Berndt Group and Provident Bank Unveil Provident's New, "Best-of-Breed" Web site
Site Features a Strong Focus on Customer Service
October 28, 2008
BALTIMORE, MD—Provident Bank and The Berndt Group, a Baltimore, MD-based full service interactive agency, are excited to announce the launch of a new corporate web site for Provident Bank. The redesigned site launched on September 26, 2008.
The Berndt Group was selected by Provident because of its expertise in best practices for user experience and content management systems. The company developed a comprehensive Web strategy for Provident and implemented a "best-of-breed" web site.
Amy Creason, eCommerce Manager at Provident Bank, said, "Our new web site reflects the level of service our customers have become accustomed to in our branches and expect online. It's customer friendly, easy to navigate, informative, and contains features and functionality that put us in a level above our competition and arguably better than that of larger financial institutions."
She added, "The Berndt Group was a master at implementation. Their knowledge of the offerings and potential drawbacks of the vast varieties of Content Management systems on the market today was absolutely integral in selecting a system that is perfect for our current needs and potential wants in the future. We were very pleased to be able to work with a local company of such quality."
Overall goals for the new site included an improved user-experience
for Provident customers and prospects, delivering a clear and
contemporary brand impression and value promise for Provident
Bank and growing and building customer relationships across
all business lines and providing customers with the level of
services expected and needed to retain relationships. The new
site achieves all of these initial objectives.
Highlights of the new Provident site include:
- Provides customers with the level of services expected and needed to retain relationships.
- Improved design and usability. Provident Bank visitors are provided with color coded context indication, login area, search functionality, and more exposed content. All of these items are based on extensive best practices research for financial institutions. The site is architected and laid out based on proper segmentation of user bases.
- Convenient and recognizable login area for banking customers allows quick access to their account information.
- Enhanced promotional marketing abilities or calls to action, through flash on the homepage as well as right side featurettes.
- Quick Access Tool utilities on the left side bar. Provides users with access to calculators, branch locators and other helpful items.
- Evident ability for visitors to service themselves. Options such as Open an Account, Apply Online, Contact Us, etc. are more pronounced and easy to use.
- Customized user personalization provides users with accurate deposit and loan rate information based on the visitor’s ZIP code.
The new site runs on the Crown Peak CMS. In addition to providing ease of use for Provident's customers, the site also enables Provident staff to easily maintain the site, and keep content fresh for Provident's customers.
President and CEO, John Berndt, commented, "In this project, we were fortunate enough to be able to produce a site which is entirely an example of best practices, from branding, through usability, to an extremely nuanced and sustainable CMS and personalization implementation. It is a site that rivals national competitors, and extremely appropriate for a company like Provident which has always placed a strong emphasis on customer service."
Berndt Group Senior Account Manager for the project, John Mohr, agreed, "Working with the Bank's eCommerce team was a fantastic experience and together we created a web site that is at the top of the class in the banking industry."
About The Berndt Group
The Berndt Group has been a leading Web design, development and brand communications firm since 1991. The firm provides an integrated set of creative services, including strategic consulting, brand and application development, software implementation, web site design, and internet marketing. Based in Baltimore, MD, the firm services a diverse international and regional base of over fifty active clients, including: The National Aquarium, Johns Hopkins Institutions, SafeNet, Inc., Raytheon, U.S. Immigration, The Federal Aviation Administration, The U.S. Forest Service, The Abell Foundation, and many others. For more information, visit www.berndtgroup.net.
Media Contact
Inquiries? Please contact:
Michelle Géczy
Vice President
phone: 410.889.5854 x 12
email: michelle.geczy@berndtgroup.net
