Independent Banker - July 2023 - 61

Is your user experience
accessible?
" Accessibility is addressing userexperience
'bugs' that affect people
with disabilities, " says Mark Miller,
director of sales for TPG Interactive,
a digital accessibility consultancy
based in Clearwater, Fla.
Making the user experience as
7. Survey your customers
Ledyard National Bank serves a range of demographics. Some
of its customers are Gen Zers and use the branch next to the
Dartmouth campus, while others choose Ledyard for its wealth
bug-free as possible is not only
a requirement of Title III of the
Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA); it's also an excellent way to
address all customers' needs.
One of the most helpful fixes is
ensuring your website is navigable
with a keyboard. Doing so helps
people who are blind and reading
on screen readers and those with
mobility impairments who often
cannot operate a mouse, says Miller.
Testing keyboard navigability
is simple. " Stick your mouse in
a drawer and see if you can get
through your website with just a
keyboard, " suggests Miller. He notes
that making a website easier to
navigate by keyboard is also a boon
to " power users, " or those who find
navigating by mouse too slow.
Miller is convinced that improving
accessibility brings unanticipated
benefits. He says that when city
planners began cutting out small
ramps in sidewalks to satisfy the
ADA and help wheelchair users exit
curbs safely, researchers found that
80% of nondisabled pedestrians
chose the cutout-even without a
perceivable reason to do so. These
cutouts are also convenient for
people pushing strollers or luggage.
" This one change-creating a
curb cutout-turned out to have
a huge benefit to the population
in general, " says Miller. " When
you make something accessible
to people with disabilities, often
there's a ripple effect that makes the
user experience better. "
management arm, explains Parisi.
" We're trying to cater our services to the younger generation,
but also to an older, more well-established client base that
has accounts with Fidelity and Schwab, " he says. " For these
customers, our digital services have to rival those of the largest
banks and financial services companies out there. "
When it came to improving its digital experience, Ledyard
went straight to the source. Last year, the bank began surveying
its customers through third-party provider Avannis.
Responding to customer feedback, Ledyard now offers both
Zelle, an app for sending and receiving money, and MoneyMap,
an account aggregator and budgeting tool, says Parisi. The bank
also responded to customer input by raising its limits on mobile
remote deposit capture.
The surveys, Parisi says, have " completely reframed how we
look at the client experience. We never imagined the level of
information we'd get from our clients, and in many ways, this
has changed who we are as a bank. "
8. Harness
data for a more
customized
experience
As the number of
visits to Honor Bank's
branches continues
to decline, Plumstead
is keen " to figure
out different ways
to connect with [our
customers] and
understand them. "
Chief among plans for digital enhancements is a data
analytics platform that could take the community bank's
tremendous stockpile of customer data and turn it into tailored
offers or educational materials.
Fiserv's Stewart Russell would also like to use AI and other
cutting-edge technologies to help community banks be more
useful to customers in their digital channel offerings. " Because
of technology, our ability to use data to create new experiences is
so much better than it ever has been, " concludes Stewart Russell.
" We want to target what users need and what they're trying to
accomplish in their lives ... We're going to get to the place where
we can offer one-on-one advice and experiences. " 
Elizabeth Judd is a writer in Maryland.
independentbanker.org // 61
http://www.independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - July 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Independent Banker - July 2023
