Alta Bank

Open the bank’s second front door

The charter: personal and business online banking, and the people to run them.

In the early 2000s a community bank competed on relationships. Its customers (households, and the shop owners and tradespeople on Main Street) were starting to expect that they could check a balance, move money, or run payroll without driving to a branch.

The bank had a public website but no real online banking. My job was to change that, for two very different audiences, and to make sure someone was there to help when they got stuck.

• Consumers a simple, trustworthy way to bank from home.
• Businesses cash management and payroll without a trip to the branch.
• The public site a front door that matched what the bank was becoming.
• Support a function that did not exist yet.

Start with customers, then build the machine around them

Research, design, pricing, and go-to-market, all led by one small team.

I led the research, navigation, and interaction design for the public-site redesign, then rebuilt the site itself. For each online banking product, I led the customer inquiry: what people would actually use, what they would pay for, and how we should take it to market.

Support was designed before launch, not after. I designed the systems and practices, hired the customer service team, and put automation around the day-to-day running of the online services department so a small team could serve a growing base.

8,000 weekly users in six months

Two products, one website, and a support team, all in market.

Consumer online banking reached 8,000 weekly users within six months of launch. Business online banking followed, with cash management and payroll, and I led inquiry, pricing, and go-to-market for both.

We measured what a bank can measure honestly: weekly active use, and how many customers needed help to get there.

• Consumer online banking 8,000 weekly users in 6 months.
• Business online banking cash management and payroll, launched.
• Public website research-led redesign and rebuild.
• Customer support systems designed, team of 4 hired and managed.

Own the whole experience

What stuck, and why I was ready for something bigger.

A launch is as much a support and go-to-market problem as a software one. The products only worked because the pricing, the website, the help desk, and the automation were designed together, and that stayed with me.

By 2005, personal and business online banking were live, the support team was trained and running on automation, and the department no longer needed me to hold it together. That was the milestone. I graduated from BYU in 2006 and went looking for a bigger, more complex problem.