Umpqua Bank
Economic trends landing page
Umpqua Bank, the largest financial institution in the Northwest with over 300 locations across eight states, is committed to empowering its business customers with actionable insights.
Each year, the bank produces an annual economic report designed to help businesses forecast financial trends and make informed decisions for the year ahead. This initiative stands as one of Umpqua Bank’s most impactful and highly funded campaigns, consistently generating new traffic to its website and strengthening its reputation as a trusted financial partner.
Our goal was to create a landing page to promote the report and drive new traffic to the site.
The objective was to design and launch a dedicated landing page for Umpqua Bank’s annual economic trends report within a tight two-week timeline. The landing page aimed to promote the campaign and drive significant traffic to the website.
User Needs
The primary audience for the report included busy, high-level CEOs and decision-makers. To meet their needs, the landing page was designed to be intuitive, easy to navigate, and focused on delivering concise, insightful takeaways that align with their fast-paced workflows and need for actionable information.
Our challenges were navigating a tight deadline during a company merger
At the time of this project, Umpqua Bank was undergoing a merger with Columbia Bank, which significantly impacted resources and workflows. Many team members were focused on the merger, leaving limited support for the economic trends report compared to previous years.
Additionally, the project timeline was compressed to just two weeks—a process that typically required several months. These constraints limited our ability to conduct thorough user research and refine the designs. Despite these challenges, the team worked collaboratively to deliver a functional and user-centered solution within the restricted timeframe.
To speed things up, we had limited revisions & stakeholder feedback
Once the landing page was built in the production environment, we conducted a rapid review with a select group of key stakeholders to gather feedback. After incorporating minimal but impactful revisions, we sent the page to compliance for approval before publishing it on time.
To ensure the landing page met user expectations, I collaborated directly with our Web Coordinator to analyze insights from previous campaigns. This process provided valuable data on what had contributed to their success. We also aligned our approach with Umpqua Bank’s evolving focus, shifting from a community bank to serving business customers with over $1 million in revenue. Understanding this target audience’s needs, we prioritized creating scannable content that was directly applicable to their businesses and easy to navigate.
While reviewing these insights and user requirements, our copywriter worked closely with us to analyze the trends report provided by industry experts. This collaboration ensured the landing page content was not only engaging and actionable but also aligned with the report’s findings and goals.
Once the content was finalized, it included a concise introduction followed by four main report categories. To enhance user experience, I visually represented these four categories as cards on the main landing page. This approach allowed users to quickly identify key topics and select the ones most relevant to their interests.
To streamline navigation, these cards were also included at the bottom of each topic page, enabling users to seamlessly explore other sections without returning to the main page.
Using these insights and design goals, I created wireframes that outlined:
A clean, user-friendly layout emphasizing scannable content.
Prominent visual hierarchy to highlight the four main categories.
Consistent placement of navigation elements to ensure usability.
To meet the tight two-week deadline, we decided to build the campaign directly in production (PROD) using our CMS, Optimizely (formerly EPiServer). My familiarity with Optimizely allowed us to streamline the process, avoiding a separate staging environment and saving valuable time.
I collaborated closely with our Web Coordinator during the page production process. While we worked together to build the pages, I also sourced high-quality imagery and created supporting assets to ensure the design aligned with the campaign’s goals. This efficient and collaborative approach enabled us to deliver a polished, on-brand landing page within the limited timeline.
Overall, the campaign was a success.
We delivered a high-quality landing page for the economic trends report, effectively driving new traffic to the website and meeting the tight two-week timeline.
While the project achieved its goals, there are several areas I would refine if given the opportunity to redesign this campaign:
Add Jump Links to Sticky Navigation: Enhance usability by allowing users to quickly navigate to specific sections within the page.
Improve Hover Link Colors: Ensure hover states meet accessibility standards for contrast and visibility.
Include Navigation Arrows in the Breadcrumb Section: Provide clearer navigation cues for users.
Optimize for Mobile: Make the report more mobile-friendly to improve accessibility for on-the-go users.
This experience highlighted the importance of balancing efficiency with usability, and it served as a valuable opportunity to collaborate under challenging constraints while keeping user needs at the forefront.
Duration
Jan 2022
My role
Lead Designer
Software & tools
Adobe CC
Optimizely (CMS)