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CASE STUDY

How Sound Credit Union Increased Auto Loan Application Visits by 31%

Sound Case Study

The opportunity

The team at Sound Credit Union worried that their auto loan webpages 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.

The approach

We recommended conducting a heatmap analysis of these pages to assess where visitors were clicking and where they were getting stuck. Here were a few key findings:

1

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." 

Untitled design (1)

2

Visitors wanted to access calculators and rates, but they weren't clicking in the right places

The blue spots show where users are clicking within this section to learn more, especially on Calculators, but there are no links for them. This tells us what people are most interested in, which is planning for an auto loan through rates and calculator engagement. Even though there is a calculator widget visible, users are clicking the “Calculate Rates” header because it’s mentioned in context of what they’re doing.

 

Rates engagement

3

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. 

 

Rage clicks-1

The solution

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

Auto Loan Buyer Journey - 2

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.

Auto Loan Refinancing - 2

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. 

Auto Loan Financing - 2

Added more CTAs

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. 

31%

Increase in the number of visitors who clicked to apply for an auto loan

When we tee up a problem, the PixelSpoke team comes to us with possible solutions. They also actively monitor our site and the industry to proactively recommend enhancements on a regular basis.

Ryan Zilker
Chief Growth Officer
Sound Credit Union