A Midwest full-service bank wanted to understand the needs of small-business owners and deliver an experience designed just for them.
A Midwest Bank wanted to tap into the potential of creating a dedicated banking solution tailored to small business owners but didn’t know how to go about doing it on their own.
With small businesses making up 99.7% of all U.S.businesses, and 80% of small businesses owners listing online banking technology as extremely or very important in determining a preferred financial institution, creation of this type of portal presented the bank with an opportunity to enhance engagement with a crucial customer base.
The bank needed a partner to collaborate on the specifics of necessary features, what the small business banking portal should look like, and how it could be built. They chose g2o because we offered the combined insights, design, and technology expertise to turn the bank’s vision into a reality.
Properly designing a small-business portal means input from small-business owners, so our team began with primary qualitative research — in other words, talking to people. Thirty-two decision-makers shared their challenges in managing their business financials, and the team came away with crucial high-level insights. Features like money movement, alerts, and exports to Excel would be required, while security and graphics also needed to be prioritized.
We designed dashboard concepts based on the research data and shared those with a second group of entrepreneurs. This iterative approach allows for continuous improvement and resulted in a small business banking solution that was thoroughly vetted by the customers themselves. The output was web-based and native to mobile, but most importantly, was the asset small businesses needed to manage their financial position effectively.
Finally, we empowered the bank to execute. Along with the full-capability web concept, a minimally viable product was also outlined. While the bank has an in-house user-experience team to develop the interface, the portal needed the right data platform. Our team evaluated three fintech vendors on their UX/UI potential and recommended Strands as the ideal fit.
The bank’s small-business banking portal represents a massively compelling service to a vital segment of the bank’s customers. With it, the bank is extending its relationship with this community. New customers are drawn to this industry leader, and the bank can maintain revenue streams with existing customers.
The platform is ripe for additional revenue generation as well. While a foundational portal may be offered to banking clients free of charge, opportunities to profit from value-added services, a-la-carte programs, or tiered programs are plentiful. The wide scope of valuable features and tools grants the bank flexibility with these offerings.
Through their partnership with g2o, our client has provided to its small-business customers a vital advantage. The small-business banking portal ensures that the future of their organization is now more transparent, more nimble, and more financially secure.
