HDFC Bank
How Might We?
Modernize HDFC Bank’s outdated website to improve usability, streamline navigation, and enhance accessibility to key financial services?
Business Problem
HDFC Bank's outdated website had poor usability, low engagement, and SEO issues, making navigation difficult and limiting scalability for the post-merger banking ecosystem.
Results:
HDFC Final Information Architecture
First Roadblock 🚧
We hit a technical challenge when we realized that manually rearranging pages and compressing menus within excel wasn't going to be feasible. To solve this, we conducted a thorough analysis of different diagramming tools. We carefully compared these tools using a set of specific criteria, and we did this analysis to choose the best tool for our needs.
Xmind
We leveraged XMind to accelerate the Information Architecture (IA) creation process by visually organizing and structuring over 40,000 pages. This tool allowed us to map out complex site hierarchies and streamline the consolidation of redundant content.
Second Roadblock: Prioritizing Pages in the IA
While XMind significantly accelerated the IA creation by allowing us to organize and visualize pages effectively, we encountered a second roadblock in prioritizing pages. Despite the clarity XMind provided in structuring content, deciding the importance of specific pages required deeper analysis.
Existing Architecture
HDFC Bank's website hadn’t been updated since 2005. It was so outdated and bulky that SEO crawlers
couldn’t even map out its structure.
For an entire month, I manually went through every single page of the site. I entered each page into an Excel sheet,
identified broken links, found redundant content, and came up with a plan to reorganize everything.
This hands-on approach revealed the true scope of the website’s Information Architecture
and set the stage for a complete overhaul.
Secondary Research
This project leaned heavily on secondary research, with much of our data coming from the Reserve Bank of India's reports on banking trends and demographics. As the financial services industry rapidly goes digital, banks are under pressure to modernize their online presence. In India, UPI has revolutionized payments, with transactions expected to reach INR 115 trillion by 2025. Yet, despite this progress, only 35% of India's population has access to formal banking services, compared to 98% in Singapore and 97% in the UK.
Insights from Secondary Research
Solution
In our project, we improved webpage rankings using the 'weighted average method.' We evaluated key metrics like search volumes and organic visits, most visited pages, hot-selling products, assigning weights to each based on their importance. Our scoring system ensured balanced rankings, directing users to the most relevant content efficiently. This technique significantly enhanced user experience by prioritizing valuable pages.
What I would do differently
HDFC Bank is the largest private sector bank in India. I helped them revamp their website by creating an Information Architecture and organizing over 40,000 pages.
As of July 2023, HDFC and HDFC Bank underwent a monumental merger. This merger would place them at the 4th position for the biggest banks in India.
Banking// Information Architecture//Market Trends
HDFC Bank
Timeline
Dec 22'- July 23’
Disciplines
Information Architecture
Existing Architecture
HDFC Bank's website hadn’t been updated since 2005 and was so outdated that SEO crawlers couldn’t map its structure.For a month, I manually reviewed every page, documenting each one in an Excel sheet, identifying broken links, redundant content, and developing a reorganization plan. This hands-on approach revealed the true scope of the website's Information Architecture, setting the stage for a complete overhaul.
First Roadblock 🚧
We hit a technical challenge when we realized that manually rearranging pages and compressing topics within excel wasn't going to be feasible. To solve this, we conducted a thorough analysis of different diagramming tools. We carefully compared these tools using a set of specific criteria, and we did this analysis to choose the best tool for our needs.
Solution
In our project, we improved webpage rankings using the 'weighted average method.' We evaluated key metrics like search volumes and organic visits, most visited pages, hot-selling products, assigning weights to each based on their importance. Our scoring system ensured balanced rankings, directing users to the most relevant content efficiently. This technique significantly enhanced user experience by prioritizing valuable pages.
XMind
We leveraged XMind to accelerate the Information Architecture (IA) creation process by visually organizing and structuring over 40,000 pages. This tool allowed us to map out complex site hierarchies and streamline the consolidation of redundant content.
Second Roadblock:
Prioritizing Pages in the IA
While XMind significantly accelerated the IA creation by allowing us to organize and visualize pages effectively, we encountered a second roadblock in prioritizing pages. Despite the clarity XMind provided in structuring content, deciding the importance of specific pages required deeper analysis.
Team size
5 UX Designers
2 SEO Experts
1 Product Manager
Project Type
UX Design
Information
Architecture
Market
Banking
Duration
6 Months
Timeline
Dec - July 23’
© 2024
Aryan Roy
Insights from Secondary Research
Secondary Research
This project leaned heavily on secondary research, with much of our data coming from the Reserve Bank of India's reports on banking trends and demographics. As the financial services industry rapidly goes digital, banks are under pressure to modernize their online presence. In India, UPI has revolutionized payments, with transactions expected to reach INR 115 trillion by 2025. Yet, despite this progress, only 35% of India's population has access to formal banking services, compared to 98% in Singapore and 97% in the UK.
© 2024
Aryan Roy
Maximizing Business Impact
Maximizing Business Impact
Results:
What I would do differently