The Conversion Killer You Can Avoid

Laurie McLachlan
August 20, 2012 | COMMENTS

Let’s say you develop the perfect ad campaign for a new type of checking account.  People everywhere see your ads and are persuaded to open accounts online. You are on your way to breaking all campaign performance records until something strange happens: Everyone who clicks “Apply Now” is presented with a message saying that their application is about to be handled by a third-party site and your institution is not responsible for what may happen next. Nearly everyone abandons the process. Say what?

The FDIC provides guidance on managing the reputational and compliance risks associated with weblinking (the practice of linking your institution’s website to websites that you don’t directly control). They suggest using website “speedbumps” to ensure site visitors understand the risks associated with visiting linked websites: 

“Financial institutions should use clear and conspicuous webpage disclosures to explain their limited role and responsibility with respect to products and services offered through linked third-party websites. . . . The use of a speedbump avoids the problems of pop-up technology, because the speedbump is not generated externally using mobile code, but is created within the institution's operating system, and cannot be disabled by the customer.”

However, some institutions mistakenly interpret this guidance to mean that speedbump warnings are needed in cases where their website links to an online application that is supported by an external provider, like Andera. This is not the case at all and doing so will kill your conversion rate. The FDIC makes this clear:

“This guidance applies to links to third parties that offer products, services, or information directly to financial institution customers. It does not apply to operational links from a financial institution's website to a third party service provider that is providing services on behalf of the financial institution, e.g., a link to the institution's Internet banking service provider.”

Developing persuasive campaigns is hard and launching them can be pretty expensive.  So before you launch your next killer campaign, make sure speedbump warnings aren’t killing your conversion rate.

Laurie McLachlan is vice president of marketing for Andera (Andera.com), a provider of online account opening and customer acquisition solutions. Contact her at lmclachlan@andera.com.