A community bank planning a website redesign usually gets two kinds of advice: what looks modern, and what other banks have done. Neither tells you which changes will bring in more loan and deposit applications.
MetriFi designs websites for credit unions and banks and tests them after launch. It has designed more than 60 websites for financial institutions and has run more than 150 A/B tests. Every test in this article ran on a credit union website. The next section explains why those results still apply to a community bank.
Why credit union results apply to a community bank website
Community banks and credit unions offer the same core products: checking and savings accounts, auto loans, mortgages and home equity loans. Their websites are built from the same pages, too: a page for each loan and account, rates, an online application, and a header with a log in button.
The people on those pages are making the same decisions. Which checking account should I open? Is this auto loan rate good enough? Should I start the application now, or come back later?
That is what these tests measure: how visitors respond to the page in front of them. Where the rate sits, how many fields a form asks for, and whether the next step is obvious. There is little reason to expect that behavior to change because the institution is a bank rather than a credit union.
So treat each lesson as a well-tested starting point for a bank redesign, not a guarantee, and confirm it on your own site. The real differences between the two are covered under “What may not transfer to a bank”.
Lesson 1: Put rates and the calculator where the decision happens
On loan pages, two MetriFi tests point the same way: visitors apply more when they can see the numbers without hunting for them.
• Raiz Federal Credit Union. In a MetriFi test on Raiz’s auto loan page, the calculator moved to the top, rates were shown on the page itself instead of behind a separate link, and competing buttons were replaced with a single application path. Completed digital applications rose 57%, at 97% statistical confidence.
• Centricity Credit Union. Rates had been tucked behind a tab, with the calculator farther down the page. In MetriFi’s test, moving the rates and calculator next to each other and placing them high on the page raised click-through to the auto loan application from 14.58% to 21.86%.
For a bank redesign: do not hide rates behind tabs or a separate rates page on the product pages that matter most. Put the rate and a payment calculator next to the apply button.
Lesson 2: On high-consideration loans, show why and how
Mortgages and other big loans need more than a rate. In MetriFi’s A/B test 96 on a credit union mortgage page, the redesigned version added a “Why Choose Us” trust section and a “Steps to Homeownership” section with three steps. It also added “Get Started Today” calls to action and replaced the three contact options at the end of the page with one. Click-through rose from 12.00% to 23.92%, at 99% confidence.
Several things changed at once, so the test shows that the redesigned page worked, not which element did the work.
For a bank redesign: on mortgage, home equity and business lending pages, tell visitors why to choose the bank and what happens after they click apply, in a few plain steps.
Lesson 3: Give prospects their own path in the header
Many financial institution headers are built for existing customers: a prominent log in button, and little for someone who is not a customer yet. In MetriFi’s A/B test 98, a credit union put a “Join Now” button alongside “Log In” in its header. Across nearly 49,000 visitors, the measured conversion rate rose from 1.43% to 2.19%, a 53% lift at 100% confidence. That measures visitors starting the membership process, not completed memberships.
For a bank redesign: a bank has no membership step, so the equivalent is an “Open an account” button beside “Log in”, which the test write-up itself suggests. It serves the visitor the redesign is meant to win.
Lesson 4: Lead deposit pages with the right product, or help visitors compare
Deposit pages reward a clear first choice, and how to make it depends on what the bank wants to grow.
• AmFirst. In a MetriFi test, a Thrive Checking page rebuilt around benefit-led messaging, testimonials, an FAQ and a repeated “Open Thrive Checking” call to action raised click-through into account opening 56%, at 99% confidence, across nearly 7,000 visitors.
• Lone Star Credit Union. Its checking page converted 0.31% of visitors. In MetriFi’s test, adding a side-by-side comparison with a second account, Money Market Checking, raised product click-through to 0.94%, at 100% confidence.
• Alta Vista Credit Union. Sending visitors straight to its premium Prestige Checking page, instead of a three-account chooser, raised Prestige conversions from 3.30% to 10.37%. Total checking applications showed no statistically significant change.
The Alta Vista result is the one to keep in mind. Leading with one product moved visitors toward that product. It did not create new demand for checking.
For a bank redesign: decide which deposit account the bank most wants to grow, lead with it, and measure total applications as well as that product’s numbers.
Lesson 5: Remove friction from the first step
Form length matters. In a MetriFi test for People Driven Credit Union, cutting a lead form from 14 fields to 4 raised completions from 2.3% to 10% of visitors.
For a bank redesign: ask for the minimum on the first screen, and save the rest for later in the application.
What may not transfer to a bank
Who is visiting. A credit union’s prospects have to qualify for membership. A community bank’s prospects do not, and they may be comparing it with larger banks. Copy that explains eligibility on a credit union site becomes copy that explains why to choose a local bank.
Business banking. Business accounts and commercial lending can be a larger share of a community bank’s growth goals than a credit union’s. Most of the tests in this article are on consumer pages.
Sample sizes. Each result comes from one institution’s traffic over one test period. A smaller bank may need longer to reach the same confidence.
Bundled changes. Several of these tests changed more than one thing at a time, so they show that a page worked, not exactly why.
Questions community banks ask before a redesign
Do credit union website test results apply to community banks?
They are a strong starting point, not proof. The pages and visitor decisions are similar, so patterns like showing rates near the apply button and giving prospects a clear next step are worth testing first. MetriFi’s published results all come from credit union websites, so a bank should confirm them on its own site.
What should a community bank measure before a website redesign?
Applications and account openings started from the website, per product page, before anything changes. Without that baseline, nobody can say afterward whether the redesign helped.
How long does a website A/B test take?
A test should run until it reaches a statistically confident result. What matters is how much data it gathers, not how many days it runs. A page with a lot of traffic can get there quickly; a page with fewer visitors takes longer.
Who can test a community bank website after a redesign?
MetriFi designs websites for credit unions and banks and tests them after launch, measuring each change against a baseline taken before it.
Redesign, then keep testing
The pattern behind every result in this article is the same: measure the starting point, change the page, and measure again. A redesign is the biggest change a bank’s website gets, and it is also the easiest place to lose ground without noticing. Setting a baseline for applications before launch, and testing the most important pages after it, is what turns a redesign into a result you can show your board.
MetriFi provides website design for credit unions and banks and ongoing conversion optimization after launch. If you are planning a community bank website redesign, talk with us.
