By Roy Urrico
New York City-based Signal Intent is determined to elevate the status of financial calculators, which have become staples of financial institution websites, including Mobiloil Credit Union that wanted to complement its upgraded digital look.
“Financial calculators have become a fixture of the digital customer journey,” Chase Neinken, co-founder and of Signal Intent, said. “Over two million Americans are searching for them every single day, and 90% of financial organizations provide calculators on their websites.”
Signal Intent spotlighted Google statistics that show over 2 million consumers in the U.S. search for financial calculators every day. Consumers also demonstrate a significant search appetite across most banking products and services, but especially in areas such as home lending and mortgages, auto lending, retirement, and personal and commercial banking.
Neinken suggested the banking industry continues to struggle to keep pace with the evolving digital landscape. “Signal Intent is in a unique position to solve three industry-wide challenges: 1) improve the customer experience, 2) accelerate digital transformation, and 3) personalize the customer journey.”
“As the recent fintech explosion has revolutionized the industry, one core piece of technology has been left in the dust - the financial calculator. Signal Intent is tackling that problem head on,” Neinken added.
Signal Intent offers what it describes as the highest-rated financial calculators on the internet for credit unions, banks, insurance, or mortgage companies. The company said it provides easy to launch cloud-based calculators requiring no coding with a library of interactive calculators. Plus, they come equipped with a customizable platform with real-time analytics.
Seeking a Fresh Look and Feel
In 2020, the $950 million Beaumont, Texas-based Mobiloil Credit Union was in the process of updating its website. “To be honest, many of the options we found felt archaic. Something you would pull from the early 2000s,” said Cody Buchholz, vice president of marketing for Mobiloil Credit Union. “We wanted a calculator that looked as fresh as our new website, but is also intuitive and easy to use for our members. On the back end, we wanted more than just a calculator, but a product that could help drive results.”
Mobiloil Credit Union, chartered in 1935 as Magnolia Employees Beaumont Texas Federal Credit Union, implemented Signal Intent as part of a complete overhaul of its website, which it officially launched in December 2020. Today, the credit union has more than 65,000 members, a dozen branches and serves eight counties in southeastern Texas.
The credit union can also leverage the data to do a trend analysis, incorporating information such as what part of the month they see a lift in calculator usage and applying that knowledge to how they advertise. “While we really only have one full quarter of data at this point, we’ve had over 26,000 unique uses and we’re seeing conversions as high as 4%. As we continue to find best practices, I believe these numbers will only improve.”
Like the rest of the industry, COVID-19 impacted Mobiloil Credit Union’s operations, noted Buchholz.
“I would be naive to think COVID didn’t have some impact on our roadmap. Adjusting to Zoom calls, working from home, definitely took some adjustment (and) extended time of implementation, etc.,” said Buchholz. “That being said, Signal Intent’s team was easy to work with, always willing to hop on a call if we had questions, and provided best practices to kick-start our success.”
Buchholz explained having a product that literally took just a few minutes to add to the Mobiloil Credit Union website definitely made it one less hurdle to overcome during its site launch. In addition, “the backend of the product is easy to understand and use as well, which made the learning curve a nonissue.”
Financial Calculators Role in Digital Upgrading
“Most people work with us when they're upgrading their website, launching a new digital product, or trying to generate more qualified leads,” explained Neinken, who maintained Signal Intent has built the next generation of financial calculators.
According to Neinken, Signal Intent calculators solve three main problems for marketers:
· They attract more people to financial institutions websites via SEO optimized tools.
· Increase engagement on-site by providing personalized, interactive experiences.
· Generate more qualified conversions, whether applications or leads.
Neinken also maintained, “They are incredibly easy to launch, manage, and measure without having to work with IT or an agency team with endless developer cues and costly IT tickets.”
The pandemic has affected consumer use as well. “People are turning to search to get their questions answered now more than ever because they don't feel comfortable going into a branch,” suggested Neinken.
Signal Intent’s inventory of interactive calculators that financial institutions can embed on website covers mortgages, home renting versus buying, home affordability, mortgage refinance, mortgage loan comparisons, mortgage required income, car lease versus buy calculator, car loan, car depreciation, student loan refinance, personal loans, HELOC, HELOC payments, HELOC debt consolidation, CD, future value, savings goals and interest, healthcare savings account, college savings, home budget analysis, 401(k) calculator, Roth IRA calculator, retirement income, retirement savings, retirement nest egg, Roth versus traditional IRA, Commercial Loan, self-employment, business valuation, credit card payoff , and life insurance .