The Ultimate List Of Best Financial Websites And Why They Work

When was the last time you went on a financial website and found everything that you were looking for straight away? Probably never.

The financial industry is filled with intricate and hard to comprehend lingo, massive websites with poor site structure, and user experiences that are, to be frank, rubbish!

But, there are some financial service companies out there that really nail their web design and user experience.

In this blog, I’ll take you through some of my favourite financial websites.

If you’ve got a financial site and need some help optimising your online presence, then get in touch for a no-obligation quote from my Digital Impact.


Johnston Carmichael

https://johnstoncarmichael.com

Johnston Carmichael is Scotland's largest independent firm of Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers.

The Johnston Carmichael website not only boasts nice styling but the user experience is super smooth, too. Oh, and the site navigation is downright lovely!

The use of large targeted imagery, clean typography, angular graphics and micro interactions make the site visually engaging as it immediately grabs your attention and builds trust.

What we like about it

As I mentioned, the Johnston Carmichael site offers a really good user experience.

The top menu and navigation are easy to use and all the subpages are well presented. It’s a simple design and it works!

The calls-to-action across the site are visually pleasing, super intuitive and, I’m guessing, very effective. From the ‘Arrange a chat’ pop up in the hero section to the static chat sidebar on the service pages, Johnston Carmichael’s web designers have done really well to optimise the site for conversions.

The ‘Arrange a chat function’ is great. Clients can arrange a time and place that suits them, making the service highly personalised and flexible. Gone is the feeling of just being a number.

As you venture into specific service pages, Johnston Carmichael builds on this personalised service as they introduce you to members of staff that work in the specific area you’re looking at.

On the site, they’ve used a series of unique page elements to meet the different needs of their users at different stages in the conversion funnel. Often in web design, we see a standard template rolled out across a massive site but here they’ve taken the time to think about user needs and how they are able to provide solutions.

An example of this is their insights page where they’ve brought in a search function.

Another great example of this, is their filter function in the ‘Our Team’ section. With a lot of staff, this function really helps users quickly find the people that are relevant to them and their needs.


Baker Tilly

http://bakertilly.com/

Baker Tilly is an American full-service accounting and advisory firm.

Although the Baker Tilly website may be starting to show its age in places, the design is well thought through and perfectly executed. It is evident that its design team really put the user at the heart of the design and this has paid off.

I love that once you land on the site, you are immediately prompted to choose your industry and what service you’re looking for. Within just two clicks and minimal reading, you’re funnelled to the correct part of the site and delivered highly targeted content.

I would love to see the Baker Tilly site re-vamped with the same elements but touched up to modern styles.

On the downside, one you’re through the initial filter, I found no clear CTAs which was disappointing.


Habito

https://www.habito.com/

Habito is the largest online mortgage broker in the UK and it’s a great example of how you can use technology to meet the modern user’s needs. It compares multiple providers and mortgage deals and recommends the best deals to the user in his or her unique situation.

Now, when you’re dealing with mortgage advice, you’d be excused for asking, “How can a website give personalised advice??

Well, Habito have built a very intelligent algorithm that takes a wide range of factors into consideration before spitting out suggestions and best deals.

To us, the really impressive bit is how Habito gather this data.

Traditionally, websites have had these huge forms that users needed to fill out before they could get any advice. Habito have completely blown the form into bits and stitched it together in a nice interface that mimics a human-based instant messaging chat.

By asking the user different questions and giving recommendations, they are not only providing highly targeted service recommendations, they are providing an extremely personalised experience

As tech advances, users increasingly want products and services that are easy to use. We are likely to see a surge in companies taking similar approaches as Habito when it comes to gathering data.

Habito’s online tools offer instant value to their users and it captures a huge amount of leads. Developing a tool of similar nature is really worth considering as you’ll gain highly detailed lead intel as well as amping up your trust by providing free high quality advice.

If you’re thinking of other ways in which to build a tool, check out the debt repayment calculator we built for our client Insolvency Help Ltd.



CUE

https://www.cua.com.au/#

CUA is a bank based in Australia. It offers home and personal loans, savings accounts, travel and health insurance and so on.

As soon as you land on the site, it’s not just the young smiling person in the convertible that jumps out but also the outstanding design.The homepage effortlessly funnels users to their desired service in just one click — that’s outstanding for an organisation as complicated as a bank!

On the homepage, there is a clear section offering different services and user goals to get the users to where they want to be — fast!

As users progress further into the site and specific services, they are met with really helpful tools that are highly relevant to their choice of service.


CUA’s focus on allowing users to quickly navigate through to the page where they want to be. Once there, CUA offers helpful tools and brilliant content to solve user pain points, increase time on site and drive conversions.



TaxScouts

https://taxscouts.com/

TaxScouts is essentially a digital tax advisor. Half robot, half human. Or so they like to claim.

All round, the TaxScouts’ site is really great in terms on content, design and styling. Once again, the on-site tools are highly relevant and provide real value to the user.

From a styling point of view, the super minimal style is great for optimising conversions and the use of whitespace ensures that the CTAs really stand out.

When it comes to content, TaxScouts tick all our boxes too. They’ve got client testimonial reassuring users of their competence.

And they’ve pulled together some quick pricing tables to show the actual difference in price compared to a high street accountant, along with examples of what services the two different accountants deliver. The below table is a great example of how to quickly communicate the difference in your service compared to a traditional alternative.

Last but not least, TaxScout have designed custom icons to match their USPs. A super simple yet effective way to reassure the user that they are as detail-driven as they claim to be.



We’ve said it before, tools like on-site calculators are phenomenal for lead generation as they essentially trade high-value information for basic contact details.





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About The Author: Digital Impact Team