"If we redesign our website, our customers won't know us!"

Sound familiar? If you're worried that a redesigned website could hurt your brand, or fear that your customers won't know you if you change, rest easy.

Using a professional website company will give you a team of professionals who will listen to you brand story and preserve the integrity of your brand while modernizing the look and improving your users' experience.

Take a look at LRS Web Solutions' redesign of a small bank in northern Illinois: Blackhawk Bank and Trust.

About Blackhawk Bank and Trust

Blackhawk Bank and Trust is a small bank based in the Quad Cities community, operating since 1961. Today it has 18 branch locations and more than 200 employees. They are heavily focused on the community and committed to local ownership.

The Challenge

Blackhawk asked for a “no-hassle” serviceable website redesign that kept the historical feel of their brand but would add a modern look and improved navigation that would help customers find what they needed.

The Solution

LRS Web Solutions revamped Blackhawk’s website with LRS Antilles Content Manager. Launching in July 2019, the site not only has a modern website design, but it also has better organization and a consistent alignment of products and services. Blackhawk also added an intranet to communicate better with its employees.

To match their mission to serve the community, the content better focuses on the needs of their customers, not on the bank. For example, the new homepage banner text included “Your credit score and report.” Customers gravitate to the “I Want To” menu, because it’s speaking to their individual needs and makes it easy for customers to find what they are looking for.

One of their goals was to attract a younger audience. Strategically-placed stock imagery highlights the 20-something set. Adding faces to your website can help connect to your potential customers.

Before: Cluttered, random graphics confuses branding guidelines. Outdated design with hard corners, multi-columns, and pattern background.

After: Softer branding, rounded corners, consistent colors and fonts. Modern stock photography, clean, easy-to-see layout.

The Success

Eighteen months into the redesign, data showed the website is a resounding success. Excluding intranet views, pageviews increased 80% from before the redesign. In addition to increased traffic, Blackhawk Bank has 50% more new users visiting their website.

Those new users are satisfied with the new site, with bounce rate improving a whopping 90%. The improved bounce rate indicates that users enjoy using the new website, interacting more with it than before a redesign. Users also are viewing more pages per internet session than before the redesign. 

Since the new website launched, the number of users 18-34 has grown and users 18-24 has more than doubled. Before the redesign, only about 20% of visitors were in that age group. Now, these youngsters make up almost 1/3 of their website users.
  

The Takeaway: Keep Your Brand Identity and Improve Your Website

Whether your company is in banking, insurance, or any other industry, your business website reflects your company's brand, your services, and is your first impression for a lifelong relationship with your customers. Blackhawk’s redesign maintains the best of its brand, reflects the quality of their services, and now better attracts customers—including a younger generation of customers -- to its website.