple process of a few clicks. With the ability to make member announcements at any time, SC Telco can stay in touch with their customers in real-time. Creating new pages and adding photos, links, and downloads has become easy.
Summary
Summary SC Telco now employs a solid marketing tool that proudly serves the communities of South Carolina and “improve[s] the financial lives of their members,” and will for years to come. The trust and satisfaction achieved on the local branch level now carries through to the member’s online experience, helping SC Telco achieve a more robust brand image.