IMPACT
I worked on a team of nine as the lead of the application experience for Signify Business Cash Card, conducting a full design process from discovery, research, testing, and development.
**This case study is not as visual due to internal information regulation. If you would like to see more details, please reach out!
WHAT'S WRONG?
UNCLEAR EXPECTATIONS
The previous Small Business Credit Card application was unclear about application length, status (approval/denial), and submission requirements.
AS LONG AS THAT CVS RECEIPT
The excessive length and required fields deterred Small Business Owners (SBOs) from moving past the first page (55% drop off) and completing the application (11% conversion).
2.7k
263
Data funnel from Glassbox
Legacy Credit Card Application (3 out of 7 screens shown)
What are the key product and business requirements?
STAKEHOLDER FEEDBACK
We spoke to six product & business stakeholders to understand their expectations and thoughts for the new SB card application. Here were some of the main takeaways:
"WE HAVE MORE QUESTIONS AND PAGES THAN OUR COMPETITORS"
Most of our stakeholders agreed that the application was excessively long and acknowledged areas for improvement. They were also excited by the recent launch of the new consumer credit card single-page application (SPA) and hoped to derive some attributes from it due to its success.
Wells Fargo (legacy)
45 total fields
Competitor 1
28 total fields
Competitor 2
33 total fields
Competitor 3
31 total fields
Competitor CC application total field count
"THE END TO END PROCESS SHOULD BE SMOOTH AND INSTANT"
The application process should be smooth and offer instant approval/denial. Wells Fargo has one of the most conservative application sourcing processes, so it was important for me to constantly keep our stakeholders in check with their hopes for improving the application length and tech processes that can help the customer experience.
Who are our Small Business Owners (SBO)?
WELLS FARGO SBOs NEED...
A STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR BANK
SBOs want their bank to understand their unique needs and provide the support to grow their business with reliable customer service.
This is why each step the customer takes should feel meaningful and with a touch of human/warmth.
CLEAR EXPECTATIONS & UPFRONT REQUIREMENTS
The banking experience should be intuitive and easy to navigate, so that SBOs can make the right steps for their businesses.
For the application experience, this comes down to clear expectations about application requirements, qualifications, and length.
INCENTIVES (i.e. why should I get a SB CC?)
Business owners are motivated by rewards, low/no fees, low rates, etc. They also often use their personal CC for business needs due to the ease and misconceptions around business CC qualifications.
I spoke to the main designer in charge of the SHOP experience to ensure that rewards were front and center. If SHOP successfully convinces our users to apply, the application portion should keep that confidence in our product to deliver on those key features and encourage them that the product is meant for them.
How might we design an application that motivates SBOs to apply, builds trust in the product, and boosts confidence in application outcomes?
SUCCESS METRICS
DROP OFF RATE
It is important to decrease the ~50% loss from the first page. Potential reasons for this drop-off surround misconceptions about application requirements and overwhelming content.
APPLICATION SUBMISSIONS
Increasing the clicks of that final "Submit" button is a huge one for product and our business partners. If we successfully incorporate our users' needs/pains, this can follow as a result.
Conversational vs. Progressive vs. Single-page
3 ITERATIONS
I created two versions: a single-page application and a conversational style one.
The Single Page application (SPA) version was translated from the consumer credit card designs.
The conversational version is a simplified, step-by-step application that sets clear expectations upfront, and creates digestible chunks of required fields, enabling users to complete it smoothly. I called this the 'conversational version' because of its warm, conversational tone.
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- application summary
Initial user flow
Low fidelity mockups
USER FEEDBACK
To gauge how these applications performed, we tested them through Usertesting.com. The participants explored the prototypes independently, providing qualitative feedback, and then evaluated each with numerical scores for quantitative insight.
The conversational option offered the most engaging experience.
What launched?
Although the conversational style was well received by our customers, business and product upper management chose to go with the SPA and model our application based on our consumer partners. Why? The conversational style:
1. Is not industry standard.
2. Is a much heavier technical lift.
3. Is not a guaranteed success, unlike the already-implemented SPA.
I convinced stakeholders of the value of the conversational design, showing results of user testing and the emotional impact it had on customers. Encouragingly, they said it could be revisited post-MVP.
Check out the live site here!