Credit Card Application Redesign - U.S. Bank

With the Cloud Apply platform implemented, we had experience updates to make. With credit cards being one of the most popular and profitable products, redesigning the credit card application was at the top of the list.

Intro

“We aren’t giving our customers a personalized, intuitive, and modern experience with features they want, need, and love."

Problem statement

  • Agile

  • Design Thinking Process

Process

  • Me - Design Lead, Lead Designer

  • Content Strategist

  • Accessibility Partner

  • Research and Testing Partner

UX Team

  • 5-7% increase in submit rate - conversion rates driven from industry benchmark of ~54% up to ~59-61%.

  • 2-5 minutes - time to complete applications was drastically reduced to below two minutes for existing customers and below 5 minutes for new customers.

  • New feature/functions added - created new virtual card with immediate access to credit line for customers to use before getting their physical card in the mail.

  • Card imagery added - 7 out of 10 customers during one of our testing sessions told us that card imagery excited them about getting a new card. We took that feedback and added imagery in key places.

Key impacts & results

Empathy

“We aren’t giving our customers a personalized, intuitive, and modern experience with features they need, want, and love."

  • Customer Frustration: Customers were frustrated with the lengthy experience and unnecessary information required for a credit card application.

  • Inefficient Process: The application process was lengthy and lacked modern features and functionality.

Legacy experience on legacy platform

Define

  • Project Goal: Leverage research and user testing to to learn how to provide them with a quick and easy application experience while incorporating personalization.

  • Key Partnership: Collaborate with risk and legal partners to ensure customer security and trust.

  • Customer Needs: Customers desire a secure application process, minimizing unnecessary information, and access to modern features.

Redefining our problem statement

Ideate

Generating great ideas that lead to an optimal solution

  • Customer Experience Goal: Leveraging user testing and research, create a safe, quick, and easy experience for customers, and identify areas of opportunity to personalize.

  • Information Reduction Strategy: Assessed necessary information, leveraged existing customer data, and obtained approvals to remove input fields.

  • Streamlined Application Process: Existing customers were required to complete only four fields for application submission.

Prototype

Plans and approvals in place! Let’s create.

  • Customer Preference: User testing proved card imagery is important to customers and excites them, while incorporating personalization helps speak to the customer and build trust.

  • Competitive Advantage: Modern features and functionality, such as ILA, are necessary to satisfy customers and stay ahead of competitors.

  • ILA Functionality: Allows customers to access a portion of their approved credit line digitally before receiving their physical card, which many customers found very useful.

Desktop experience of the first page of the application.

Personalized desktop and mobile experience for the Approved page, showcasing to the customer that they’re approved, what their full credit limit is, as well as what their ILA limit is.

Unauthenticated Mobile Experience - Happy Path

Thanks to user testing results, including an extensive Card Sort exercise, customers told us how they’d expect all the information we gather to be grouped together. We used these results to determine which input fields would be grouped together as well as how much would go on each page so as not to exhaust cognitive load.

You can also view a scrollable prototype by clicking or tapping the “View Prototype” button that directly follows.

Add Authorized User

Balance Transfer

Congratulations!

Let’s Get Started

Features & Benefits

AML

Personal Information

Review & Edit

Ts & Cs / Submit

Virtual Card - ILA

Decision Status

Test

  • User Testing Outcome: User testing was successful, requiring only minor tweaks to the experience before launch.

  • Post-Launch Performance: Multiple experiences were completed in approximately two minutes, with conversion rates increasing significantly (54% to 58-60%).

Testing success