E-commerce best practices often don't help with a loan application. Sometimes they even hurt. Banking and insurance follow their own rules, and you'll find the six most important ones below. That's why we start with your application flow and your customer data instead of a checklist.
Industries · Banking & Finance
Conversion optimization for banks and insurers
We find out why prospects abandon the application and what gets them to complete it. Banks, brokers and insurers work with us because we deliver both: the psychological diagnosis of why an application flow loses completions, and the implementation that fixes it. With A/B testing, consumer psychology and user research.
Nobody buys an account or a policy on impulse. Customers need trust before they hand over data and money, and every required field is a reason to stop. In the end, you have a team that understands what moves its customers and keeps testing on its own.
Accounts & cards
Securities accounts & brokerage
Loans & financing
Insurance
Retirement planning
Since 2006 · Clients in direct banking, brokerage, auto financing and insurance
In financial services since 2006
Banks, brokers and insurers
What makes it different
Why an application flow doesn't work like an online store
What sets banking apart
Six factors that set banking and insurance apart from e-commerce
FACTOR 01
Trust comes before data
Before anyone enters income, tax ID or bank details, they have to trust the provider. Deposit insurance, seals and clear privacy notices only work if they're visible before the data request.
FACTOR 02
Required fields that have to stay
Regulation prescribes many fields, and leaving them out is not an option. So we test the order, the explanation and the timing of the request. That often has more impact than a shorter form.
FACTOR 03
The break at identity verification
Video identification, PostIdent or eID take people out of your flow. This is where many customers drop out who were almost done. How well you prepare them for this step decides who comes back.
FACTOR 04
A product you have to understand
Interest rates, fees, terms and plans need explaining. If people don't understand the product, they either don't decide at all or choose the wrong one, and that gets canceled later.
FACTOR 05
Comparing is the norm
Customers come from comparison portals and go back to them. Your product page has to win that comparison, and the best interest rate alone rarely does it.
FACTOR 06
The sale often closes offline
Many sales close in a branch, with an intermediary or over the phone. Tests therefore need tracking that follows the lead through to the contract.
Where we optimize
From product comparison to cross-sell: Where prospects drop off
We map your specific journey and test the stages that move completions. We don't have a standard program that we apply to every bank the same way.
01
Product pages and comparison
Make the benefit clear, show terms in an understandable way, reduce uncertainty. Typical tests: how terms are presented, comparison tables, trust signals right at the application button.
02
Calculators and product finders
Loan, plan and savings calculators are often the entry point to the decision. Typical tests: defaults, number of inputs, result display with a clear next action.
03
Application flow
This is the biggest lever. Typical tests: order of steps, explanatory text for required fields, progress indicator, saving progress on mobile.
04
Identity verification
The switch to video identification, PostIdent or eID is the most critical moment of the flow. We test the preparation for this step, the choice of method and winning back people who drop off.
05
Onboarding and activation
An opened account is not yet an active customer. We test the path to first use: activating the card, moving the salary deposit, setting up the first savings plan.
06
Cross-sell and existing customers
The customer area and the app often hold more revenue than the first sale. Personalization by product holdings and life stage makes the next purchase more likely.
Consumer psychology instead of best practices
The psychology behind a completed application
Before we test, we understand why your customers hesitate. Our Behavior Pattern Model provides evidence-based Behavior Patterns for this. For banking and insurance, these five are decisive.
Loss aversion and zero-risk bias
“What if I make the wrong decision?” Hypothesis: Free cancellation and the right of withdrawal right at the application button increase application starts.
Social proof
“Do people like me do it this way too?” Hypothesis: Customer numbers and reviews that match the target group reduce drop-offs before the application.
Anchoring
“Is that a good rate?” Hypothesis: A reference value such as the market average increases the perceived attractiveness of your own offer.
Decision paralysis
“Which of the four plans fits me?” Hypothesis: A recommended preselection after two short questions reduces drop-offs and later plan changes.
Commitment and consistency
“I've already entered so much.” Hypothesis: Easy first steps such as desired amount and term before the personal data increase application completion.
Results from Banking & Finance
From the first test series to your own conversion team
Consorsbank has worked with us since 2013. We designed and implemented A/B tests there and, in parallel, handed over methodology and statistics to the team. That grew into a conversion engineering team of their own.
Partner of Consorsbank since 2013
The collaboration has been running for more than twelve years. It combines hands-on testing with building know-how in-house.
Its own conversion engineering team
The bank now tests with its own capacity. We passed on methodology and statistics instead of building a dependency.
Voices from Banking & Finance
What our clients in Banking & Finance say
How we work with banks and insurers
Diagnosis and implementation from a single source
A recommendation nobody implements doesn't produce a single completion. Implementation without diagnosis builds what was ordered without checking whether it solves the problem. We provide the psychological diagnosis, implement, and stay until it works. And we tell you when something isn't working.
Enabling and in-housing: We build team, process and tooling until your people test on their own. Consorsbank and freenet built their own conversion teams this way.
Full service experimentation: Research, hypotheses, design, development, QA and analysis with sound statistics, when you lack capacity or want to build it.
Redesign validation: test-based validation of the critical steps of a new application flow or app.
Personalization: Segmentation by product holdings, life stage and purchase stage, on the website and in the customer area.
Enterprise-proven: Server-side testing, consent-compliant tracking and coordination with IT security, privacy and compliance are routine for us.
Banking CRO FAQ
Frequently asked questions about conversion optimization for banks and insurers
Yes. We test presentation, order, explanation and design. Required information, consents and legally mandated texts stay fully intact in every variant. We clear variants that touch legal text with your legal or compliance department before launch.
Yes. Server-side testing, consent management and multiple brands and markets in one setup are standard projects for us with large enterprises in banking, insurance, telecommunications and retail.
Yes, with an adapted method. We test where the sample is large, meaning on product pages, in calculators and at the start of the application flow. We also measure intermediate steps instead of just the completion, and add user research. Statistical planning shows up front which effects are even detectable.
We connect behavior on the website with lead quality. Applications and inquiries are tracked through to the contract in the CRM, and we evaluate tests on signed contracts and contribution margin instead of submitted forms.
Often yes, and we help with that. That's exactly our enabling model: We help build team, process and tooling instead of creating a dependency. What an internal team rarely brings is the consumer psychology diagnosis and statistical validation. We pass on both until your people can do it themselves. Clients like freenet and Consorsbank built their own conversion teams this way.
With the Rapid Growth Engine, the first test can run after about two weeks, depending on your approval process. Reliable patterns show up after about three months. An enabling program is designed to run six to twelve months, until your team works independently.
Get in touch
We'll show you where your customers drop off
In 30 minutes, we walk through your completion flow together: product page, calculator, application or identity verification. You get three concrete hypotheses that we would test first, whether or not we end up working together. We respond within 48 hours.
