A redesigned website becomes a tool for ORNL FCU that serves both current and prospective customers.
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Previously packed with too much information, ORNL FCU’s site content has been consolidated to help users find the information they need quickly and efficiently.
ORNL FCU’s website is now mobile-friendly, ensuring that customers have easy and user-friendly access to their site from their phone or tablet.
The Sitefinity CMS allows ORNL FCU to deliver personalized content to website visitors who match the characteristics of a certain persona.
ORNL Federal Credit Union (FCU) is a not-for-profit, member-owned financial cooperative with history dating back to 1948. In their 70 years of business, ORNL FCU has never wavered from their mission to prioritize people over profits. They believe in putting their money back in the hands of their members, helping each of them achieve financial success. Today, ORNL FCU is one of the largest credit unions in East Tennessee, serving 19 counties. They are also the fourth largest in the state and rank within the top 200 credit unions in the United States. In total, ORNL FCU has more than 28 branch locations and their membership exceeds 183,000.
ORNL FCU felt they had outgrown their existing website. The site no longer conveyed what they are known for and failed to adequately promote their services. By their own assessment, the site had become too bogged down in information and was ineffective as a tool for member acquisition and sales. ORNL FCU also saw a new website as an opportunity to better showcase their place within the community, which is an important pillar of their organization.
To get ORNL FCU’s website where it needed to be, Spinutech (formerly Bayshore Solutions) needed to build a roadmap first. A website roadmap planning session was held, bringing together stakeholders from ORNL FCU and strategists from Spinutech to develop a blueprint for their new website. Together, the group outlined a list of goals for the site. ORNL FCU wanted to be able to track conversions and build their member base, streamline the navigation and content of their site, and more easily add new promotions to the site, among other goals.
They also expressed the need for a secure website built within a Content Management System (CMS) that would be easy for their employees to access and make updates to the site content. With these goals in mind, Spinutech proposed ORNL FCU continue using Progress Sitefinity as their CMS, but a new instance and site upgrade would be needed to utilize the full capabilities available. As a Sitefinity Premier Partner, Spinutech’s web development team knew how to customize the platform to fulfill their technical requirements and came to the project well versed in web security best practices.
Content and SEO strategists worked in collaboration on a new sitemap aimed at consolidating content and improving the user journey. To create content tailored to ORNL FCU’s customer base, Spinutech developed audience personas using insights gleaned from interviews and internal and external data sources. The content strategists were tasked with writing copy that reflected the brand voice, creating compelling calls-to-action, and enhancing internal linking throughout the site to streamline the user experience and inspire action.
One of the goals of a new website for ORNL FCU was to step outside their existing brand and step into the modern world with a different kind of banking website. That meant developing a site that was responsive with mobile in mind. Spinutech put together a moodboard and held visual identity sessions with stakeholders from ORNL FCU to refine their brand imagery. From there, the team built wireframes and high-fidelity designs to give the client a preview of the site design, allowing them to be an active participant in the process from discovery to final design.
To build the website ORNL FCU needed, Spinutech chose Progress Sitefinity as the platform. Ease of use for the end user was a priority, and Sitefinity allowed the dev team to implement content and resource widgets that allowed ORNL FCU to easily make changes to the site without any HTML. Spinutech was also able to make use of Sitefinity Insight, a tool connected to the CMS that tracks user behavior on the site using the audience personas the team had developed.
Launched in May 2021, ORNL FCU’s redesigned website came in under budget. The budget savings allowed the web development team to complete remediation work ensuring the site is in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Additionally, Spinutech was able to provide additional maintenance and support after the site went live.