Planning on launching a finance website? This is a very competitive industry but can be lucrative if you manage to do an outstanding job with your marketing. You also have to make sure everything from your web hosting, web design, web copy, and technology is top performing. The reason why is because you’ll be going up against some of the biggest companies online. To catch you up to speed, here are some of the top finance sites of 2018. See what the best of the best are doing with their sites.
1. Betterment
Better is a very modern and UX driven site. It uses a black and white photo as a hero image and creates contrast with blue and white font colors. This is followed up by precise summaries and bullet points accompanied by appropriate icons. The design itself is minimalist but very impactful as the focal point is the message.
On the bottom of the main page, there is an interesting call to action function. It has a message where you enter your age, working status and annual income. These form fields are organized as a sentence to make it more engaging. It also has the extra function of targeting the user with the right information and making the rest of the information easier to complete.
2. Credit Karma
Credit Karma is a popular free credit score service. They open with a very strong headline that gets to the point and clearly states the benefits. It shows examples of what users can expect by showing the various credit score analytics data as it would display on a smartphone screen. It also features a very strong call to action phrased as “See my scores” which is very specific and inviting.
The rest of the site does a good job of explaining all the features you’ll get from Credit Karma. The copy uses strong and punchy bullet points that are supported by clear screenshots of the actual platform. Another strong addition to the design is the very bottom where the security and privacy concerns are clearly addressed and accompanied by relevant icons to draw proper attention.
3. Mint
Mint is an app that allows you manage all your finances in one platform. Instead of opening with a full page hero image, it starts with a half page visual introduction and outlines the main benefits of the app. If you want to make sure your users get it on the first look, this is a great way to start your website off.
Naturally, this transitions like the app’s features. The font is the perfect size and very clean. Each block of copy is supported by pictures of the specific feature being used on a smartphone. More web hosting and other technology services need to do this more to get potential customers a preview of what to expect. This is a very clean design that gets the job done.
4. Purefy
Student loans are definitely one of the things a student will face. But the problem is that most of these students don’t know how to handle them effectively. This website will guide you how to manage your student loans in and out of school.
Choose from a plethora of guides from choosing the proper lender, refinancing your student loans, handling your student loan debt and more.
5. Nerdwallet
NerdWallet is a popular site that helps consumers save money by finding the best offers for credit cards, savings accounts, loans, and more. The thing that stands out right off the bat is the fact that the site creators are aware that people are visiting their site for different reasons. To address this, they provide a row of navigation buttons below their headline.
Each of the navigation options lists the category and an icon to help indicate what it’s for. They are all in different colors to help set them apart. This idea is used on the rest of their page. Teaser copy that talks about how consumers can save money on various things like travel, credit cards, and mortgages are laid out so that users can click on whatever is relevant to them.
6. SIGFIG
SIGFIG is an investment firm that does an amazing job standing out from the crowd. It opens with a full page hero image with a call to action to either get started or play a video. This is followed by a call to action function similar to the one that Betterment uses. It states a sentence where you enter your age and your desired investment strategy.
In the middle of the page, there is a very powerful investment scenario comparison table that gives the user an idea of what to expect from various investment options. It states initial investments, the term, and projected returns. Visual photos and charts that accompany this table really make it engaging and draw you in to the call to action that asks you to customize your portfolio.
7. SoFi
SoFi is a loan and refinancing company that makes it clear that they’re targeting Millennials. The hero image features a young adult to appeal to their audience and invites them to choose the appropriate product option. The options are laid out in rows. The text is set in visual banners that are relevant to the option.
For example, the mortgage loan banner is designed as the interior of a house and the student loan-refinancing banner is designed as a young student in the city. This is a style of navigation that is hardly used but it is quite refreshing. The rest of the page features interactive visual and mouseover effects.
8. J.P. Morgan
This is a strong example of what a corporate site should look like. The J.P. Morgan site highlights stories about finance as well as all the events that the company is currently involved with. The news stories are laid out in a card-based layout but with a grid design to present everything in a clean manner.
The rest of the site follows a traditional blog layout but the company manages to stand out in spite of the simple design with custom photography. Nothing seems to suggest that they are using stock photography. As a result, everything looks professional, unique to their brand, and real.
These are our top finance sites of 2018. We think you’ll take away a lot of things such as how the layouts are built, how designs are set up, what kind of approach to the copy is used, and more.
