Does your credit union really need a new website in 2014? Three things to consider first.

Towards the end of 2013, we received a flurry of website RFPs (request for proposal) from credit unions around the country. This reflects the initial data compiled from the 2014 State of Digital Marketing for Credit Unions and Community Banks Survey.

When reviewing the RFPs, both from current and prospective clients, I began noticing a few troubling patterns. Here are a few excerpts:

“We are looking into a website redesign next year. Would you be able to provide us with a quote?”

“We are working on our budget for things. Would you be able to provide pricing for those items and if they are things that would be able to be done on our current site?”

“Our credit union is interested in a website redesign project. Based on the proposals, we are interested in the total cost for the following modules or content.”

A common flaw in the credit union website RFP

Even though we received a good number of RFPs, we did not respond to any of them as we would have in the past. This may have caught some credit unions by surprise, but it was not meant to be offensive. Our response was due to our belief that every RFP was faulty on some level, the biggest being the document was nothing more than a wish list for what the credit union wanted in a website. It ignored what the members preferred or needed.

In short, many of the RFPs were a laundry list of self-diagnosed tactical features that had most likely not been vetted in any real world setting.

My second concern was the language used in the RFP. It appeared that many credit unions were already viewing their website as a cost, not as an investment or a digital asset. If we look at how consumer behaviors continue to shift towards digital, it is vital for credit unions to view their investments in this space as an asset required for a humanized digital economy.

Reshape the perspective of a credit union website

Instead of responding to the RFPs with an arbitrary number, I followed up with the credit unions to provide some perspective on how they viewed their website. What I found in these phone calls and emails was that some credit unions need outside guidance when planning and preparing a website development project.

This is understandable as many credit unions do not have the inhouse digital expertise needed to plan and build a unified digital marketing and lead generation system. It is true a website plays an integral role in this system, but a credit union must look beyond the ways the website has been traditionally used.

Three things to consider

The important thing to remember is that often times beauty is only skin deep.

While it can be tempting, try not to get caught up in the design aesthetics of the website. A credit union may find that getting a new pretty website is simply like repainting the walls of a branch  when in reality, the needs branch to be torn down and rebuilt altogether.

If a credit union is preparing to design and develop a new website, take a step back and consider how the new website helps to achieve the following three goals:

1. Lower the total cost of acquisition of new members

2. Increase product adoption and profitability of current members

3. Operate more efficiently in a humanized digital economy

If a credit union were to have a deep conversation about these goals, they may find they need more than just a new website.