Capital one

Debt Reduction Application

A Conversational Design and AI Effort

As part of starting up Digital Guidance and Advice, we were organized in cross disciplinary teams called User Experience Groups (UXGs). We had a group per financial asset that would be part of a user’s holistic financial journey.

I led the Debt Reduction UXG through Intake, Innovation, and Iteration. We performed a weekly sprints that tested our existing hypotheses and outstanding questions. Each week, I built a prototype for user testing, that developed a high confidence design for launch. Below are the Design Principles we have determined through our effort, and screens from our most recent prototype. Due to the insights we gathered within our research, ur UX group was the first to propose, test and iterate a hybrid concept of conversational UI and page UI. This led to the development of Digital Guidance + Advice.

The Customer Problem

Olivia is deeply aware of her debt, and struggles to find the right strategies to reduce high interest debt. Despite her anxiety, Olivia struggles to prioritize reducing her debt amongst other financial goals.

The Business Problem

Providing clear strategies to reduce debt would only increase the buying power of our current customers. In light of our DGA initiative to provide a graduation path from Savings to Investing, Debt Reduction would only help prepare our customers to become investment ready. Capital One is the fifth largest bank in America, and in order to compete with larger financial institutions, providing a clear path to an investing product was necessary. 

My Approach

To kick off our Debt Reduction effort (DRUX), our team began to explore divergent phase. I facilitated several workshops, brainstorms, and white boarding sessions with the multi-disciplinary team to generate as many ideas as possible. The DRUX team needed a nudge during the divergent phase of this process. Through the support of wild ideas, our team developed trust and a vision for the user experience. As well as, a prioritized list of hypotheses that anchored our next phase. 

To kick off the converge phase, I led the DRUX team through weekly design sprints to develop a high-confidence concept. Each week, we developed 2 concepts that tested a hypothesis from our backlog. This resulted in over 45 prototypes that tested with over 45 participants. 

Participants from a DRUX research effort

Participants from a DRUX research effort

Debt Reduction Design Principles

Let me know you’ll be there for my whole financial journey

SIGNAL: Users did not expect the DGA experience to adapt and be flexible when they had missteps

INSIGHTS: Olivia wants to know that the advisor will work hard to be flexible, keep her on course for good decisions and help her realize how doing this relates to her whole financial journey.

Make me the Master of My Own Data

The debt Overview and Our Guidance

Before we could give financial advice, we needed to better understand Olivia’s debt picture. That would allow us to frame our reduction guidance based on what worked for the customer, and how to best support her debt journey. By providing a clear categorization of high and low interest debt, we reframed how Olivia currently thinks about her debt.

We had a major constraint when it came to capturing data on Olivia’s debt. With or without cross account aggregation, there were limits to certain data points we could gather. This led us to develop a solution we call, the Debt Overview, to help keep our guidance in the context of Olivia’s data.

SIGNAL: Olivia expects to be able to play with her data and payment options, and see the impact on her debt pay off trajectory.

INSIGHTS: After reviewing her data and strategies to pay down debt, Olivia wondered a few more things that she believed would be answered in the numbers, what do the numbers look like for each strategy, what will the timeline look like and could I play with a slider or simulator to give me these answers, what if I choose a different option? Olivia wants to see what each dollar will afford her in terms of time and dollars saved. 

Initial sketches

 

High Confidence Concept

I know the pieces – show me the big picture

SIGNAL: Most users expressed desire to see more big picture of their financial health

INSIGHTS: Olivia isn’t blind to what it will take to be financially healthy. What she needs is the help to make it all happen. She is willing to take more steps than she is today but wants to know how it all connects and makes up her big picture.