Community West Bank
Services we provide:
- Discovery
- Strategy
- UX/UI design
- Website development
- Xperience by Kentico implementation
About Community West Bank
CWB is a large community bank in southern California with over 20+ locations and a track record of financial strength, security and stability gained over its 44 years in business. CWB has set itself apart from other banks by its people, dedication to client advocacy, exemplary "relationship banking," strong community support and a mission to exceed expectations. With a passion for providing customized solutions, the merger drove the decision to revamp their digital services to better serve their customers.
The Process
In an era where digital presence is critical to financial institutions and mergers are frequent, the successful merger of Community West Bank (CWB) and Central Valley Bank (CVB) depended on a robust and well-executed digital strategy, critical to providing a seamless user experience for customers and employees. SilverTech, leveraging its expertise in Xperience by Kentico website development, customized a digital solution that unified the brands of these two banks into one cohesive user-friendly digital experience in just 4 months from start to launch.
The Challenges
The merger of CWB and CVB presented unique challenges, particularly in integrating two distinct digital landscapes into a single cohesive website. The biggest challenges included:
- Differing Content Strategies: CWB's site was optimized for SEO with a rich content library, while CVB's site focused more on detailed product pages. Balancing these different content approaches was crucial.
- Short Timeline: The project needed to be completed with a demanding timeline, delivering a high-quality, functional website, from planning to launch in less than four months.
- Outdated Technology: The old CWB site suffered from poor mobile optimization, slow speeds, outdated information, and a lack of interactive features. This hindered customer engagement and usability.
Goals for New Site
SilverTech identified four main goals for CWB's new website with the main goal of unifying the brands. The merger of the two banks presented a unique opportunity to take advantage of the best from both brands.
Solution and Implementation
Based on the insight gained, SilverTech devised a comprehensive strategy roadmap to address the challenges and deliver a seamless digital experience for the bank merger. It was SilverTech's recommendation that Kentico's newest hybrid CMS platform Xperience by Kentico would be the best solution for the new website. Xperience with robust features and functionality allowed SilverTech to create an exceptional digital user experience efficiently for CWB.
The Key components of the solution include:
- Unified Content Strategy: SilverTech developed a content migration plan that combined the SEO-rich content from CWB with the detailed product information from CVB. This approach ensured that the new site would benefit from both banks' strengths while avoiding duplication and inconsistencies.
- Modern Design and Functionality: The new website was built with Xperience by Kentico, featuring a modern, responsive design to enhance user experience across all devices. Key features included:
- Enhanced Interactivity: Interactive elements and engaging content to improve customer interaction and retention
- Improved CTAs: Clear, strategically placed CTAs to guide users through the site effectively
- Technical Upgrades: Faster loading speeds, improved reliability, and mobile optimization to ensure a smooth user experience
- New Functionalities: Inclusion of essential tools like product comparison tools, branch locator and more
- Accelerated Development Timeline: Despite the tight timeline, SilverTech employed agile development practices to ensure timely delivery without compromising quality. The team worked in sprints to continuously test and refine the site, leading up to a successful launch within the four-month timeframe.
HIGHLIGHTS
Is Your Website Lacking? Use This Checklist
8/10/21
Find out if your website is meeting and exceeding user expectations
With how fast the world of technology cycles through trends and how hard it is to meet the ever-changing digital expectations of users; it can be difficult to keep up. When you're busy running your business, your competitors may be raising the digital stakes for your industry. What was once an innovative implementation for your website may now just be an industry norm, making your “cutting-edge” integrations seem standard and uninspired. Or even worse, your website may have become outdated and no longer meets the expectations or needs of users.
Make sure that your website ticks all the boxes for an advanced website in your industry and use the checklist below to determine if you need to step up your game. Every website ages and becomes more outdated with each new innovation that hits the digital landscape; take the time and consideration necessary to determine if you are doing enough to elevate your website and business.
Your website is on an advanced DXP or CMS platform
One of the most important aspects of a functional and optimized website is making sure that you are on an advanced content management system (CMS) or digital experience platform (DXP). While smaller website builders may advertise that they can accomplish everything a CMS can, their capabilities pale in comparison when it comes to custom implementations, e-commerce functionality, personalization capabilities, and many more.
There are so many options when it comes to choosing the right CMS for your business depending on the needs for your business and industry. With options like Progress Sitefinity, Kentico, Drupal, Wordpress, and more, there is a CMS system that will address all the needs you have for your existing or future website. If you are currently not on a CMS or DXP, you may be missing the mark with your users who expect more from a website in your industry.
Your website has industry-specific tools and modules
No matter what industry your business is in, ensuring that you have the tools and web functionalities that meet the standards in your industry is one of the best ways to stay competitive. Depending on the types of needs and expectations your users have for your industry, your modules and tools should be helping you answer questions and solve users’ problems without them having to even pick up a phone.
If your industry is in the financial services sector, for example, some popular industry-specific integrations include financial calculators, interactive rate modules, store locator maps, online banking capabilities and more. These integrations provide dynamic content and relevant information to users, helping them come closer to purchasing or choosing to work with your company. All industries have different expectations for what a great digital experience should be, just be aware of your industry’s standards and new emerging trends in the digital landscape.
Your website translates seamlessly to mobile
With how integral smartphones are in our society and culture, it is imperative that your website translate seamlessly to mobile devices and their screens. More than ever before, users are reaching for their phone or tablet to access the information they need instead of surfing on their desktop. According to Perficient.com, 68.1% of all global website visits in 2020 came from mobile devices – a decent increase from just 63.3% in 2019.
In 2021, users expect a seamless web experience no matter where they are browsing, and your website needs to fit the bill to stay competitive. Ensuring that your digital experience stays consistent across devices and platforms is not only the standard but the bare minimum in the current digital landscape.
Your website has a clean, easy-to-navigate design
The user experience on a website largely comes down to how easily users can find what they're looking for on the site. If your website navigation is confusing, has too many options, or is vague about the content within its pages, users and customers have a difficult time finding the information they need.
Users' expectations have changed, and they will often leave your site within seconds if your navigation isn't intuitive. It's important that people stay on your page for as long as possible to capture their attention or score an upsell opportunity, so making sure that their navigation is clear and easy to understand is key. Additionally, you'll be less likely to get phone calls from frustrated customers who just can't figure out how to navigate through your site in order to find the information they're looking for.
Your website is personalized for your users
More than just a hot buzzword, personalization it is a tactic that the biggest players in your industry are using to cater their content and digital experience to better serve their customers. Personalization helps businesses better reach and sell to their users by leveraging data-driven insights about customers and highlighting the content they care about most, rather than wasting the user's time on features that do not relate to them.
The tactic also offers a more rewarding experience for each website visitor, leading to increased conversion rates due to a more positive user experience. By personalizing your website content and strategies for the audience you want to reach, you can create customer relationships and increase traffic flow from both online marketing efforts and organic searches. If your website is not currently leveraging valuable customer data or personalizing content for users, your user experience is already behind the competition.
Your website has dynamic content that is regularly updated
With well-written, knowledgeable content delivered on a regular basis through blogs, whitepapers, eBooks and other forms of written media that meet its audience's needs for information, businesses develop credibility and establish themselves as thought leaders in their industries. These pieces of content lead to an overall increase in web traffic, conversions rates and ultimately sales volume.
It is important for your website to have regularly updated dynamic content because it helps you create brand loyalty among your customers by providing them with the reliable information they need. If you offer valuable insights into the products available on your site or industry-specific knowledge that answers people's questions - they will be more likely to purchase from you. Another aspect of creating great content is making sure that it is being updated regularly to show that your business is constantly innovating and improving, keeping both new and returning users engaged.
Your website is quick and loads within seconds
Users will quickly look for alternative competitors' websites that load more quickly if they find your site to be too slow. There can a multitude of different factors contributing to underlying web page speed issues including internet connections, servers, and server response time as well as image sizes and backend processes performing with old code etc.
According to a study done by Google, researchers found that as a page load time goes from one second to 10 seconds, the probability of a mobile site visitor bouncing increases 123%. Meaning that you are losing potential conversions and customers with each passing second. With the number of competitors available at their fingertips, you need to be sure that your website is loading as quickly as possible, so users don’t find what they need elsewhere.
Your website is easy to manage internally
The largest benefit to managing your own website internally is that you can make content changes whenever you need to and without having to depend on an external developer. While you may need a team of developers and strategists to help you build an effective site for your business, it can be a pain to go back and forth after website launch with small changes that you wish you could just implement yourself.
By making sure that you are on an intuitive CMS or DXP that enables you to edit and modules yourself, you allow for smoother maintenance of the site with fewer content breaks and obstacles in your way. You shouldn’t have to have an advanced understanding of code to change a small aspect of your website; aid in internal manageability with a CMS that allows for easy and flexible changes.
If your website does not check most or all of these boxes, it may be time for an upgrade. Look into broadening your personalization capabilities, choose a CMS that aids in internal manageability or implement new industry-focused widgets onto your site. There are many ways you can improve your site’s user experience and elevate your business in the process.
See problems in your current site and have no idea where to start? Let SilverTech, a digital marketing and web development agency that specializes in game-changing digital experiences, develop a roadmap to help you get started. Contact us for a digital audit today!
