By Alan Gross
Your organization has a dedicated web portal for customers. That’s great, but does it create a memorable, brand-reaffirming user experience or is it something more transactional? A secure site to review balances and activity is essential, of course, but customers expect that and, for the most part, discount your significant effort to produce and maintain it. As such, these sites tend not to be much of a differentiator or likely a driver in a decision to hire or stay with you.
Industry leaders recognize the advantage that comes with a website that creates a quality of customer experience that aspires to reach beyond the transactional necessities. To create an “experience” is to tap into the story people have in their own minds about why they save, spend, and invest for their future. More than a simple presentation of transactions in and out, progressive sites tap into the psychology of investing and encourage an active relationship with a brand and organization that demonstrates that it understands them, cares about them, and is actively working to help them be successful.
The investment in an “experience” centers on data-driven personalization to help present a story and picture that feels authentic to each user. And that drives creative design and UX/UI decisions. We also see this take shape as site designers rethink the notion of “mobile friendliness” as a mini-theatre rather than simply a mini-screen.
“Story” lends itself to video as a powerful way to introduce, educate, persuade, and encourage behavioral changes. It’s no wonder that video dominates social media and search. And the statistics are clear: many people would simply prefer to watch than read. A video-centric strategy that leverages email and social messaging and interactive web options, has greater potential to be memorable, create a stronger brand affinity, and actually produce the actions you desire.
Make this actionable:
- Survey customers and industry partners about how they perceive their relationship with you.
- Assess how well your corporate website and customer portal addresses the aspirational stories of your customers versus presenting your services and transactional utilities.
- Make a definitive plan to elevate the way you tell your story and the way you engage your audience.
Reach out to learn more about how to put the power of iJoin to work for you.
Alan Gross is president of GSM Marketing, a marketing partner to iJoin and other leading organizations aligned to the shared goal of producing better retirement plan outcomes.