Facing resistance from financial institutions.

Although legacy users had been using the product in its current state for years without any regular complaints, SpringFive was getting resistance from bank stakeholders who feel their agents spend too much time helping the customer using ‍‍FinHelp. In order to increase renewal rates and develop new business, SpringFive tasked our team to design an update to ‍‍FinHelp that adds value to their growing user base of bank agents.

Evaluating the current state

FinHelp's search page. Users search for resources by zip code, state or by selecting a category from the side menu to view results for National Resources. The closest local programs and non-profit resources are shown first with an option to view more details and add them into a referral summary, which acts like a "shopping cart".

FinHelp's referral summary. Users can review their selected resources, read them to the customer over the phone, print them, or email the summary to the customer.

SpringFive’s assumption was that users were spending too much time using ‍‍FinHelp because their category menu had grown to a point where selecting categories quickly must be difficult for users. SpringFive assumed users could learn to use the product more efficiently if they're provided more training and better call scripts to assist with different customer call scenarios. However after an initial evaluation of the product's current state against Nielson's usability heuristics, my team and I identified numerous usability problems that were contributing to a slower referral process. The following are the most severe usability issues my team and I identified.

Current state usability issues

1. Alphabetical listing of resources in the side menu is confusing with no defined hierarchy.
‍(Nielson's recognition rather than recall heuristic.)‍

2. Users can only add resources to the referral summary one category at a time needing to repeat the search process for each category that's relevant to their customer.
‍(Nielson's flexibility and efficiency of use heuristic.)‍

3. Expanding a resource card for more details unnaturally adds it to the referral summary.
(Nielson's user control and freedom heuristic.)

4. When a link is clicked, the system should give an indication that the information is loading.
‍(Nielson's visibility of system status.)

The Approach

We had a list of usability problems to address already, but our team's role was to dive deeper. We had a three week deadline to deliver our solution, so we defined our research objective, methodology and organized our design process to maximize our results within the three one week sprints.

Sprint 1. Research and synthesis
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Sprint 2. Ideation and concept testing
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Sprint 3. Prototyping and usability testing
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Competitive analysis

We wanted to find out what the competitors were doing well and more specifically to explore ways to best organize financial resource information. I found that the top navigation menus are a common design pattern. The Federal Trade Commission site for consumer information and the Federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission both use top navigation. How they differ is their choice in menu titles– one makes the use of nouns "Money & Credit", "Homes & Mortgages" and "Jobs & Making Money", while the other uses goal-based verbs, "Earn", "Borrow", "Save & Invest" and "Protect". We made a note to test the top navigation design pattern and to conduct a card sorting exercise with our users to find out an optimal way to organize ‍‍FinHelp's category menu.

The Federal Trade Commission’s consumer information site organizes their top navigation menu by subject.

The Federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission's mymoney.gov organizes their top navigation menu by goals.

The next three competitors we found are referral platforms similar to ‍‍FinHelp that specifically service the healthcare industry:

NowPow’s patient engagement timeline enables a patient's care team to track their patient's progress toward accessing resources.

Healthify's referral platform is able to anticipate resource needs based on social determinants within the community.

Aunt Bertha's extensive list of resources shows how too many categories doesn't help users make referrals faster.

‍NowPow is a data-driven resource referral platform that utilizes powerful filters and assessment algorithms. Their technology reduces barriers to care by referring relevant resources based on address, condition, age, gender and preferred language. It also lets referrers track the progress and outcome of referrals alerting them when a referral has been followed up or an appointment scheduled or attended. This approach helps ensures referrals are followed through on.

Healthify is a similar platform to NowPow. In addition to powerful filter and assessment algorithms, Healthify closes the inequality gap by not only linking people to resources, but by coordinating with local community partners to respond quickly to new and growing needs. The site uses a search box and a side navigation menu that allows filtering by eligibility requirements.

‍Aunt Bertha connects consumers to food, health, housing, education, and employment programs. Boasting 1.1 million users, the assumption is they’re doing something right. The site uses a search box and a top navigation menu of icons and small text. The platform goes a step further than ‍‍FinHelp asking users three questions regarding family size and income returning results that include eligibility requirements and guidance on how to apply. Although the site appears to be a more comprehensive platform, the top navigation and mouse-over interactions feel awkward and their extensive list of resources doesn’t seem like it would help SpringFive’s users make referrals faster.

After reviewing the competitors, SpringFive’s key differentiator is indeed its simplicity, but ‍‍FinHelp could benefit from filters and assessment algorithms that increase the accuracy and relevancy of resource referrals with less time and effort.

Domain research

Our client wanted buy-in from financial institution stakeholders, so I jumped into domain research to find ways we could approach our design that can address and solve a problem for them.

1. I learned that there are various stages of financial distress and resources that are offered to address each stage.

A temporary financial crisis like a loss of job could qualify customers for a Hardship application, but a long-term crisis like a chronic illness that’s attached to high medical costs could mean needing resources to help with refinancing, re-budgeting or debt negotiation.

‍FinHelp’s category menu could be organized based on the resources that address the various stages of financial distress.

2. I learned that financial institutions' business objective is to maximize recoveries and improve customer satisfaction.

Their focus is on minimizing operation costs by improving efficiency through cost-effective solutions that maximize impact on customer service while increasing the organization’s bottom line.

‍Our design solution needs to allow bank agents to quickly deliver resources that maximize the benefit to their customers.

3. I learned that goal-oriented menu categories could make the category menu quicker to navigate.

Mymoney.gov lists resources under category title like, “Earn”, Borrow” and “Save & Invest” and another site uses terminology like “saving money”.

‍We needed to test and find out if these goal-based titles help users retrieve relevant resources faster.

User interviews

My team and I conducted nine user interviews with both subject matter experts and users. With two distinct user groups, our team needed to find out how the bank agents and financial counselors engage with ‍‍FinHelp and develop a design that could improve the user experience for both groups. Through our user research, we learned:

1. Usage behavior. How Counselors and Agents engage with ‍‍FinHelp and how it fits into their workflow and goals. Agents and counselors have different levels of knowledge about resources and their interactions with ‍‍FinHelp vary greatly based on their understanding of the resources, their objectives and each unique customer call scenarios.

2. Goals and motivations. How Agents have business milestones to achieve, which they hit by moving their clients along the next stages in their loan trials while Counselors have an intangible objective of helping their clients achieve overall financial wellness.

3. Pain points. Both user groups found the category menu too complex and needed a way to navigate it faster and more efficiently.

4. Mental model. Through a card sorting exercise with Optimal Sort, we learned how each user groups and organizes the menu categories as they find relevant.

Agents and counselors engage with FinHelp very differently. Agents need to send referrals through FinHelp quickly while counselors can take their time through the referral process. However both user groups expressed the same frustration that the category menu is indeed too complex taking them too much time to navigate. While the complex category menu causes long awkward pauses for agents who are not as familiar with financial resources, irrelevant categories and repeat resource listings within separate categories slow down the process for both user groups.

Prevent messy emotions. Users experienced what we labeled as “messy emotions”. Some users felt “overwhelmed and awkward” determining the resources their customers might need and worried about offending them. In one example, a customer was offended by a referral to a local food bank.

Streamlining the category menu. Customers benefit from the referrals, but it’s still a sensitive matter to discuss. Users requested a better organized category menu that not only speeds up the referral process, but also prevents awkward pauses, messy emotions and triggering topics.

Aligning our priorities

With only a day and a half for ideation and concept creation, we aligned with SpringFive on our priority to address the category complexity and implement usability fixes into the design solution. SpringFive gave us creative freedom to explore design patterns from competitors, but had concerns about us straying too far from the current product worrying that a drastic change to the product’s current state would complicate it for their current users.

Since our research showed there are major differences in usage behaviors between agents and counselors, SpringFive agreed to our proposal to design a solution specifically for their agent users. This opened up the conversation about the idea of having two separate platforms for each user group. For the scope of this project, our design for ‍‍FinHelp 2.0 would be developed solely for financial institution subscribers, while the current platform could remain for their legacy users.

FinHelp 2.0 design principles

Bank agents need a simple way to send relevant resources to their customers in a way that is quick, efficient and folds organically into their call flow. Users were frustrated by the organization of the categories, so the solution needed to streamline the category menu in a way that supports various types of call scenarios and expedites the referral process. We created three design principles to help guide our process.

Built for flexibility
‍The platform needs to adapt to all users and call scenarios and support all types of organization and usage behaviors.

All-in-one
‍Every step from search to referrals needs to be in one location in order to expedite the referral process.

Streamlined
‍Agents need to send resources quickly, so the design needs to be streamlined to facilitate seamless navigation.

These design principles helped our team align on the following design elements, which we believed would deliver the most impact in enhancing the user experience:

‍1. Implement an intuitive filter option that streamlines the category menu and prevents the need for further training.
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2. Improve navigation so users can move through the platform quickly.
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3. Enable shortcuts to facilitate quick and efficient resource selection and delivery.
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4. Optimize the screen space so users can go through steps of the referral process in one place.

Concept Testing + Results

Guided by our design principles and with clearly defined design elements to focus on, we created three concepts to test with five testers–one repeat bank agent tester, a repeat counselor tester and three first-time counselor testers.

The resource navigation page displays subcategories under Housing. Users can click on one or all subcategory tags to filter available resources to display in the search results.

‍Modeling our competitors’ design pattern, a member of my team sketched out this concept to test whether a top navigation menu with subcategories displayed as tags would be an intuitive design pattern. The tags emphasize quick glanceable filter options.
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‍What we found: The design pattern was not intuitive. Testers did not make a clear connection between the main menu categories nor that the tags represent subcategories. The design strayed too far from our client’s product and too far from comfort for our users.

Takeaway

1. All-in-one helps with fast decision-making. Although the “select all” option was favorable, users liked how the category menu helped guide their decision-making process.
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2. Users were adaptable to drastic changes. Despite SpringF’s concern of making drastic changes to the platform, users welcomed the changes since the design solutions helped improve and expedite their workflow.‍

1. On mouseover, subcategories are displayed in a dropdown list allowing users to select multiple categories at a time.
2. Results from two categories are displayed in the left panel with details displayed on the right allowing users to easily scan for relevancy
3. Referral summary provides a high level view of resources to enable quick glanceability during review.

Inspired by competitors' category icons, a member of our team created this concept to test if icons enhance scannability and speed up navigation between categories. We also tested the effectiveness of presenting subcategories in a drop-down for an all-in-one approach to select all relevant categories at once.
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‍What we found: The drop down menu and the side-by-side view of results and details were effective at allowing users to search for relevant resources. Users prefer to preview and edit the referral summary before sharing. Users did not like having to load a second page to get to their results.

Split into three grids, the design presents its search, referral, alerts updates and method of sharing all in one place. ‍

‍Taking inspiration from my domain research and borrowing language used by government resource websites and other financial counseling sites, I wanted to test the drawer design for organizing subcategories into main categories. I wanted to test the “select all” feature, a three-grid format that maximizes screen real estate, and even a notation field to test if it would help speed up agents’ workflow.
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‍What we found: Users liked the "select all" option "a lot" and they liked being able to view the search results and referral summary on one page.

Approaching our final design

Taking into consideration what we had learned from concept testing and our card sorting exercise, I created a converged prototype that organized the category menu into main and subcategories presented in scannable drawers that help users identify the most relevant categories first. In addition, I integrated usability fixes to address the heuristic violations found in ‍‍FinHelp’s current state. Here are the key features of the redesign:

1. I created a “most referred” section so frequently accessed categories like hardest hit fund, utilities and childcare can be quickly selected.
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2. I created a “Sort by” option so users can tailor their results by "best match", "top 3" or "view all".

3. I created a "refer all" feature so users can quickly add multiple resources into their referral summary.

4. Since agents typically don’t want to read more details, an unobtrusive pop-up gives them the option to click in and out quickly.

5. I created a streamlined list of nine main categories with subcategories nestled within drawers. These are listed in a natural and logical order based on potential frequency of use. Users can select every category they need up front instead of needing to recall what they've already searched for.
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6. We also integrated specific feature requests our users made that were straightforward to integrate into the design such as improving the appearance of the referral summary for a more professional looking print-out.

The Result

Here's what our two usability testers thought about the design solution:

Kristy, bank agent
FinHelp user

This is an improvement from its current state.
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“I like this new one and look forward to using it. it’s going to make things a lot better."

Users like the all-in-one design.
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“I like how it all comes up on one screen instead of having to go through each screen individually. I like being able to choose all of them and they all come up on the screen.”

Users like the ability to check the referral summary against the category menu.
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“I like that I can see what I’m sending and what is still over there and see what are the options.”

Daniel, bank agent
FinHelp user

The design pattern is familiar and intuitive.

“It’s almost similar to our notation system. It is simpler. Easier. This one looks like it does what it’s supposed to.”

The category menu makes finding resources faster.

"I really like that because it [took] too long to go through all the services to find something pertinent. Before there was so much stuff that it was overwhelming.”

The "most referred" category is helpful.

“I think they are very pertinent.”

The "Most referred" category needs to be further defined. Testers recognized the benefit of the category for quick access to relevant resources especially to relief fund resources during periods of natural disaster, but users wondered if they would have to determine what those are or if the categories would be suggested for them.
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Our solution seemed to hit all our client’s objectives. We learned how bank agents engage with FinHelp and created a solution that addressed their needs. As a result, SpringFive could expect less resistance from bank stakeholders, who will instead welcome the business advantages FinHelp brings to their institution. Ultimately, our solution helps SpringFive attract new subscribers from financial institutions.

Check out the design solution.

View the prototype following the usability testing task flow:

Step 1: Search by zipcode
Step 2: Under “Most referred”, select Hardest Hit Fund, Childcare and Heating / Utilities
Step 3: Click to add "Hardest Hit", "Children's Home + Aid", "Commonwealth Edison"
Step 4: View the Referral Summary

Try it out.

‍‍FinHelp 2.0 prototype

‍Product roadmap

Phase 1 Addressing usability fixes
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‍Both counselors and agents will benefit from usability fixes our team had addressed in the initial heuristics evaluation. Since counselors have been using the platform in its current state for many years and are averse to drastic changes. I recommend improving the usability of FinHelp’s current state to streamline navigation. Once those are addressed, I recommend incremental changes in response to counselor’s specific feature requests. Further surveying counselors will prioritize the features they need to accomplish their goals. While our research revealed specific feature requests, none seemed high priority or at the risk of losing renewals if not addressed.

‍Product roadmap

Phase 2 Category menu implementation
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Our solution tested well with bank agents. They especially liked the intuitive main and subcategory groupings and shortcuts we implemented providing them a low touch and fast solution for sending relevant referrals. Since new business development is SpringFive’s main objective, I recommend implementing our design solution immediately into a second platform– FinHelpPro–exclusively for bank agents, either after phase 1 or in parallel with it. However, since we had only tested with two bank agents, I recommend further testing to determine the optimal implementation of the category menu testing variations of the drawer design–one feature to explore would be an option to expand or collapse all drawers supporting different usage behaviors–allowing them the option to view all subcategories.
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It is critical for SpringFive to develop a product solution specifically for financial institutions and their agents to prevent risk of losing customers or potential customers from agents spending too much time with customers. We learned that banks make changes to their internal applications often about every 6 months and as part of their job responsibility, agents need to learn iterations to their work process quickly. When we tested our design solution with agents, they found it to be a drastic improvement from the current state, it speeds up the referral process, the design pattern is intuitive and they’re excited to see the redesign implemented as soon as possible. They wouldn't need to relearn anything because they said it works how they think it would work and the design pattern is straightforward, even saying its similar to their internal work applications, but easier. I would not recommend a radical change to the platform for legacy users, but in the use case for bank agents, I recommend SpringFive go forward with the redesign solution. Highlighting the goal-oriented impact of the main categories along with the speed and ease of use will help SpringFive get buy-in for renewals and attract new business.

‍Product roadmap

Phase 3 Power search with data algorithms and analytics
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While our product solution is an improvement from SpringFive’s current state helping users navigate through categories and resources quickly, I recommend testing the benefits of implementing data algorithms and analytics to power FinHelp’s search for more accurate results that can include qualifications that need to be met and guides on how to apply–their indirect competitors have been able to implement this while maintaining anonymous search and respecting its users data and privacy. This would ensure the delivery of relevant resource referrals without any qualification blockers, making the referrals more targeted and actionable. One of the agents we tested often avoided the referral process opting to send a direct link to resources for customers to search on their own. Our product solution still requires agents to make decisions about what their customers may or may not need.

Conversely, SpringFive competitors are able to forecast user’s needs based on demographics and other factors taking the guesswork out of the equation. I recommend further testing to determine whether agents would prefer this method by allowing analytics to compile the referral summary, taking decision-making out of the equation, but still offering the same level of customer experience excellence that benefits their customers, themselves and the organization’s bottom line.

‍Project reflection

SpringFive’s project was a unique challenge. With no direct competitors, they have users that rely on FinHelp, a tool they’re required to use to get their customers the help they need. Consumer-facing products have discerning users who can stop using their product and switch to competitors at any time, but FinHelp’s users are required to use it by their organizations. One bank agent had expressed his frustration at his internal work applications, how they’re slow and complicated and that sometimes he just wants to “throw his hands up and go home”. These users need tools that support their work process to do their job effectively, not more training or scripts. Our client had minimal access to their agent users prior to our project and was under the assumption that since they had heard little complaints that there was no need to make drastic changes. I learned that advocating for the user means digging deeper to get past complacency–that processes are a certain way because that’s just how things are–and advocating for change by listening to users and designing a solution that fits their needs. I believe there's always a way to make things better–if we continue empathizing with our users and exploring alternative routes around constraints to reach an optimal solution. My initial assumption that a gradual change to the product would suffice was wrong. After breaking down FinHelp's two vastly different user groups and considering the business implications, we discovered that branching off into two separate platforms was the optimal solution.

I believe in SpringFive. I want to see their product succeed and continue to develop new partnerships that can help all people facing financial challenges get the help they need. Our project with them lasted only three weeks. Although our team delivered an improved product solution and a working product road map for our client to implement over the next year, there is still opportunity for further iterations and testing. As a designer looking to make an impact, I am at a crossroads choosing the type of work I want to focus on–developing products solutions to handoff for the client to implement, or being the product owner and constant user advocate who can oversee the entire product lifecycle. I recognize both paths can make an impact, but on future projects, I would like to work on a product long enough to deliver an optimal final design solution that has been tested and crafted over many iterations.

Facing resistance from financial institutions.

Built for flexibility ‍The platform needs to adapt to all users and call scenarios and support all types of organization and usage behaviors.

All-in-one‍Every step from search to referrals needs to be in one location in order to expedite the referral process.

Streamlined‍Agents need to send resources quickly, so the design needs to be streamlined to facilitate seamless navigation.

This is an improvement from its current state.‍“I like this new one and look forward to using it. it’s going to make things a lot better."

Users like the all-in-one design.‍“I like how it all comes up on one screen instead of having to go through each screen individually. I like being able to choose all of them and they all come up on the screen.”

Users like the ability to check the referral summary against the category menu.‍“I like that I can see what I’m sending and what is still over there and see what are the options.”

The design pattern is familiar and intuitive.“It’s almost similar to our notation system. It is simpler. Easier. This one looks like it does what it’s supposed to.”

The category menu makes finding resources faster."I really like that because it [took] too long to go through all the services to find something pertinent. Before there was so much stuff that it was overwhelming.”

The "most referred" category is helpful.“I think they are very pertinent.”

Built for flexibility
‍The platform needs to adapt to all users and call scenarios and support all types of organization and usage behaviors.

All-in-one
‍Every step from search to referrals needs to be in one location in order to expedite the referral process.

Streamlined
‍Agents need to send resources quickly, so the design needs to be streamlined to facilitate seamless navigation.

This is an improvement from its current state.
‍
“I like this new one and look forward to using it. it’s going to make things a lot better."

Users like the all-in-one design.
‍
“I like how it all comes up on one screen instead of having to go through each screen individually. I like being able to choose all of them and they all come up on the screen.”

Users like the ability to check the referral summary against the category menu.
‍
“I like that I can see what I’m sending and what is still over there and see what are the options.”

The design pattern is familiar and intuitive.

“It’s almost similar to our notation system. It is simpler. Easier. This one looks like it does what it’s supposed to.”

The category menu makes finding resources faster.

"I really like that because it [took] too long to go through all the services to find something pertinent. Before there was so much stuff that it was overwhelming.”

The "most referred" category is helpful.

“I think they are very pertinent.”