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- Outdated Technology: The old CWB site suffered from poor mobile optimization, slow speeds, outdated information, and a lack of interactive features.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
The Benefits of Structured Content in Headless CMS Solutions
By: Erin Presseau | 9/4/24
In a fast-paced digital landscape, businesses need to deliver content across a variety of platforms—websites, mobile apps, internet-enabled devices, and more. Most organizations today utilize a Content Management System (CMS) to manage marketing and product content. Traditional CMS solutions that leverage unstructured content make content re-use or re-purpose difficult or impossible. The content is typically locked into a particular format for one particular purpose. Central to the success of a lean marketing team and modern content management solution is the use of structured content. Let’s look at the benefits of structured content in headless CMS solutions.
What is Structured Content?
Structured content refers to content that is organized into predefined fields, making it easily reusable and adaptable across different channels and formats. Unlike unstructured content, which is often locked in a specific format (like a webpage), structured content is modular and can be dynamically pulled into various contexts.
For example, a piece of structured content might include separate fields for a headline, body text, author, publication date, and images. This content can then be reassembled in numerous ways—whether it's a blog post, a social media snippet, or an app notification.
Benefits of Structured Content in Headless CMS Platforms
1. Omnichannel Delivery
One of the biggest advantages of structured content is its ability to support omnichannel delivery. In a headless CMS, content is stored centrally and can be distributed across any number of channels through APIs. Whether you're pushing content to a website, a mobile app, or a voice assistant, structured content ensures that your message is consistent and correctly formatted across all touchpoints.
2. Enhanced Content Reusability
Structured content is inherently reusable. Because the content is broken down into components, you can easily repurpose it across different sections of your digital ecosystem. For instance, the same product description can be used on an e-commerce site, within a mobile app, and even in a chatbot conversation. This not only saves time but also ensures consistency in messaging, which is critical for brand integrity.
3. Improved SEO Performance
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a critical consideration for any digital content strategy. Structured content allows for more precise control over metadata, headings, and other SEO-critical elements. By breaking content into distinct fields, it's easier to implement keyword strategies across different parts of your content. For example, in a headless CMS, you can separately optimize the title tag, meta description, and body content, ensuring that each element is aligned with your SEO goals.
4. Faster Time-to-Market
In today's competitive environment, speed is essential. Structured content allows teams to work more efficiently by reducing redundancy and streamlining workflows. When content is structured, it's easier to collaborate across departments, automate publishing processes, and quickly adapt to changes in strategy or market conditions. This leads to faster content production and a quicker time-to-market, giving you an edge over competitors.
5. Personalization at Scale
Personalization is key to engaging modern consumers and structured content makes it easier to deliver personalized experiences at scale. By leveraging the modular nature of structured content, businesses can create dynamic, personalized content experiences based on user preferences, behavior, and context. For example, a headless CMS can pull different pieces of content from the same structured repository to deliver a customized experience to each user.
6. Modern Content Strategy
As digital platforms evolve, so do the requirements for delivering content. Structured content ensures that your content is future-proof by making it easier to adapt to new platforms and technologies. Whether you're adopting new devices, expanding into new markets, or simply updating your digital presence, structured content allows you to pivot quickly without needing to overhaul your entire content strategy.
7. Enhanced Content Governance
Managing content across multiple platforms can be challenging, especially when consistency and compliance is crucial. Structured content simplifies content governance by making it easier to track, update, and audit content across various channels. This is particularly beneficial in industries with strict compliance requirements, where accurate and up-to-date content is essential.
Structured content is the backbone of effective content management in headless CMS platforms. By embracing structured content, businesses can unlock the full potential of these platforms, delivering consistent, personalized, and optimized content experiences across all digital channels. If you're looking to maximize your content strategy and gain a competitive edge, ask us how we’ve helped many clients realize the benefits of structured content in CMS platforms.
