Why your website is hurting engagement—and how to fix it
For credit union leaders, it’s no doubt important for financial wellness resources to be easily accessible by members. But when’s the last time you navigated your own credit union website—like a member would?
Not just a quick glance at the homepage. We mean really clicking through it: looking for budgeting tools, reading up on financial education, or trying to find help with debt.
Our team recently reviewed dozens of credit union websites and we noticed a trend: even the most robust financial wellness offerings are often hard to find, hard to follow, and even harder to act on as a result of some basic missteps.
The good news? These issues are fixable. Let’s explore the three most common problems that get in the way of effective financial wellness on credit union websites.
1. No clear front door
Your website is your digital branch. It should be just as welcoming and easy to navigate as your physical location. But too often, we found financial wellness tools scattered across different pages, buried below the fold, or hidden under vague menu labels.
Every credit union should have a clearly labeled page for their financial wellness resources—think "Financial Wellness" or "Financial Guidance"—that consolidates all tools, partner programs, and resources in one place. This should live in your main navigation, not buried three clicks deep.
This sounds simple enough, and many sites start out with a clean, dedicated financial wellness page. The problem is that over time, this focus often fades. Tools get scattered across the site in an effort to boost visibility and create a bigger mousetrap. The intention is to help members find resources more easily, but it usually backfires. Instead of creating a better experience, it creates clutter.
Pro tip: A clean, centralized hub makes it easier for members to engage and return. Trust your navigation strategy and site map, or undertake a review if its not working - but don’t implement ad-hoc quick fixes without a clear vision and roadmap.
2. Too many overlapping vendors
In an effort to boost engagement, many credit unions bring on multiple vendors offering similar services—hoping that one of them will stick or resonate more than others. It’s a ‘cover all bases’ approach, but it often backfires. Instead of helping members, it creates confusion about which tools to use and undermines trust in the overall experience.
Vendor A may provide in-depth articles (appeals to an older demographic), while Vendor B has more youthful design (appearing to a younger audience). Selecting both to cover the broad spectrum makes it confusing for your audience since they must now choose which one to use. Which one’s right? Which one is better? In what way are they different? Too much choice creates hesitation—and that leads to inaction.
Our advice: Either focus on your primary demographic and choose a solution that serves them well - it’s hard to be all things to all people; alternatively, if you do offer multiple programs, make sure they’re clearly labeled and differentiated, so members know exactly which path to follow. A brief comparison between the two programs can also go a long way to making things clearer for members.
3. The member experience gets overlooked
Finally, the biggest question: how easy is it—really—for a member to get help?
If you’re not running regular usability checks, you may be surprised. What seems clear to internal staff often feels like a maze to the average visitor.
Give your financial wellness program a true front door. Make the journey simple, intuitive, and member-first—from the first click to the final resource.
Pro tip: Run a simple test - ask someone unfamiliar with your site to find financial help for a common scenario like building a budget or reducing debt. Count how many clicks it takes. If it’s more than three, it’s time to rethink your flow.
Technology solutions that make a difference
If you haven’t audited your own site in a while, now’s a great time to do it—and we’re here to help.
We offer a range of technology solutions designed to engage members by making your digital shopfront as clear, helpful, and easy to navigate as possible. And it’s all backed by analytics so you can measure impact and optimize over time.
Schedule a consultation with us today to learn how we can help your credit union offer a transformative financial wellness experience.