Recently, Forbes ran a story announcing that ING Direct will be ditching the electric orange branding they've become famous for when they change their name next month to Capital One 360.  (ING Direct USA, was launched in September 2000 and has since become the largest direct bank in the United States before it was sold to Capital One a year and a half ago.) 

With an annual marketing budget in excess of $ 400MM, love them or hate them, Capital One is pretty smart when it comes to marketing, despite their recent troubles.  So I'm very curious to see how they'll transform the direct banking brand in the months to come.  Today, I visited ING's site and noticed a bunch of things that they're already doing really well.

Like I mentioned in a recent post, many financial institutions have recently redesigned their home pages so they're streamlined and far more conversion-focused and ING is one of them.  Their new home page is uncluttered and clearly highlights the key benefits of each of their products.

The top home page unit rotates between offers.  One of them is for the Electric Orange checking account - the same account that's promoted in the lower left.

Top promo unit:

When I clicked "Learn More", I was greeted with what felt like a landing page (instead of the typical, unpersuasive product page that you'd find at most other banks and credit unions).  I wanted to stand up and cheer.  Instead of a laundry list of features and a headline that simply said "Checking", ING took a different approach.  The result is a very conversion-focused page that directs prospects to discover more detailed information or to begin the online application immediately.

What was even more interesting is that if I clicked on the unit in the lower left of the home page that promotes exactly the same product, I was directed to the page with more detailed information, presumably because people clicking on this unit already understand the high-level benefits and are ready to see all of the details.

Home page unit:

The detailed information page:

I like this page a lot because it does a number of things really well:

1. It uses a benefit-driven headline that's concise and motivating

2. It clearly displays one of the most important aspects of the product - the interest rate

3. It tackles one of the biggest hot potatoes head on - overdraft fees

4. It provides easy access to an ATM locator.  (Years of research have proven that most consumers choose their institution not based on the best products, but based on location convenience yet most institutions don't integrate location finders well on key selling pages). 

5. The "Apply Now" button is prominent.  It's not a subtle text link.  It isn't a button located at the bottom of the page.  It's big and bright and obvious.

I'm looking forward to seeing what a marketing powerhouse like Capital One can do to improve the appeal of a standout product like Electric Orange and I'm looking forward to seeing what other site improvements come with the rebranding in February.  Until then, I'd love to know what you think:  What website improvement should financial institutions make to drive more applications online?