Published on 7/13/2023
Top Conversion Rate Crimes and How Not to Commit Them
Safety is not First
It seems counter intuitive, but multiple mentions of how safe a process is has the opposite effect and makes the borrower more likely to drop out of the process. Keep mentions of encryption and security in a link posted on the page as opposed to emblazed along the way and you’ll experience less drop out.
Less is Always More
The fewer words and instructions you have on a page, the more likely the borrower is to read and proceed. Cluttering your UX with verbiage makes the call to action appear more complicated than it is. Keep it clean and to the point with only information featured that is absolutely necessary.
Don’t Focus on the Numbers
Listing your call center number at the top of the application page, and in the header, and in the footer, is telling your customers not to step through the IAV process. If a customer needs to contact you, they will always find your phone number. List the support number one time in the header or footer and you will not only increase your conversion rates, but you will also lessen the unnecessary calls to your call center.
Start Them Off on the Right Foot
Pre-populating the bank for the borrower allows them to go straight to the login screen (a DL exclusive feature), making it a 1 or 2 step process (depending on if they have security questions). Simply add the bank details when creating the request code and take the guesswork off your customer. This allows them to move through the system faster and with less friction. It also reduces human error by one more step.
If You Know, You Know
Do you know who your top banks are? That is to say, do you know what financial institutions are most commonly used by your clients? (If you aren’t sure, that’s ok. Our Support Team is happy to help you figure this out). This is a much more crucial piece of information to know than most people think and comes into play in a few places in your user journey.
First, if you know your top 10 banks, and one of them has their system go down, you will be ahead of the game knowing to skip the digital verification and go the old-fashioned paper statement route until it gets fixed. This will reduce some of the friction for your client (do you see a pattern here?), so they are not getting frustrated trying to step through the IAV process if the bank is experiencing an outage.
Second, a little-known fun fact; if you know your top institutions, you can request DL prioritize that selection in the widget. The banks that are important to you, are important to DecisionLogic. However, there is a catch, we need to know about them! This is where the squeaky wheel gets the conversion. Speak up! Let your Account Manager know what your top financial institutions are and request they be prioritized on the widget. Help us, help your conversion rates, and make it easy for your borrowers.
Sweat the Details
They always say, “the devil is in the details”, and when it comes to conversion rates this is spot on. If you don’t have an in-house data analysis team, you may be able to ask your IAV provider to assist you in finding the high friction/drop out points in your workflow. This is something DecisionLogic offers all of its clients and has proven immensely effective, increasing conversion by up to 18%. This is not to say there is anything wrong with the waterfall you poured hours into building. You may have built the perfect waterfall for 2010. Unfortunately, borrowers now are not the same as when your immaculate workflow was built. What was not an issue yesterday, is a massive blocker today. And even if you aren’t seeing any major problems, sometimes another set of eyes can make the user journey just a smidge shinier resulting in some extra boost on conversion rates. What do you have to lose?
Find a P.I.C. (Partner in Compliance)
Yay compliance! Who doesn’t love compliance? Let’s be honest, other than auditors and your security team and DL, very few folks love compliance. It’s complicated, constantly changing and cannot be ignored or sidestepped at all, ever. That said, we live in an awesome time where we have solutions to help us keep track of or satisfy some requirements entirely. For example, using IDV (an Identity Verification tool) at the same time as sending an IAV request can make your KYC (know your customer) life so much easier via a single request. This also reduces friction for you, the customer, and fulfills the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) requirements to keep your auditors happy. It also cuts down on vendor management to do it all in one place which your accounts payable department will love. This is something we offer at DecisionLogic.
Watch, Test, Repeat
Reviewing your conversion rates and optimizing your workflow should be an ongoing process. From making sure your user journey is seamless, to the bobbing and weaving required to stay up to date with the trends of the lending industry, which as you know changes with the economy, season, new technologies, banking standards, compliance regulations and a whole host of other things. It’s a full-time job, but if you have the right partner to help look out for your business needs, it’s a whole lot easier.
