01. Workshop
Initial kickoff workshop with stakeholders, planning key topics and direction.
Project capabilities
Chapter 1
The Brief
NOW Finance's 'Get My Rate' (GMR) Application flow was the second half of a 2-phase project seeking to rebrand and significantly increase both their brand presence and best-in-class UX in Australia's highly competitive small-medium-sized loan space.
This project was undertaken during my time at Melbourne's premium Web Design Agency BJM Digital.
GOALS
- Phased site rollouts
- Step up brand presence
- Platform UX
- Increase conversions
Stages
- Phase 1: Site reskin
- Phase 2: Full site redesign
- ‘Get my Rate’ platform UX & redesign
Chapter 2
Research
Plan
The research component of the project was a partnership between BJM Digital, NOW Finance and Australian recruitment and testing platform Testmate.
Working alongside the client, we created 3 separate high-fidelity flows that compared NOWFinance’s existing application flow against 2 of Australia’s leading loan brands.
The flows tested:
Insights
The insights were surprising to say the least.
From gender-specific behaviours, to a desire to long form copy, many preliminary designs had to be reconsidered:
Gender-specific search behaviour
- 4/4 males looked specifically for clear buttons / CTAs, regardless of the button’s copy.
- 4/4 females looked for specific phrasing, while often scrolling directly past ‘next’ or ‘submit’ buttons, if it didn’t match their query.
Trustworthiness increased with high-bar requirements & legalese
- Despite initial assumptions – users more highly NOWFinance’s existing copy with regards to its exacting requirements – as they seemed more serious and confident.
Orientation and expectation lacking for all loan providers.
- Despite some providers performing better than others, all users expressed at lease some level of frustration at all loan applications being:
- non-standardised;
- not knowing how long the process would take;
- whether they would be successful, and;
- when an approval could be expected.
Results
These insights were actually super exciting,
as we now knew how to leverage NOW Finance’s brand position as a result.
Lean into the legalese. While putting in a concerted effort to make the actual tone more approachable, we wanted to live out the adage ‘don’t fix what ain’t broke’, there was no point in stripping the copy back if it was a major point of trustworthiness.
- Keep the requirements, change the tone;
- Onboarding: set the expectation, ask for the essentials.
- Zhuzh-up the visual style & brand identity.
- Language / copy:
- too heavy
- impersonal
- arduous
- demanding without reasons or payoff given
Keep position and options present continually. While this is a commonly-held belief amongst designers and service providers alike, it’s harder than you think. Navigation can be too prominent, too detailed, not useful, off-putting – or just plain lost – to a myriad of other design considerations in an application flow. A lot of time and design thinking was dedicated to the right level of information density, as well as multiple methods of display / findability.
Chapter 3
Design
Onboarding
Clarify flow
As lack of clarity for next steps was nearly universal for adopters, setting clear steps was highest priority.
1. Highlighting benefits
Previously lost to many applicants, one of the biggest benefits of NOW Finance’s product offering was no fees, and no unnecessary bureaucratic red tape. This was placed first thing.
2. Settting expectations
The clarity and simplicity at each stage of the applicant’s journey meant the application process was measurably quicker, and felt faster on average from the site statistics and feedback.
Despite the total form fields being more numerous.
3. Adding security assets
Previous applicants showed uncertainty around ‘Security Assets’, assuming it was an added security for their loan, rather than them needing to provide a security asset to lower their interest rate or payment term.
Clarifying this before reaching this stage significantly lowered confusion.
1
1. Highlight benefits
2
2. Setting expectation
3
3. Adding security assets
Loan summary card
Clarify flow
As lack of clarity for next steps was nearly universal for adopters, setting clear steps was highest priority.
1. Full-sized card
The Loan Summary Card is a full-detailed, quick-reference card presented to the user on both the Loan presentation page, also the top of the following Loan application page.
As users are often presented with a large volume of information, it’s easy to miss important details, so considerable time was dedicated to keeping the info presentable, sectioned, memorable, and editable.
- Loan type & amount
- Payment period
- Repayment frequency
- quick-edit option
- Security status
- and Edit shortcut
2. sticky bar on scroll
On scroll, the card contracts to maximise screen real estate, and becomes sticky so users always know what loan they’re applying for and where they are in the process.
It has all the functionality of the full-sized card, with the addition of API-driven progress steps.
The steps are filled once all fields in a section are checked and confirmed from the back end.
1
1. Full-size card
2
2. Contracted top bar
Chapter 4
Outcomes
- Onboarding: Setting expectation
- Leaning into heavier copy
- Clearer progress steps
- Loan status bar:
- compact and expanded
- Progress steps
- Editability
Full brand rollout
Full Braze integration & tracking
Optimised user and application flows
Custom animated brand elements
Streamlined navigation
In summary
Double completed loans
Twice the average loan applications were completed by the second month alone, and continue to rise.
Faster responses
Because of the clearer pathway, more applications were submitted, paying for the cost of the project in around 10 days.
True Power
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Stronger brand presence
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Immersive web experiences
Tap into a vast library of free, beautiful animations or create your own using Adobe After Effects.
Clearer, faster applications
Build gorgeous megamenus with columns, images, icons, and buttons all through an easy interface.
Unified branding
Advanced AJAX search functionality with multiple layout options that are capable of bringing up results in real-time.
