These Small Website Changes Increased Auto Loan Application Visits by 31%

Ta-da! It’s always satisfying to cut the ribbon at a new branch opening. As CEO of a website design agency, I derive a similar sense of satisfaction from launching our clients’ redesigned digital branches. Each website launch represents the culmination of months of hard work, with the intention of creating a better experience for members and welcoming new members into the fold.

There should absolutely be time for celebration, but as we all know, we can’t rest on our laurels for too long. Branches require consistent maintenance and upkeep, along with ongoing evaluations of their furnishings and flow. Does it make sense to ask people to form a teller line in this direction instead? Would this chair be better moved over here? Can we brighten up this corner? Do people feel welcomed at the entrance?

Like your physical branches, your digital branch also requires ongoing upkeep. There’s the maintenance work, and then there’s the evaluation work. While most credit union marketing teams have systems and processes in place to keep their website up to date, they are less likely to set aside the time and budget for testing and iterating.

We call this “conversion optimization,” which entails going beyond click data tracking from Google Analytics and similar tools to help you learn more about user behavior and influence user actions on the website. This can entail heatmapping, usability testing, and A/B testing, among other approaches.

Thinking critically about the flow of your website is just as important as thinking critically about the flow of a physical space—arguably more important, considering how many members access your digital branch on a regular basis. If you’re worried that your website visitors might be getting stuck or distracted before clicking on a critical call-to-action button, it’s time to re-evaluate.

The team at Sound Credit Union, for example, was worried that their auto loan pages weren't fulfilling the credit union's marketing goals. The top-level auto loans page was key in organic search, but it didn’t provide visitors with enough information to guide them to the next step in their buyer journey. There were also conflicting views amongst the team and agency partners as to how these pages should function and flow.

As the team at Sound can attest, conversion optimization is not quite as onerous as it might sound—and it can be a lot of fun! We typically focus on a handful of priority pages—in this case, the credit union’s auto loans pages—and then determine what types of tests or analyses will yield the insights we’re looking for.

Heatmapping shows us where visitors are clicking (or not clicking) on each page, while A/B tests present two versions of a page to different visitors, with one key difference, like the placement or content of its primary call to action button.

Usability tests ask participants to perform simple tasks, like learning about eligibility requirements for joining, figuring out how to open a checking account, or determining whether they would refinance their auto loan with the credit union. As few as four or five user tests can help you identify at least 75% of your website’s usability issues. (By the same token, zero user tests will consistently provide you with zero insights.)

The issues we uncover through these analyses and tests generally have fairly easy, cost-effective solutions that can significantly improve a client’s user experience, such as:

• Moving eligibility requirements further up a “Join” page
• Changing the language of a call-to-action button from “Become a Member” to “Open an Account”
• Adding a comparison table to a Checking page to clarify what the account options are and who they are for
• Creating a separate product page specific to auto loan refinancing 

In Sound Credit Union’s case, we recommended conducting a heatmap analysis of their auto loan pages to assess where visitors were clicking and where they were getting stuck. Here were a few key findings:

• The page layouts didn't always prioritize the most sought-after content: On both mobile and desktop, "Finance your vehicle" was the most clicked-on call-to-action from the central Auto Loans page, but it came after the "Shop for a vehicle" section. This was particularly a problem on mobile since visitors have to scroll to find the information they need. The mobile version of this page gets more traffic than the desktop version, and 39% of those mobile users click "Finance your vehicle" in contrast to the 11% that click on "Start shopping."
  
  
• Visitors wanted to access calculators and rates, but they weren't clicking in the right places: Heatmapping revealed that users were clicking on unclickable headers and sections to learn more, especially in areas that mentioned calculators. This told us what people were most interested in—that is, budgeting for an auto loan through rates and calculator engagement.
  
  
• Some pages generated a higher-than-average volume of "rage clicks": Some pages saw high click activity in areas without specific calls-to-action—otherwise known as "rage clicks." This tends to happen when visitors want to take the next step, but there is no clear call-to-action that corresponds to the content.

After compiling a set of recommendations based on our key findings, we implemented the following changes: 

• Reorganized content: We revisited the page layouts and reorganized content to ensure that the most clicked-on calls-to-action were the most accessible, reducing the need to scroll to continue in the buyer journey.
  
  
• Integrated tables & tools: Visitor behavior indicated a clear desire to explore rates and calculate monthly payments. By adding these features and tools, we enabled visitors to get the information they needed without forcing them to navigate to other pages.
  
  
• Added more calls to action: To reduce "rage clicks" and ensure that prospective auto loan applicants could get to the next stage of their buying journeys, we integrated more calls-to-action where relevant.

The results? Though users, views, and engagement rates held steady for Auto Loans pages over the ensuing months, indicating a comparable volume of traffic, clicks to apply increased by 31 percent. See our case study for screenshots and more details.

These results demonstrate the power of a focused conversion optimization strategy. This process is more than just website maintenance; it is an essential, ongoing practice of studying visitor behavior and using the data to inform iterative, cost-effective improvements. If your general approach to your digital branch is “set it and forget it,” you risk not only frustrating your existing members and deterring potential members, but also leaving significant revenue opportunities on the table.