Part 9
Dear Clients, Friends and Neighbors
In this months Q&A I’m taking a slightly different approach. In previous months I have been writing about the economy and banking industry in general to keep you well informed as we navigate through these uncertain times. This month I’m writing to you about an exciting new step our organization is taking with our website and how it relates to our ability to be more efficient and best serve you, our clients. It will debut on Monday July 27th.
Question: Why does the bank need a new website?
Answer: In today’s ever changing world of technology the average life expectancy of a website is usually 2 to 3 years until it needs a complete make-over. We have been reviewing our site’s capabilities for a year now and decided mid-year 2009 would be our target date to showcase new websites for both Heritage Oaks Bank and Business First, a division of Heritage Oaks Bank.
Question: What will be most noticeable about the new website?
Answer: You will first notice the clean and simple design. It is also very important to us that anyone who visits our site will be left with a feeling the our site symbolizes our values of making a genuine personal connection with our customers. This is demonstrated by highlighting customer success stories. In addition, you will notice the ease in which to navigate. Our goal was to ensure that you could find what you’re looking for within one to two clicks.
Question: Compared to other bank sites how will the new one compare?
Answer: One of our goals was to make sure there was easy access to all of the bank’s online services. This is the most important need of our customers and we wanted to make sure we enhanced this feature. We also wanted to compliment this upgrade with an ability to quickly find information through “More Info” functionalities. This means a consumer can request more information on products and services and have the request responded to in a timely fashion.
We have also added a Customer Education Center where you can find timely information on various bank related topics. For example find our current rates, fraud alerts and even past editions of my Q&A series.
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