Five by Five Home Page Breakdown: The Fintech Edition

There are thousands of fintech companies in the world, and it feels like a dozen new ones are getting founded every day.

So one would expect them to spend some time on positioning and converting new customers.

Yet a look at some websites of emerging and established fintech companies shows that there’s a lot of work to be done.

In this five-by-five breakdown, I highlight five elements of fintech home pages that are great, promising, or unbelievably bad. To my surprise, it’s mostly the latter – some part-time newsletter creators even do better.

1. GoCardless

Let’s start with the best home page.

There’s some room to improve the CTAs, but GoCardless does a great overall job with full hero section.

The biggest pro is, without a doubt, the short and clear explainer video. However, they could’ve made it more prominent so more people watch it.

The most disappointing parts here are the call-to-action buttons. They’re generic and have a lot of friction.

• I’d use the color purple for the news and the green color for the button, so it stands out more.
• It’s not clear what’s going to happen after I click sign up.
• There’s no social proof or other way to reduce friction. This could be improved by saying it’s free – or mentioning a free trial. Some reassurance that it’s safe would also help. And how many other companies use this?

2. Stripe

Stripe‘s home page did about as well as the one above.

It’s solid, meeting most of the required elements, but there’s some room for improvement.

It feels like the decisions were perfect, but the execution lacking. I love the use of screenshots but they’re a bit unclear. I’m not sure what I’m looking at. The two images don’t seem to be connected either, and that’s confusing.

That gradient in the background is a good idea to give the page some color and energy, but again, the execution is disappointing. It feels like the gradient is on top of the title; that just looks unprofessional. It seems innocent at first, but it keeps disturbing me.

The biggest win of the page is the subtitle. In 4 lines and 26 words, they answer many questions:

• Why trust this company? Millions of businesses use the software.
• Who is it for? Businesses of all sizes – from startups to large enterprises.
• What does it do? Accept payments, send payouts, and manage your business online.

It’s one of the greatest subtitles I’ve seen.

3. deel.

Deel is an awesome company that allows companies to hire and pay people wherever they live; their home page is a bit less awesome.

At first sight, it’s not a bad home page but when you zoom in on the details, many things can be improved.

• The title is vague, says little about the product, and doesn’t address the customer at all.
• The image doesn’t match the business.
• They didn’t think much about the colors.

I do believe the usually boring “request a demo” button is a good choice here. We’re talking about a rather complex product with different solutions for companies that work remotely. Getting to know them better first seems like the best move.

4. Curvo

Curvo is an exciting investment startup.

They’re still in full development and exploring many marketing ideas. But, of course, a solid home page is crucial for a good start.

So how did they do?

There are interesting ideas but there’s also a lot of work too.

• The green background only covering half of the hero section is something I’ve frequently experienced with WordPress. It looks sloppy.
• There’s no subtitle, call to action or social proof on this landing page.
• It lacks more personality. It’s not addressing any particular pain points or people.

I do love the interactive part. Pehaps it’s difficult to rewrite the home page and keep this in the hero section, but if that works, it would be a great home page.

5. Revolut

Revolut, in my experience, is a ground-breaking company in many aspects.

So when I looked at their home page and was underwhelmed, I double-checked to make sure this was the “right Revolut”.

It was…

So many things can be improved here:

• Too many random images. I’m not sure how they’re all connected. Some are blurry. Too many colors. A big NO.
• It’s all about the product, nothing about the benefits or problems it solves.
• There’s little effort to keep me on the page or make me want to click the CTA.

The only positives are “open your account in a flash” and “get a free account”. The rest is well below-expectations for a company this size.

Lessons learned from this fintech homepage breakdown

On each home page I highlighted five elements, mostly things to be improved. I tried not to repeat myself, but a couple of pages made the same mistakes. Here’s a summary of the most common mistakes, or missed opportunities.

1. Not everyone is going to click your CTA button or menu. Make sure there’s some hint to keep scrolling (arrow, design, second button)
2. Screenshots are mostly the best option for a visual. Just make sure they’re relevant and clear for someone who’s not familiar with the product.
3. Steer clear of generic CTAs. Make sure your CTA tells what’s going to happen next.
4. Design and color matter, even for financial services. Too many colors are distracting; only two colors is boring.
5. We’re dealing with money here. SOCIAL PROOF is crucial. Only Stripe took care of this and this might be the biggest surprise of all. Show some clients in the hero section, tell how many customers you have, promise me you’re well-regulated.

Get a review of your fintech website

Do you work at a fintech and have some doubts about your home page?

Get in touch for a detailed breakdown of your hero section and the rest of your home page.

I offer reviews as well as full rewrites.