Life before Webflow: Heavy coding, no flexibility, and manual site changes
Since 2014, bunq has been on a mission to disrupt the modern banking industry, building a fully mobile bank that puts power and decision making back in the hands of consumers. Based in Amsterdam, the rapidly growing challenger bank offers its users bank accounts and debit cards they can control completely from a mobile app, giving them the freedom to not only access their money on the go but also choose how it is invested.
Up until 2021, the team at bunq was managing its website using a CMS that required custom coding for design. Whenever marketers needed to create new design elements or experiences, they had to bring in their developers. This lack of flexibility meant the marketing team was often forced to lean on using existing elements from different site pages to cut down on time-to-launch and avoid draining developer hours.
We were spending more time than we wanted on maintaining the website and on overly technical builds rather than investing our energy in key site improvements.
Another point of frustration for the marketing team at bunq was the time they were wasting duplicating changes across site pages. As they began to prepare for a complete site redesign, they knew they needed more autonomy and control over the website. This site refresh opened a window of opportunity to reassess their existing CMS and explore alternative solutions.
Ready for a change: bunq’s CMS wishlist
We had been wanting to switch our CMS for a long time. We were planning to completely revamp the website – a completely new design, an entirely new structure – and knew redesigning it and then migrating would be too heavy of a lift, so it was the perfect time to vet a new solution.
Giulio and his team began the process of exploring alternative CMS options that could replace its existing solution. They created a comparison sheet, outlining the pros and cons of each and eliminating any that did not meet their core needs. They were looking for a tool that could check off all of their boxes, which were:
- A less technical CMS, allowing them to scale back or eliminate the need for developer support
- More flexibility, accelerating the team’s ability to launch new pages and make quick site changes
- More autonomy, giving the marketing team ownership over bunq’s website
The team kept coming back to Webflow Enterprise during the evaluation process not only because it met its core criteria, but also because it offered the organization the peace of mind it needed when it came to security and hosting, which is top of mind for any financial institution.
Making the switch: more agility and support
The scale tipped toward Webflow because of the speed at which you can apply changes, create new elements, and build new pages without the need of any back-and-forth between designers and developers.
After assessing a number of product demos and fully evaluating their options, the bunq team decided it was time to make the switch and migrate their site onto Webflow Enterprise. Giulio and his team had no prior experience with the tool, but they quickly rolled up their sleeves and got to work. He went through the Webflow University coursework to establish fundamental platform knowledge before tackling any major builds and was able to to reach a level of comfort in weeks. “After you start using Webflow and you establish a solid level of experience, you can’t work without it, ”said Giulio.
Additionally, the marketing team at bunq is smaller than equivalent teams at traditional big banks, so it was crucial that Webflow Enterprise was not only a powerful, secure solution, but one that came with hands-on customer support.
The Customer Success team at Webflow really helped us whenever we faced technical issues or had ideas in mind we needed help mapping out or bringing to life. They always find a solution and make sure it fits our needs.
Making the switch to Webflow helped Giulio and his team become more agile. They were no longer reliant on developer support, which meant they could cut an entire step from their site management workflows. This helped them shrink the time they spent building experiences and updating the website in half. Additionally, since migrating to Webflow Enterprise, the team has seen its conversion rate jump from under 4% to 20%, and page views are up nearly 6% in just a few months.
Using the Webflow CMS to refresh the plan comparison page
One of the first pages the team at bunq wanted to redesign was its plan comparison page, which communicates the four banking plans available to users. This page is extremely important to the organization because it lays out a comprehensive list of features and benefits each plan offers to help guide users through the decision making process.
With guidance from Webflow’s Enterprise Customer Success team, the marketing team at bunq proceeded to finalize the designs and map out the content layout for the plans page, which required them to create distinct desktop and mobile designs. The team used Webflow’s CMS to create specific tab treatments, the mobile navigation experience, and tailor the page layout according to the type of device being used. Now that the team has successfully set up the framework for this page, the marketing team is able to regularly add and remove content from its plan details whenever it wants with ease.
Rebuilding the bunq plan comparison page in Webflow afforded the team an opportunity to not just redesign the look but also create a user-guided experience. After migrating, the team saw conversions on the page jump from 0.12% to 3.35%, and page views are up a whopping 168%.
In our experience with Webflow so far, we’ve realized what a step up it is from the way we used to work. All we had to do was learn how to use it, and now, everybody's pleased with it.
