Nickel was founded over ten years ago in France. Now they’re active in a small dozen European countries. They provide debit cards to people who could have a hard time getting one from a bank.
Before we dive into details, I want to talk about their website in general. It’s super small – only a few pages. And I love it. You get what you need, and that’s it.
But there are two things I would address a bit more. I’ll talk about that later.
Let’s start with the hero section now
First impression?
A bit too overwhelming. It comes down to three things:
- Too much text
- Dark background
- Not enough whitespace
The copy is fine but it gets lost because you don’t really know where to start.
Love and improve
Despite the overwhelming first impression, there are quite a few great things about this hero section:
- Interesting menu – it addresses what people most want to know. I’d just add something about security
- Language selection is great when you have a wide audience – never hide it. I’d just move the position slightly.
- The product image is useful – it shows what you’ll get but it’s a bit small.
- The video CTA is subtle
In terms of design, there’s not a whole lot I would change. The dark background is heavy so that needs to go. The five bullet points are too much as well. Let’s reduce that to three.
That won’t be hard as the first line is repeated in the call to action. And the last line can easily be placed elsewhere on the page.
So this is what I’d suggest:
What to improve below the fold
I’m a sucker for small sections with a few numbers that show authority and social proof. Ideally, I’d place them just above or below the fold but anywhere on the page works.
What I generally don’t like are the random icons. We can do better people. If you don’t find an image that works, be creative. Make the number big and bold. Play a bit with the background. But we’ve got to stop using those stock icons everyone uses. They don’t mean anything!
The next thing that needs to change is space. More padding between the sections please. And less information per section.
The two sections that have two halves? Make them separate sections.
I’ve added an image below to show what I mean.
Further adjustments here:
- Numbers higher up.
- Section split in two.
There are a few more things I’d change, but the main thing left to say is what I promised at the start: the two things I would add.
- I’d talk more about security. We’re talking about payments and debit cards here. How secure are the accounts? What are the guarantees?
- I’d make the positioning clearer. We’re talking about a debit card without a bank. Cool. Now what are the benefits? The pricing seems a lot more transparent. Can we double down on this?
And that’s it for this week.
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