Role & Responsibilities
Head of Experience Strategy & Design
I led a team of UX and UI designers and BAs over a two-phase engagement, initially undertaking a series of strategic, collaborative and creative activities to concept a ‘North Star’ experience.
In phase two we worked with a wider group of client stakeholders including compliance, risk, and IT to translate that vision into real-world, production-ready screens and prototypes.
Activities
- Competitor analysis
- Trends research
- Requirements Definition
- Creative Workshopping
- Information Architecture
- User flow mapping
- Wireframing
- Copywriting
- Creative concepting
- UI, interaction & motion design
Approach
Research & Competitive Analysis
We undertook extensive competitor research of traditional and challenger banks in the UK to understand varied product offerings, functionalities, and channel strategies. This helped identify trends & opportunities and drive creative conversations & decisions.
User research revealed some common UX principles that would help to create an effective experience
- Simple, app-based onboarding flows.
- Simple language used, with minimal financial terminology.
- Multi-step flow, one decision at a time.
- Account set-up at the start.
- Visuals to elevate key steps.
- Quick & consistent access to chat / help.
- Onboarding tutorial manages expectations.
- Clear orientation through process status indicators.
Research also revealed that a high percentage of business customers prefered to use a mobile app to open a business bank account, which helped to define the respective functions between branch, website and app in the application process.
Approach
User Flows & Functionality
An extensive two-day workshop was held in order to collaboratively shape the customer experience.
Competitor research flows & findings were discussed, then journey flows, functionality, and channel approaches were explored, using using behavioural profiles which represented the key needs and attitudes of Santander’s target audiences.
Following the workshop, two app-based journeys were explored – one mapped a ‘traditional’ manual process; the other explored the use of AI and data feeds to intelligently gather information to significantly shorten the data entry process.
Behavioural economics played a part in shaping the flows, identifying heuristics and nudges at key stages to minimise drop-off during the application process.
Following the workshop, a core ‘happy path’ journey was produced, incorporating branches for Sole trader and Limited company flows. These were reviewed and approved by various client stakeholders including product, legal, risk, compliance, and technology.
Approach
UX, UI & Interaction Design
With the core journey defined, the user experience was developed and refined by :
- Translating the defined user flow into mobile app wireframes and screen designs.
- Applying Santander brand assets for a production-ready look and feel.
- Defining the interactions for each page.
- Applying behavioural economics nudges and design best practices.
The journey was then brought to life through an interactive prototype – illustrating the desired happy path and helping to communicate the vision to stakeholders throughout the business.
The prototype was also used by Santander’s inhouse research and testing team to gain direct user feedback prior to pre-production.
Approach
Phase Two
The second phase of the project was to develop the happy path journey, incorporating user testing feedback and stakeholder input to produce more detailed flows which encompassed edge cases and error paths, as well as finalised copy.
Cues were taken from other existing Santander digital experiences as well as the digital toolkit to ensure consistency of the experience.
The updated flows, wireframes and screen designs were delivered to Santander’s production team in preparation for backlog creation and sprint planning.