Business
Brittany Halicki, Coastal Community Credit Union’s digital marketing specialist, has recently emerged from an intense public website rebuild using the Forge platform. Brittany, given her digital background, was tasked with building the site pages using Forge CXP, for one of the first credit unions to do so. Doing this for a champion credit union was no easy task. Brittany was charged with taking a fully re-imagined user experience and content strategy and bring it to life on a fresh new platform. A platform she did not have experience with nor did others in the credit union system. It was indeed time to “forge” ahead into new territory.With a focus on hands-on development, we sat down with Brittany to explore what she believes other credit unions can learn from her experience, including:Production processKey tools usedImportant wins and lessons that other credit unions should considerForge work-arounds IN THIS INTERVIEW:[3:03] Brittany shares some of the improved analytics CCCU is seeing since launching its new public website[4:30] CCCU’s journey to today, the process they employed to get to launch such as personas, user journeys, brand visualization, page planning, engaging with internal subject matter experts and eye-opening user testing[7:50] Brittany provides an overview of Coastal Community’s production process including page plans, content specifications, content writing, implementation on Forge [9:50] The process implementing within Forge CXP including master pages, CCCU component library & Forge widgets, taking a design-first approach[13:35] Some of the tools the CCCU team used during the project including Google Docs, Google Sheets, Invision and Figma[14:30] What went really well that other credit unions should adopt including ensuring all pages have a clear intent and purpose and working agile in 2-week sprints[18:43] Some other implementation tips and tricks including compressing images, free stock photos and iconography[19:39] What might Brittany have done differently that other credit unions can learn from including having more teammates able and available to be hands on with the implementation[21:46] Other recommendations for credit unions including accepting early on that you are going to launch with a public ready website not a perfect website, lean into Central 1 and your team for support, work in small batches and brush up on HTML skills before starting[25:30] Work-arounds that Brittany used including leveraging master pages, layering widgets, and using frames[27:20] Brittany shares the Forge CXP enhancements she is looking forward to[29:30] What Brittany wished she knew before she started[31:45] What is next now that the site is live?ABOUT BRITTANY HALICKIBrittany Halicki hails from South Florida but has lived on Vancouver Island and worked in marketing for about 6 years. Her focus has comprised mostly of digital strategies, SEO and PPC.ABOUT COASTAL COMMUNITY CREDIT UNIONFor almost 75 years, Coastal Community Credit Union (CCCU) has been helping Islanders and their families lead more financially successful lives. As a result of the trust and support shown to us, CCCU has grown to become the largest Vancouver Island-based financial services organization serving over 100,000 members and clients. From up, down and across the Islands, Coastal Community operates a network of 24 credit union locations and 16 insurance offices providing a full range of products and services in personal, business, and commercial banking as well as wealth management, personal and commercial insurance.