When 71% of your members rate your website as “excellent”, up from 35% before the redesign, you may be tempted to take full credit. Or, if you’re Scott Baldwin, Manager, Web Services for North Shore Credit Union (NSCU), you share credit with the firm that helped redesign it.
Baldwin is quick to point out, “our recent website successes are largely due to Habañero and the work they’ve done for us.”
NSCU first took note of the consulting services company after Habañero helped develop the user experience for Credit Union Central’s MemberDirect Integrated product, a user-centric online banking and content management product that enables credit unions to develop an affordable, superior banking experience for their members. Credit unions can choose to use the ‘out-of-the-box’ templates or opt to customize.
Impressed with Habañero’s work on the MemberDirect Integrated product, NSCU engaged the firm to refine the information architecture of the base MemberDirect Integrated product and design a completely new look and feel. NSCU continues to work with Habañero, testing the site with real customers in Habañero’s usability lab and making refinements accordingly.
For Tracey Shaw, Senior Designer at Habañero, it has been a collaborative and engaging process. Although the new site launched in August 2005, enhancements continue. “We’ve refined the information architecture and user interface a number of times, creating an exceptional experience for NSCU’s members,” says Shaw.
Baldwin agrees. “I see the majority of improvements being incremental and directly affecting usability. Our approach has been to leverage our web analytics and then present the design ‘problems’ to Habañero to solve.” He cites an example of a recent change made to the information architecture that instantly resulted in a 3% increase in traffic to a page level.
It is this collaborative approach and ongoing commitment to developing an exceptional user experience that has led to the increasing success of NSCU’s site. “I view Habañero as a solutions partner,” states Baldwin. “They’ve been completely flexible with us, and they’ve always met our deadlines.”
Since working with NSCU, Habañero has worked with other credit unions to design their MemberDirect Integrated-powered websites.