The Benefits of Good Brand Representation

What Really Matters for Credit Union Websites: REVISITED - Part Three

In the original white paper about "What Really Matters for Credit Unions Online", I touched on the importance of brand presence on credit union websites. The intention was to emphasize that a good user experience makes for a good impression of your brand. This applies to every little detail on your site.

This type of detail can be deep within the core of how your site is presented and developed making it very hard to put a finger on, but the main thing to keep in mind is that if you think it is hard to use or somehow uncomfortable, it is.
Often we can get a "clunky" feeling from a website that comes through when attention to detail is absent. It happens to the best and worst websites, but it has the potential to negatively impact the user experience, and therefore the overall impression of your brand.

In order to help provide insight on how a good brand can be translated to the web, and how the usability of a website directly impacts the perception of a brand, here are some excerpts from the original white paper:

Maintain Brand Integrity

Translating the credit union’s brand to the online channel is an important goal for a CU site. That is because if the brand is strong, this goal by nature has the potential to create a good experience. This doesn’t just mean having your logo on the page. This means that the feeling that a member gets from your organization should be the feeling they get from the website. As you may have already heard, the first few seconds that a user views your homepage will make or break the opportunity. If the user immediately recognizes the brand, they will probably stay and interact. Never sacrifice the integrity of your brand because of any limitations set forth by a developer, unless those limitations are imposed to improve usability and the behavioral "feel" of your site.

Strengthen Your Brand by Making it Easy for Your Users

Your web users deserve to be able to use your site without having to work too hard at it. Working hard to interact with your site makes the member’s relationship with your brand a struggle. By providing a standardized consistent layout within a website, the user can quickly become familiar with where interface elements are and how to use them. With a common sense approach to content organization it won’t be hard for your users to find what they seek. After a few minutes they are comfortable with your site and feel at ease with your brand. Good usability is a brand-building tool.

Don't miss the next post in this series... "Consistency is more important than creativity", where I'll provide several tips on specific ways to create consistency in a website presentation.