Website (and/or app) traffic is essential for any company doing business online in 2021.
But traffic is just one metric for success and not always the best one. The more visitors, the better chance of “action” — clicking on a link, downloading an asset, filling out a form, purchasing something, becoming a new customer or client, and so on.
However, traffic without action is just ... traffic.
This was the challenge facing Nova Credit, an award-winning fintech company that helps newcomers and other global citizens apply for financial services in the U.S. using their international credit history.
Web traffic was solid, but ...
Google Analytics was not enough.
While Nova Credit was happy with its visitor numbers, it struggled to understand why customers were not converting.
The Google Analytics data was helpful (showed traffic and conversion rate) but didn’t provide the necessary insight to answer the following questions:
- Are we attracting the right audience?
- Once on the site, are visitors having a good experience?
“Numeric data in analytics platforms tells you where the problems lie, but not necessarily how to solve them,” said Kevin Thrams, who runs Consumer Growth at Nova Credit.
Nova Credit was at an impasse — a bit stalled out. They were trying different things, but not seeing the results they were hoping for...
They needed a change.
The answer: interactive learning and insights through in-product surveys that could be applied to their website.
How targeted in‑product surveys increased Nova Credit’s homepage conversion by 47%
Nova Credit first began working with Sprig in 2020. At that time, they knew something needed to change. They believed (rightfully so!) that interactive learning through targeted in-product surveys was the answer.
Nova Credit began adding in-product surveys to its website to tease out answers to the following questions:
- Who are our visitors?
- What are their goals?
- What’s preventing them from converting?
They wanted to reach visitors whose intent was a bit north of casual browsing. So they tweaked the Sprig targeting settings only to show the in-product survey after a visitor had been on 2 more pages and remained on that page for 15+ seconds.
With the help of Sprig, Nova Credit spun up two back-to-back surveys:
Asking for open-ended feedback to the right audience at the right time is no easy task. Anonymous visitors (especially on marketing sites) are often casual browsers, less likely to commit to using a product or service ... less likely to provide open-ended feedback.
The Nova Credit team met with Allison Dickin, Head of User Research at Sprig for some assistance.
“If you can target the right users at the right time with the right question, you can get really, really valuable feedback from open-ends,” says Allison Dickin, Head of User Research at Sprig.
Protip from Allison: When answers to open-ended questions are not helpful, it often means you are asking the wrong question OR targeting users at the wrong time in the user journey.
It turns out the results were not overly compelling, so Team Nova took a step back and tried another approach.
Note: Not all in-product surveys provide the insights you need. The key is to learn quickly, iterate, and move forward with another in-product survey.
This time, Nova Credit went with a simple multiple-choice question, “What brought you here today?”
While analyzing the data, Nova Credit uncovered that visitors were attracted to the Credit Nova content, yet not necessarily on the website to apply for a credit card ... the actual product Nova Credit was offering.
This was huge. While it didn’t solve the big question (why were conversions so low?) it did confirm that the content Credit Nova was publishing had value.
The team was getting closer to understanding the who and why and what, but something was still missing. They were not quite there. It was time to quickly spin up a few more targeted in-product surveys to once and for all hone in on why the visitors they were attracting were just not converting.
In‑product survey #3 & #4: Is Nova Credit attracting the “right” customers?
The goal of In-product survey #3 was simple: were they attracting the “right” customers — those immigrants coming from the countries Nova Credit was capable of serving AND customers who had good credit in their home country?
(In-product)Survey says ... Yes and Yes. This meant they were attracting the right people to their site. There was no need to alter the how, but instead needed to tackle the how. This led Nova Credit to focus on the messaging.
Did the website messaging make sense? Did it resonate with their audience?
The fourth in-product survey produced the “WOW” moment both Sprig and Nova Credit were hoping for.
The data were quite clear:
An overwhelming 70.3% of those who completed the in-product survey did not know what Nova Credit’s primary offering was — offering credit cards for non-U.S. citizens!
Also, of those respondents who were aware of Nova’s credit card offering, most did not understand Nova Credit or didn’t know how to apply.
An actual “aha” moment.
“This was really, really eye-opening for the team there,” shared Allison. “They realized they had the right audience right there on their site. They were looking for the services that Nova Credit provided, and they just didn't know how to move forward.”
As a result of this newfound data, the team at Nova Credit completely overhauled its homepage.
Data drives change: a new homepage layout, design, and copy
Your homepage is your base, your stake in the ground, your HQ.
It’s the first place visitors land and most often the most visited page on your entire website.
Changing the website is a big deal, not something to do “just because.” In this case, Nova Credit relied on data and insights derived from the four Sprig targeted in-product surveys to make some pretty significant changes.
The original website was all about the mission of the organization — very broad messaging:
The copy did not clearly spell out what Nova Credit did, how it helped people.
Contrast that with the homepage redesign (thanks to Sprig insights):
Wording like “welcome to the United States” and “Apply for U.S. credit cards” made it very clear what Nova Credit was offering ... credit cards for non-U.S. citizens.
They also built out country-specific pages ... further targeting customers with the best user journey possible.
And the payoff was evident shortly after the new homepage went live.
This design and copy overhaul led to a 47% increase in the conversion rate of homepage visitors ... virtually overnight — an improvement that has been sustained over time.
Note: These 4 in-product surveys were launched over a period of a few weeks. Real-time insights.
Fast forward to today (June 2021) and Nova Credit is still using continuous user research to iterate and improve on its homepage.
Speed + Context + Right Audience at the Right Time = Actionable Insights.
That’s the winning Sprig in-product survey formula.
Why in-product surveys? Why iterative user research?
Sprig’s in-product surveys help organizations like Nova Credit reach visitors quickly (in real-time) rather than slowly ... wasting valuable time (and resources and money) seeking out eligible users for research. These in-context surveys allow for targeted, hyper-relevant questions that maximize the value of survey responses and produce critical insights ... in a fraction of the time of traditional research methods.
The best part?
Sprig’s in-product surveys have a 30% average response rate compared to 5% for more traditional surveys.
“Everything is just moving faster and faster these days. Product development, website changes, marketing strategies are all moving just as quickly,” Allison recently stated. “A framework you can apply with practically any digital channel is one of iterative, in-product surveys — in-context surveys to understand your users better.”
Kevin at Nova Credit sums it up best: “Sprig has had a large impact, both in terms of the conversion rate and on our brand and communications efforts aimed at downstream behavior.”