This mobile application was designed to provide shoppers the ability to apply and buy from multiple top retailers from any internet-connected mobile device.
My primary role for this project was to conduct market and user research around the digital application process that would allow us to identify who our target users were, what their current frustrations were with existing solutions, and how to quickly bring a better solution to market that increased conversion. I also collaborated on the interaction design during the early phases of synthesis.
To kick off our research, we analyzed the current state of in-store credit application processes across multiple retailers. We also analyzed several similar existing solutions.
Next, we began to survey random users and customers on their experience with the existing application to gain insight into their frustrations and pain points.
The most common pain points we uncovered from initial feedback were:
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Too many pages to complete
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Too many input fields / requests for personal data
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Too much legal information to digest
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Lack of transparency with personal data
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No instant decision (approval or otherwise)
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No immediate online access to approved accounts
As we gathered feedback and information from users, we began to work internally to coordinate with other entities - marketing, legal, et al - to begin understanding how much of the existing application process could be eliminated or restructured to be more relevant to the user.
In addition to research on what people wanted in the application and interaction design, we needed to know exactly who our users were. We leveraged market analysis to gain insight into the demographic landscape of digital shopping. In terms of age vs. income, we found that despite having relatively low incomes, millennials – those consumers aged 18 to 34 – are the key age demographic for online commerce, spending more money online in a given year than any other age group; they spend around $2,000 annually on e-commerce. They also have the highest group tendency to adopt mobile technology.
But older adults, particularly Gen X shoppers, needed to be taken into account because of their large numbers and higher incomes. Those aged 35 to 44 spend about $1,930 annually online; just $70 less than millennials. Interestingly, baby boomers and seniors are also pretty mobile-savvy and have adopted mobile commerce enough to be counted in this analysis. One in four mobile shoppers in the U.S. is over the age of 55.
With this information, I facilitated workshops to identify our target personas for the application. It was determined that our design would likely need to accommodate a vast population of digital shoppers as opposed to just one particular user group, so our personas spanned each of the researched generations.
One of the world's largest private label retail credit providers experienced a trending increase in its digital credit application abandon rate.
As of 2014, the number of digital shoppers in the US grew to a staggering 198.2 million. In 2015, that number grew to 205 million and was estimated to grow to 211.1 million by the end of 2016. This significant rise in online shopping stems from consumer desire to avoid lines and experience online shopping perks such as discounts, sales, and delivery without ever having to step foot in a brick-and-mortar store. However, despite the growing number of online shoppers, retailers have recorded drastic declines in the number of shoppers who apply for private label credit accounts. While there are a number of factors that contribute to this decline, consumer research singles out one root cause over any other: the application process.
According to customers, typical digital credit applications require too much information, too much time, and did not provide transparency when asking for certain data points from users. This ultimately resulted in high abandon rates and low conversions. Prior to the redesign of this application, the average monthly abandon rate hovered between 28-32%. Nearly a third of our clients’ digital users were closing out the application before completion.
Our short-term goal was to understand and mitigate the abandons. Our long-term goal was to evolve with customers and enter into the highly competitive digital e-commerce segment with a solution that would revitalize a seemingly failing channel.
I facilitated usability tests on our existing application where we observed users as they were presented with a list of tasks that, when completed entirely, would result in a completed application. We recorded their interactions as they completed each task, then asked them to rate each task to determine ease or difficulty.
Results of the testing showed that users had the most difficulty or most time spent on the personal information screens, the terms and conditions screen, and at the end of the application when they were prompted to shop with their new account but could not find how to do so.
The mobile apply & buy solution is a responsive mobile web application tailored to the needs and wants of millions of digital shoppers. It has been adopted by over 40 major retailers and is being adopted by medium and small retailers as well.
A typical user can complete the process in about three minutes. This includes the decision process – handled by a proprietary back-end algorithm – which yields an approval within an average of about 15 seconds. Once approved, users are given a digital version of their retail card which is available for immediate use in stores and online. New users are also offered varying discounts just for applying, and are also enrolled into participating clients’ loyalty programs, where applicable.
Today, the overall abandon rate across clients has fallen from a peak of 32% down to just above 4% where it has remained. What's more, retailers who utilize mApply have seen a steady increase in digital credit applications with full conversion, with completed applications doubling year-over-year.
Aside from feedback received across social media and survey channels, this solution was featured in several financial and tech publications where it was specifically called out for being an example of an exceptional user experience and innovation in a financial application.
Once research findings were shared with our business partners and product stakeholders, I facilitated internal co-creation sessions and hack-a-thon style workshops with stakeholders and product teams to brainstorm the user journey and to begin identifying the early ideas for a solution.
As we navigated the different workout sessions, we began to piece together the vision for the next generation of the application. Our vision for the app was to be the quickest and simplest mobile credit application on the market, not just another attempt at a “solution”. We wanted to shift the feel of the app from the retail client’s original design intended to capture data and convert customers to a seamless experience that anyone could complete in a matter of minutes with the ability to instantly use their newly acquired line of credit.
Customers expect to be treated as if their patronage is worthwhile to businesses. We envisioned our design to encompass that expectation while satisfying the client need to convert users and reduce abandons. This solution would be a streamlined, transparent application platform, accessible from any modern mobile device, and would allow customers to obtain retail credit quickly, privately, and securely. With this overhauled process, we hoped to create deeper relationships between our retail clients and their digital customers.
We began to brainstorm design concepts and came to the understanding that we would need to keep this application device-agnostic, so we would need to design for mobile web rather than a native framework. So, we began to build out wireframes for both phones and tablets.
Early concepts were designed with simplicity as the first priority; we would design for the other themes as the iterations took shape and became a prototype.
When I began to design the prototype, I leveraged legacy mobile systems to form the base of the application's new streamlined user flow. Collaborating with engineers, our team was able to build a clickable prototype capable of full user testing in a matter of just a few days.
We constructed a modular application built on a single source core. In other words, we built a working solution that not only showcased our research and solved for the user needs, but that could also be branded for any retail client in a matter of days, all while never having to take the application offline in production.
The team brainstormed to prioritize design themes based on what we learned from our initial research and from our sessions with the users. Where we landed was a decision to design based on the following:
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Simple interaction
Users wanted the application to be as easy to complete as possible. Simple wording and simple interactions would be key to successful conversion.
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Design with transparency
Users felt strongly about being asked for personal data and consent without a clear explanation of intentions. We would design to allow users to know exactly why the application needs the information requested of the user.
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Delayed approval decisions
Users expressed concern that they were not instantly notified as to whether or not they had received account approval. We would design to allow for instant decisions.
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Immediate online account use
Users were frustrated with having to wait several days before having the ability to use their cards or access their accounts. We would design for this by giving the user a market-first delighter: the digital card with immediate access to online and in-store purchasing.