Credential Direct
By Kim Thompson, SVP, Advisory Services, Credential Financial Inc.
At Credential Direct, we’re proud to provide high quality, accessible online investing for all Canadians. And like the credit unions we partner with, we’re a values-based financial firm that puts clients’ needs first. We deliver high touch customer service and an intuitive online experience, along with affordable commissions so investors receive the best experience possible.
While the traditional online brokerage model is more of a ‘bigger, faster, stronger’ mentality, mostly benefiting active or wealthy traders, we make decisions based on what will be most beneficial to the ‘everyday investor’. With the increased use of mobile devices to access financial information and conduct transactions, we focused on delivering a premium responsive experience. To make sure we got it right, we engaged directly with our clients to find out exactly what parts of the trading experience were most meaningful to them. As a result, this year brought some exciting and significant enhancements to both the public and trading sites.
Earlier in the year we proudly launched Credential Direct’s new public website, completely redesigned for a more approachable experience for DIY investors and fully optimized for mobile devices. The new site introduces a friendly persona-based approach, inviting traders to learn about online investing at their level – whether that’s as a novice, intermediate, or expert investor. A functional layout with a ‘less is more’ design guides visitors to the information that resonates most with them, providing flexibility to drill down into the information they are most curious about. We also introduced additional resources with How-to Guides and our blog called The Ticker which features all our wisdom, from money to life.
As for the Credential Direct trading site, it now provides a fully responsive experience that adapts to the devices our clients use to manage their investments. Based on user data and client research, we concentrated on the most frequently used areas, and with these responsive capabilities now in place, we retired the mobile microsite. We also partnered with a new quote provider offering responsive widgets to improve the way our clients view and interact with quote information. Finally, we optimized layouts and navigation on both desktop and mobile, plus added some great new features in the form of enhanced email alerts and additional news feeds.
As we look ahead to 2018, there are more exciting enhancements in store. Highest on the list is the scheduled launch of a new mobile app for Credential Direct traders. We’ll also continue to add new educational resources that empower investors’ trading knowledge and confidence – including our ongoing webinar series, new How-to Guides and weekly blog posts on The Ticker. As always, we will continually look for ways to improve the Credential Direct trading experience for clients.
This was definitely an exciting year for Credential Direct and our clients, but there’s plenty more to look forward to in 2018!
Kim provides strategic direction and oversight in the creation of wealth management programs, products and services to accelerate growth across all distribution channels, including Credential Financial’s online brokerage channel, Credential Direct. She also provides strategic guidance on corporate positioning and profile, and overall partner and client experience.
To learn more about Credential Direct, visit their website at www.credentialdirect.com or view our profile of Credential Direct here.