Webster Bank

The Client

Webster Bank is a leading mid-size bank with more than $30 billion in assets. Its bankers serve more than 3 million customers through Consumer and Commercial Banking, and its HSA Bank division, one of the nation’s largest providers of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

The Situation

In order to update its website, Webster Bank wanted to create an industry-leading design system for cost avoidance, internal self-sufficiency, increased scalability and improved speed to market. But getting internal stakeholders to buy into this entirely new thinking was one issue, and working with a vendor partner that was entirely distributed was another. 

The Challenge

The previous version of the website had several issues. Not only were conversion rates low, but the site was product-focused rather than focused on customer experience and engagement. Confusing navigation and page organization made the site less intuitive for users, and a lack of design and governance strategy led to brand inconsistencies. With limited personalization and IT involvement necessary for even the smallest site updates, it was clear changes needed to be made. 

The Solution

The Webster team performed nine weeks of discovery and research, interviewing more than 50 internal stakeholders and reviewing more than 1,300 pages of research and data. Additionally, for the first time, they implemented user testing at the bank to remove subjectivity and emotion from design decisions and make sure decisions truly aligned with customers’ desires. In essence, they shifted from bank- and product-focused to customer-focused. The Drupal site's empathetic content acknowledges visitors and seeks to meet them where they are in their lives and “buying” journey. 

The Results

Webster’s customer-first approach has paid off, as reflected in post-launch metrics:

• Number of sessions per week increased by 6% year-over-year.
• Level 3 leads (application starts) per week increased by 86% vs. pre-launch and 17% year-over-year.
• Pages per session have decreased by 22% post-launch vs. pre-launch and year-over-year, indicating that users are more easily finding the information they need due to improved navigation.
• Average time on site has remained flat; coupled with a decrease in pages per session, this suggests that pages of the new site have more relevant and robust content for visitors. 
• Organic search impressions increased 52% due to faster page loads, new schema and a reduction in indexing errors