Background

In fall of 2022, brand studio began the process of creating landing pages for the Best-Of Awards, NerdWallet’s annual list of the top financial products on the market. I worked closely with my design partner to determine the overall structure of the pages, which differs substantially from what NerdWallet has done in the past — this was our first year highlighting our Nerds on the BOA homepage, for example. I was also responsible for writing the content on the BOA homepage as well as the individual category pages the BOA homepage links out to (credit cards, insurance providers, travel rewards programs, etc.). I love everything about the final pages, from the bold design to the beautiful photography to the clear, conversational copy guiding users through the experience.

Problems & Solutions

There were a few small problems with the 2022 Best-Of Awards experience that we wanted to solve for with our 2023 landing pages. The three key problems from 2022 — and the corresponding solutions we came up with for 2023 — were:

• Problem: Once people were on a category page (credit cards, insurance providers, etc.), they were unsure how to navigate back to the Best-Of Awards homepage or to other category pages.

  • Solution: We added a sticky navigation bar — i.e. a navigation bar that “sticks” to the top of the page as you scroll — to every single page within the 2023 BOA experience. The nav bar features links to the BOA homepage as well as each individual category page, making navigation throughout the experience seamless.

• Problem: People didn’t have enough information to fully believe that we’re 100% objective when selecting which financial products appear on the Best-Of Awards list.

  • Solution: We added a “Get to know some of our Nerds” section to the new BOA homepage. This section features photos, titles, and bios of some of our editorial team — AKA the real, experienced, extremely qualified journalists who spend hundreds of hours determining which products have what it takes to receive a Best-Of Award.

• Problem: People wanted to continue hearing from us after leaving the Best-Of Awards list, but didn’t have a good way of telling us that within the 2022 BOA experience.

  • Solution: We added an email sign-up module to the bottom of each landing page where visitors could opt in to getting our emails. People who signed up would go on to receive a series of personalized financial product recommendations delivered straight to their inbox.

Keep scrolling to see the final result — I’ve only included a couple of the category pages to keep things concise.

2023 Homepage

2023 Best Insurance Providers

2023 Best Travel Rewards Programs

Results

As of May 2023, we reached a total of 1.33 million sessions on the new Best-Of Awards landing pages, which was 116% of our original goal. Additionally, a total of 74 partners — 108% of our original goal — used our Best-Of Awards badge in their own advertising efforts, providing additional free visibility for the NerdWallet brand.

2024 Update

In 2024 — for the first time ever — we decided to put together a comprehensive recommendations guide for Best-Of Awards winners. This guide included background information and historical data on the Best-Of Awards program, audience research, best practices, and an entire mock campaign for winners to use as inspiration.

We also decided to make some optimizations to the landing pages based on how users responded to the 2023 experience. These included:

• Leaning into a fresher color scheme and featuring our Nerds more prominently

• Further emphasizing our editorial objectivity

• Looking for places where copy could be clearer — for example, defining the awards more explicitly in the homepage headline (“our list of top financial products”)

Check out some of the creative below, and stay tuned for the 2025 Best-Of Awards!

2024 Campaign Recommendations Guide

2024 Homepage

2025 Update

In 2025, we once again optimized our Best-Of Awards landing pages based on user feedback from 2024. On the homepage, we:

• Reduced the height of the hero module by repositioning the badge

• Positioned the Best-Of Awards as a shortcut for users, who deeply value convenience and ease

• Consolidated the “Check out the winners” module with last year’s “Explore the list by category” module to make the page shorter

• Spelled out exactly why the Best-Of Awards list saves you time, and cut the copy significantly in this module

• Featured links to our social channels right above the FAQ

On the category pages, we introduced filters above the product cards to help users home in on the specific products they’re interested in — and added copy to explain how to use them.

2025 Homepage

2025 Best Insurance Providers

2025 Best Travel Rewards Programs

Content Strategist: Laura Orozco

Visual Designer: Charlene Tsang

Web Developer: Brian Villanueva