Objectives
JN Bank UK split from the parent company and relaunched as thisbank. They felt that not only was the old website not reflective of the new brand but that the digital experience no longer represented the trust, clarity and simplicity customers expect from a modern financial provider. The legacy site was outdated, difficult to navigate and not optimised for mobile. In addition, digital-first competitors were raising customer expectations for website speed, transparency and intuitive design.
thisbank is a new customer-centric entity with improved systems and processes. Their transformation created an opportunity to rebuild the website and online banking platform from the ground up.
thisbank asked equimedia to design a site to reflect the new brand, modernise the website’s technical infrastructure, redesign user journeys, establish a new content management system and deliver a mobile-first experience with improved accessibility and performance. In addition, it was imperative to achieve significant visibility for the new brand name and domain quickly, to maintain customer confidence.
- Deliver a new visual identity for the thisbank brand
- Improve site accessibility and speed
- Improve UX and user journeys, enabling customer self-service
- Create a mobile first site
- Provide a fully editable content management system
- Execute a successful migration and achieve high visibility for the new brand and domain using Search Engine Optimisation expertise
Our Approach
Working with the client team we identified two clear target audiences:
- Primary: Middle England, middle aged households with traditional family structures — people who work hard for their savings and value clarity and human reassurance.
- Secondary: Users not ready for hyper-fintech experiences but wanting speed, simplicity and transparency.
Creativity
The thisbank colour pallet is bright and welcoming, but that presented challenges. It was important to use colour subtly, so it didn't dominate the site and detract from the content, while still conveying a bright, welcoming appearance.
Care and attention went into fine tuning every element of the site, including the use of background colours, overlay effects, background and foreground blurs, box shadows and hover animations. Using the secondary and tertiary colours effectively alongside strong imagery maximised the visual impact of each site module without overwhelming the user.
Accessibility was an important consideration, especially for the navigation menus. Everything needed to be transparent but legible over the hero image, but then solid and legible over the rest of the page, without appearing intrusive or contradicting the open feel of the site. It was important to achieve this balance while ensuring the navigation drop downs were clear yet unintrusive, and the incorporation of images really helped.
Even the practical pages such as the search page, FAQ and the contact us page were carefully designed to reflect the welcoming appearance by using subtle background cloud images.
Innovation in design
Putting the customer at the heart of the design, user testing informed navigation, content, IA and conversion path planning. Ideas were validated quickly at each stage of the design development and assumptions were removed.
- We created a full UX/CX redesign using journey mapping, task-flow analysis and customer insight to inform navigation, content structure and application flows.
- We designed and built new UI components, with WCAG-aligned accessibility standards and responsive layouts.
- We re-platformed from Umbraco to WordPress, enabling faster content deployment, improved security and better integration.
- Comprehensive testing including usability testing, accessibility validation and multi-scenario testing was conducted across devices.
- Analytics and optimisation tools including heatmaps, behavioural tracking and A/B testing to refine journeys were implemented post-launch.
- Migrating a financial services business to a new domain simultaneously with a new brand launch is risky. Equimedia provided a risk assessment and options.
- A full redirect strategy was implemented to transfer domain authority and trust to the new domain.
- A new Google My Business profile was created.
- An SEO overhaul was undertaken with a new sitemap aligned to user intent as well as equimedia’s 22-point SEO/AEO check list for a new site launch.
The deadline was tight, but the site was delivered on time and within 9 months.
Results
The new website inspired trust in the new brand, brought clarity and ease of use. Customers can understand products and complete tasks without support. The improved design, mobile-first build and plain English content resolved the UX issues that once caused frustration and calls. What’s more, new and improved tracking setup now allows the client to review all key customer interactions, including steps in the savings application journey and 'Get in Touch' contacts.
With a modern CMS, consistent design patterns and improved SEO, the site is now a scalable foundation for future growth.
Within 7 days of launch:
- Old domain was no longer shown in Google SERPS
- New domain was ranking immediately below listings for Companies House info and PR about the new branding launch
- Google had indexed 60% of pages on the site
- Old domain Google My Business listing was marked as permanently closed.
Within 14 days of launch:
- The new domain was ranking #1 or #2 for both old and new brand names
- 74% of pages in the new site had been indexed by Google.
Comparing data for the 90 days after launch to data for the 90 days before launch, the new site delivered:
- Page Views per Session Up 22%
- Engagement Rate Up 10%
- Bounce Rate Down 26%
Sarine Gulerian, Marketing Manager said:
“Equimedia were a huge part of getting thisbank’s new website live. We launched a completely new digital experience in just a few months, and the team made the whole process smooth from start to finish. They supported us with GA integration, SEO optimisation, and a ton of other critical digital details. Can’t recommend this team enough!"
Page Views per Session Up 22%
Engagement Rate Up 10%
Bounce Rate Down 26%
Interested in seeing what we can do for you? Get in touch and let us know about your requirements today.
