Website Redesign
Project Summary
When I started at Rabobank my primary responsibility was to lead the redesign of Rabobank California’s website. The organization's website needed to be redesigned to better represent products and services for California customers, develop a more intuitive information architecture, and to better reflect new local branding. Though Rabobank California did have an existing website, the decision was made to start from scratch.
The Challenge
The project was challenging due to differing opinions from multiple business leads as well as the need to adhere to corporate branding guidelines set by our international parent company, which were effective overseas but less so locally. To tackle these challenges, I conducted extensive user research with local customers to inform the design, followed by user testing to gather actionable feedback.
My Role
Led and executed all the UX related tasks in addition to leading the overall project with support from the Chief Marketing Officer.
This included: Business Requirements Gathering (and Executive Alignment), User Requirements Gathering, Personas, Information Architecture, Site Map/Content Identification, Wire-framing, Prototyping, User Testing, Overall Project Management
Core Team
UX designer (myself)
Web development lead
Graphic designer to assist with visual design and creation of visual assets
UX writer to help with content creation and brand voice consistency
Overview of the UX Activities Performed
Aligned Business Goals and Objectives
Met with executives from Rabobank’s 6 banking divisions in California, as well as Rabo Agrifinance (for Ag Lending outside of California) to align on goals/objectives.
Business goals/objectives:
Educate prospects clearly and persuasively on the bank’s service and product offerings.
Educate existing customers clearly and persuasively on service and product offerings with the goal of cross-sell prospects and increasing wallet share.
Since a number of stakeholders/partners were involved, communication and status of ongoing progress and next steps was key throughout the project.
Also integrated Rabobank’s corporate branding to create a site that clearly demonstrated Rabobank’s brand principles of 'Leading, Nearby and Involved' as well as leveraged Rabobank’s cooperative, agricultural history and community focus.
Conducted regular check-ins with members of the Rabobank branding team in the Netherlands to make sure the website was in alignment
Key Findings
Existing Customers
Wanted a clear link to Online Banking.
Not that interested in additional products and services.
Prospective Customers
Wanted to see where the nearest branch was located and the products/services the bank offered.
Business and Ag Customers
Wanted to see the name and phone number of the local Business or Ag Banking Representative in their area so they could call them.
User Research/Competitive Analysis
Web and Online Banking Analytics
Researched current bank customers
Vast majority of current bank customers are Personal Banking customers (roughly 250k Personal Banking customers out of around 263k customers overall).
Current website traffic/visitors
Vast majority of visitors to the Rabobankamerica.com website went right from the home page into Online Banking.
Competitive Evaluations
Performed a competitive evaluation of other bank websites to identify patterns with the major players, as well as regional banks.
Identified patterns with clear, intuitive access to online banking platforms and promotion of personal banking services such as credit cards and mortgages.
Interviews/Questionnaires
Conducted internal interviews with bank representatives.
Interviewed current customers and gave questionnaires conducted in branch and at local events.
Samples of questions asked:
What kind of information have you looked for on your bank website?
What kind of tasks have you tried to complete on your bank website?
Have you been to the Rabobank website?
Site Maps/Affinity Mapping
Lead affinity mapping sessions with representatives from the different businesses to identify content needs and categorize content for each section into logical groupings.
Created sitemaps for each section based on the outcome of the affinity mapping sessions.
Created Wireframes
Created wireframes using Balsamiq for review with business leaders to help give them an idea of layout, navigation, and content that would be included.
Engaged with an agency to enhance the visual design of the wireframes created.
Provided 3 different designs options for key stakeholdersd to provide input on – the main difference was the amount of imagery on the home page.
Reviewed the pros and cons of each design option and ultimately aligned on the wireframe on the right since it offered the best balance of the design objectives above (branding and content).
How were business and user needs translated into the design?
Represent the brand in a visually compelling way.
Show visitors that the bank is nearby by showing their local branch as well as local imagery.
Provide clear Calls to Action and Contact Information at the top and bottom of page.
Include containers that can be used to educate and cross-sell existing customers on relevant products, as well as inform prospects of the bank’s services and product offerings.
Created Prototype
Built an interactive prototype of the 3 key areas of the site using HTML (image mapping) with images created by the agency we worked with.
Used this site for user testing as well internal presentations.
Created screen flows for 4 main scenarios:
Log into Online Banking
Find and apply for a Checking Account
Find and apply for a Business Loan
Find your local Ag Representative to inquire about an Ag Loan
Conducted User Testing
Recruited and tested 28 total customers and prospects from our 3 key businesses: Personal Banking, Business Banking, and Ag Lending.
Key Findings from User Testing
The feedback on the design was very positive overall. Validated findings of our previous interviews such as easy access to Online Banking and the location of the nearest branch.
#1 - Current Customers - liked the clear link to online banking and the map to the nearest branch
#1 - Business and Ag Customers - Wanted to see the name and phone number of the local Business or Ag Banking Representative in their area to call.
However, users wanted to ensure two pieces of information about the bank were clear:
#2 - Is the bank and my information secure?
#3 - How is the bank involved in the community?
Revisions and Final Design Sign Off
Revised the design based on the feedback from user testing.
Reviewed the findings from user testing and revised designs with executives/key stakeholders.
Obtained final sign-off on the site design.
Reviewed user feedback and design revisions with each of the primary stakeholders as well as the Rabobank branding team in the Netherlands
Created Design Annotations
Created detailed design annotations to hand off to site developers to build the site pages.
Included details such as:
Colors
Fonts
Spacing
Finalized Content and Populated Pages
Finalized content with the business units while the site structure and pages were being built by the development team.
Assisted the development team with populating content for 250+ pages.
Aligned Other Digital Platforms and Branding with New Website Design
Once the new website was launched, led the alignment of all other assets (digital and print) to align with the new design and branding to create a more cohesive experience for customers.
This included digital channels such as our Online Banking, Mobile Apps, Emails, and Digital Signage.