2022 was a year of significant transition for ClearScore’s core experience. On January 22, millions of ClearScore users got represented a new Affordability score out of 100.
My Role and responsibilities
I led the design of the new Open banking experience for iOS, android and web from the outset of the project in May 2021 through to launch on November 4 2021.
Results
1.5m users have enabled Open Banking
Uplift of users opting-in to enhanced offers from 60% to 80% across all platforms
(giving consent to share their data)Understandable and simplified open banking flow
Desired user outcomes:
People trust ClearScore with their data
Users feel empowered to improve and/or
maintain financial wellbeingLinking their bank account gives people control
over their financial situation
The Challenge
Optimise the open banking experience so people trust ClearScore with their data to unlock further benefits
ClearScore is introducing a new Open banking powered score which is also the first time users experience its value. Additionally, we want to create a powerful ‘hero’ moment to provide users with the immediate benefit of sharing their information.
but has the potential to dramatically change the way we bank.
From our previous user research, we discovered two main problems why people were hesitant to link their bank accounts. One of the main points was that people believe that linking their bank accounts will enable lenders to view all their transactions. Secondary, people aren’t seeing the value of connecting their bank account to unlock their affordability score.
What we found is that most people struggle do understand Affordability, that data and security is an increasingly important factor for people, and lastly most people don’t know what linking an account entails.
Ultimately our goal was to provide certainty, confidence and accuracy on making credit decisions and give people actionable ways to improve their financial situation.
By understanding people’s emotional journey & the questions they might have going through the journey enabled us to identify the key questions and areas we need to focus on. We asked our users to define what are some of the most important questions that come to mind about affordability and open banking. Those were shortlisted to top three:
Does linking my bank account has an impact on my credit score?
What information gets shared with lenders to enable them to make an informed choice?
Is my information safe and secured? Am I exposed to any threats?
User’s emotional experience when interacting with our product
We also identify four key factors that affect whether first time users choose open banking
⏱️ Convenience: will this take long?
👐 Familiarity: have I done this before?
💎 Clarity: what exactly do I need to do?
🔒 Security: is this safe?
It was also important to us that we keep the collaboration high through weekly kickoff meetings and workshops.
From a series of wireframes and prototypes we landed on a solution that fits well into our newly design home experience. It was important for us that we’re maintaining ClearScore’s brand identity to avoid change aversion.
Open banking user flow
Score component on Home interface
I wanted the interface to feel as close to credit score as possible by refreshing the design to merge them into one. This way, people aren’t getting confused when opening the app for the first time, and secondly, we are not losing ClearScore’s already established identity.
The next step was to demonstrate how valuable connecting their bank account would be for people. However, we also had to ensure that we’re not destroying existing value for people deciding they don’t want to activate. Ultimately the goal was to introduce the new open banking powered score to engage users. It will provide them with transparency on what lenders look at when making lending decisions.
How might we demonstrate how beneficial affordability is to people after connecting their account?
We defined fundamental aspects this experience needs to drive through several user interviews and countless desk research.
Those were shortlisted to top three:
💟 Benchmark
Understanding what their ‘Affordability’ score translates to and where they sit in the grand scheme of things
💡 The important factors that impact the score
Understand their most important factors that impact their access to credit from a lenders perspective
🖇️ Understand the link between Affordability score and offers
Ultimately, reinforce the value proposition by giving people a clear next action to take
Additionally, it was crucial to an achieving journey to enable people feel calm and in control. It will give them certainty in exchange for their data, leading to a positive experience.
The solution was to create the 'aha' moment in form of a Hero moment. But what is a ‘aha’ moment?
Refine and iterate
Design iterations multiple screens (left) vs. single screen (right)
I walked the team through my directions and we chose one to develop further. We discussed a few things to improve and figured out the next steps.
We decided to make remove the hero score due to too much confusing amongst our users and focus on the immediate benefits such as new insights and better offers. Couple days later I met with the team again and presented the final direction.
