Serve & Protect Credit Union is one of the largest credit unions in the UK with over 42,000 members. Like banks and building societies, they provide savings and loans but are exclusive; run for their people, by their people.
Serve & Protect approached KIJO with a clear brief to redesign their website; one that ran efficiently and smoothly as the existing site was frustrating and slow to use. They also wanted to implement a more straightforward and succinct user journey (UI). This would help improve the site’s transparency and deliver information more clearly. They also wanted the Serve & Protect site to be more visible on search engines.
increase on users associating the website with a vibrant, dynamic, people orientated, financial support brand
average load time
We refined the site’s navigation so it was as straightforward and clear as possible. We opted for an impactful mega menu which was introduced to present links in a more engaging way instead of a standard dropdown style. This included introducing cards which contained featured images for more primary links in the main menu.
We completely modernised the aesthetics of the site. We leaned into bright colours and gave them a more dominant presence to help build impact and freshen up the imagery, moving away from the stock-like feel the existing site had. We implemented a bespoke graphic in the hero banner, drawing the eye and capturing the user’s attention quickly. We also applied a bright background colour to certain form sections which helped bring a stronger emphasis to them, making them noticeable and captivating.
In order to bolster the succinct user journey and improve transparency, we created a design system that contained tailored global styles; colours, fonts, buttons and inputs. There were many sections that needed to be repeated across multiple pages for consistency. This meant we could build these as templates in Elementor, a website page builder software. The client wanted to use a page builder so that they could create landing pages and marketing pages themselves after the site had launched. Elementor is our preferred page builder if our clients have a desire to use it.
Using it meant we could then drag and drop these templates into different pages where required. WordPress post types (a term used to refer to different content types) were created for the ‘Borrow’, ‘Save’, ‘Who Can Join’ and ‘Resources’ sections of the site which allows easier content management for the client. The Serve & Protect team were then trained in using this to update their copy and imagery via KIJO Academy.
After we’ve delivered a new website, we then make sure to provide the client the resources to empower them and their team in managing their site. This is KIJO Academy; a collection of videos, screen recordings and how-to guides for WordPress website and content management. In addition, we also provide direct training via Zoom with our expert team. Clients are also offered access to our KIJO Knowledge Base. This is a database of frequently asked questions we’ve received over the past decade as an agency. These can be referred to whenever a client needs to.
The previous website was bloated with unnecessary pages that weren’t being engaged with, were littered with information, and had no real audience-focus. Overall, the existing site felt very stock-like and lacked genuine personality. It was underwhelming and frustrating to use; the navigation system was poor; unclear and indirect. The site loaded incredibly slowly and the design was generally forgettable. This meant that the website was not only hard to find on search engines but the customers that visited it, weren’t able to utilise the website in a meaningful way.
We began by conducting an in-depth SEO audit of the existing website. Our main take away from this report was that we needed to prioritise audience-focused landing pages specific to Serve & Protect’s unique clientele. We identified the following user personas: NHS workers, fire personnel and those serving in the military. This meant we could now build the website around them.
We then set to work merging as many pages as possible, and removing the unnecessary ones that were barely being visited. This was arguably the team’s biggest challenge of the project. KIJO evidently needed to make a crystal clear user journey, but still display all the relevant information.
Since being launched, there’s been a 14% increase on users associating the website with a people-orientated, financial support brand. This was a key factor of the brief; Serve & Protect wanted to improve transparency and deliver information regarding who they are, what they do and who they’re for more clearly. We can credit this to the clearer branding, consistent design and more concise messaging on the website.
We’ve also referred to the audit tool Google Lighthouse. This is a neat piece of software that audits a site’s pages from Google’s perspective. It looks at key factors like SEO, Accessibility, Best Practices and overall site Performance (including speed). Ideally, every site wants to score 90+ in every Google Lighthouse metric.
Serve & Protect Credit Union’s new website is now scoring over 90 across the board. When measured, the site also has an average load time of 418 milliseconds too. This means it’s fast, accessible, and SEO optimised, achieving the top goal sought by the Serve & Protect team.
