The world around us has become digital by default, and companies offering financial services must invest in skilling-up to match online standards set in other verticals.
Despite this widely-agreed sentiment, the average abandonment rate in the sector is 69%, according to Ve Interactive’s latest benchmark report. That’s nearly 7 in 10 users who begin the product application process and fail to complete it. The large amount of data entry typical with financial services applications aside, there are some common reasons for this significant amount of dropped wins.
Here we take you through four ways to tidy up your online forms and accrue more applications.
Some general house rules
When it comes to financial applications, it’s a given that there’s an awful lot of data entry to be done – and most applicants accept this. But by following standard best practices, you can reduce the friction this causes for your prospect and eradicate some of the pain points along the way.
The following pointers will set you in good stead:
- Inline validation allowing users to correct errors as and when they occur
- Form titles above the field to deliver a better user experience across multiple devices
- Only asking for the required information (i.e. do you really need that fax number?)
- A progress bar to show users how far they’ve come and to keep them motivated to complete their transaction
- Adopt a responsive website design so that customers are able to complete their application smoothly no matter which device they are using. This is especially important considering today’s users are working on more screens of varying sizes than ever.
Trust and security
As a financial services company, your site will have all the necessary security features to protect your applicant’s information. However, simply having this security is not enough – you need to communicate this to your user.
Levels of online fraud, hacking and the buying and selling of personal data are higher than ever –financial services companies can use high consumer awareness of these issues to their advantage by carefully nurturing customer confidence throughout the application flow.
Prominently displaying your security icons and policies will serve to remind the user that their personal information is safe in your hands, so they can stop worrying about the data they’re sharing and get on with filling in their application. It may also be worthwhile investing in improved customer service channels, such as live chat, co-browsing tools or simply a prominently displayed freephone number. Offering customers a choice of channels through which to receive help is important: some users are comfortable on the phone, whereas others would prefer to stick to text. The key goal is to bring the convenience of talking to someone in a brick and mortar store online, and to ensure your customer that help is never far away.
The Call-to-Action
The fate of any online financial services organisation lies with the frequency at which people click their Call-to-Action buttons.
Whereas other verticals can place multiple CTAs on the page – above and below the fold as well as hyperlinking text to encourage a conversion – these tactics don’t apply in the financial sector.
It doesn’t just go against best practice: with stringent regulations on data handling, each page can often only be submitted once. In line with this requirement, there should only ever be one CTA at the bottom of each page.
The copy needs to be absolutely clear and concise. There is no room for ambiguity or wordplay. For instance, ‘Next’ when moving to the following page and ‘Submit Application’ at the end of the process will do the job.
Colour
A lot has been written about the science of colour and the associations and emotions evoked by different hues.
It’s largely accepted that blue is a colour that represents authority, trust and calmness – everything you want a financial services website to exude. And this has largely been taken on board, with the major players in the industry predominantly using blue in their branding and site design.
But when it comes to the CTA, blue might not be the warmest colour. You need your CTA to subtly stand out from the rest of the page while not being too garish or undermining confidence. So a button colour that contrasts with the dominant site colour, with an adequate amount of whitespace around it to help it stand out will help you achieve more applications.
Don’t be afraid to A/B test: often it will be your consumers, not online articles, who will tell you the best colours, site layouts and CTA phrasing for conversion optimisation. By using on-site analytics as the basis of site design decisions, companies will soon find the aesthetics that work best for them.
Unfortunately, however optimised your process is, there will always be those users who get distracted and fail to complete their application. Software such as Ve’s onsite and email re-engagement can target those users and turn abandoned forms into completed applications.
