With the recently redesigned mortgage section of our website, North Shore Bank is trying something new. Rather than just showing customers what we offer, we want to give them information that’s directly relevant to where they are.
“Our website has a lot of great information and resources, but the content is siloed — blogs are in the blog section, calculators in the calculator section, etc.,” VP marketing Kate Johnson said. “The driver behind the mortgage redesign was to offer integrated content based on our customer’s mortgage journey.”
When customers visit the new mortgage section, they can choose one of four paths: first-time homebuyer, mortgage refinance, new home purchase, or new home construction. Clicking on a path will bring them to a page that includes essential information about the type of loan they’re looking for, along with tools like calculators and videos featuring tips from North Shore Bank’s expert team of mortgage loan officers.
“The overall idea was to take a look at where we were guiding people,” digital solutions manager Tim Gluth said. “We took a step away from guiding them right to a product and more toward educating them depending on what path they were on. A customer’s needs when they’re refinancing are different from a customer who’s buying a home for the first time.”
Once the four paths were determined, the next step was to look at what content was already on the website and figuring out which path or paths it applied to — “matching the pieces to the right puzzle,” as Tim put it. After customers are on a pathway, the website lets them know about our products that will best help them.
Presenting the information this way, Kate noted, better aligns with our brand position: North Shore Bank is a community-minded bank that empowers you to confidently manage your money so you can achieve the life you want.
Along with aligning existing content and products with the revamped section, the redesign involved a lot of search engine optimization research to determine the most important keywords to include to get our site in front of Wisconsinites looking for a new mortgage.
The redesigned mortgage section launched on January 2, so it’s still too early to know how customers will respond. But assuming all goes well, further such redesigns will follow. “Ultimately, the goal would be to take this template and move it into other sections of the website,” Tim said.
Along with Kate and Tim, marketing coordinator Mary Ott was heavily involved with the mortgage section redesign, as was marketing intern Dylan Knoespel. The team also worked closely with VP consumer lending manager Chris Boland and SVP consumer credit sales Mike Kellman.