Financial Services

How TowneBank Leverages Yext's Full Platform to Boost SEO and Save $300K+

Upleveling its digital offerings helped TowneBank achieve $302k in call deflection savings per year — while increasing traffic and conversions.

k

content updates across 14 different entity types*

%

more local SEO traffic to TowneBank domains from listings**

$

in call deflection savings per year (as estimated based on industry standards)

With banking offices throughout Hampton Roads, Central Virginia, and Northeastern and Central North Carolina, TowneBank was built with a goal of serving the unique needs of its local communities.

"TowneBank is a relationship-driven bank. We live and breathe the sentiment of serving the communities we live in," says Amanda Elliott, VP of Digital Marketing Operations.

The Challenge

In 2020, TowneBank realized it could be doing more to make customers' lives easier. That started with making sure customers could find their closest branches.

Prior to working with Yext, TowneBank had a single employee updating its online listings, making one-by-one amendments through each publisher. This process worked for a while, but as TowneBank grew to employ more than 1,200 people and 49 banking offices, the team realized that it needed a simpler, more scalable way to keep its listings up to date so that customers could easily find their nearest branches.

"It just became difficult to keep everything streamlined," Elliott explains. "We didn't have a very good unified approach when it came to listings. Our bankers weren't listed at all — nor could they be. That'd be a lot for one person to do for that many different places."

Around the same time that TowneBank was reevaluating its listing needs, it was also attempting to revamp its website. The goal was to combine the personalized feel of an in-branch experience with the ease of online banking. That meant building online profiles for bankers, increasing online reviews, and updating TowneBank.com's search function — a Herculean undertaking for the company's small digital marketing team.

"With our old website, we called online search 'the land of broken dreams,'" Elliott laughs. "People would put in search terms, and the technology behind that search really wasn't serving up good results."

With our old website, we called online search 'the land of broken dreams.' People would put in search terms, and the technology behind that search really wasn't serving up good results.

Amanda Elliott

VP, Senior Manager Digital Marketing Channels

The Solution

Yext's relationship with TowneBank started in 2020 with its effort to streamline its listing process. But since the two companies first locked arms, TowneBank has significantly grown the partnership — and now uses all of Yext's products. Notably, Yext helped TowneBank build a comprehensive website that provides customers with online banking services and personalization that fosters the same experience as speaking with its bankers in person.

TowneBank also uses the Yext platform to manage more than 1,200 entities of more than 14 different types, including TowneBank Locations and Professionals, TowneBenefits Brokers and Employers, FAQs, Member Stories, Services, and much more. The company's small but mighty digital marketing team has made more than 74,000 updates to the information stored in Yext, including addresses, descriptions, hours of operations, and products & services.

The technology is great. But at the end of the day, you've got to like the people you're working with. I appreciate the relationship we've built.

Amanda Elliott

VP, Senior Manager Digital Marketing Channels

The Results

With Yext, TowneBank has succeeded at their goals: the bank has increased visibility and engagement on third-party sites and search engines, grown conversions on first-party pages, and built a better support system for managing on-site search and third-party reviews.

Yext Listings have driven 28% more local SEO traffic to TowneBank domains, and in the process reduced bounce rates, acquired new users, and increased conversions. Similarly, Yext-powered Pages have yielded a 21% uptick in key call-to-action buttons. Users seeking information on TowneBank, TowneBenefits, or TowneInsurance properties receive detailed and structured results 93% of the time, and users who leave a review on a third-party site receive a response to their review 100% of the time.

This partnership has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars for the company. Thanks to Yext, more than 4,300 searches are performed monthly, delivering $302,000 in call deflection savings per year.

TowneBank plans to continue using Yext to help its bankers emerge as industry thought leaders — and will leverage the company's increased SEO traffic to meet that goal. That means participating in industry events like town halls, interviewing with local publications, and publishing online content.

Yext's comprehensive digital offerings and supportive team have transformed the way TowneBank operates. "The technology is great. But at the end of the day, you've got to like the people you're working with," Elliott explains. "I appreciate the relationship we've built."

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