Leading a respected digital bank to become one of the UK's highest-rated

With our help, the bank we worked with raised a team capable of scaling research and harnessing design thinking models to fuel digital solutions that work for every retail banking customer across personal banking. 

9 practitioners, in 10 business areas, completed 287 projects, conducting 1355 hours of research in the process, gaining insights from 11,744 customers in a qualitative setting.  

As integrated partners, we joined forces, forming a team of over 50 Designers, Researchers, Strategists and Project Managers. Together, we formalised the bank’s commitment to their customers, using strategic insight, as a north star, to:

• Raise internal understanding of the end user.
• Steer the immediate and future direction of experience design at the bank.
• Set the pace for financial change within banking.

Building a robust team requires a strong foundation. We embedded 10 of our own people into the bank’s personal banking team. This team of user research and strategy specialists led the insight operations, while supporting other agency partners and bank employees. Together, we comprised the core of the HCD CoE. 

Our driving force was always the voice of the customer, and using their insight to build better, more usable, experiences. Starting out small, initially with a team of 6, we gradually ramped up and shared our expertise, from design education across the bank to conversion rate optimisation in other digital streams.  

As such, the HCD CoE is now a fully-functioning and efficient team of multi-disciplinary practitioners whose working relationships and processes generate business value, and better outcomes for customers of the bank.

Our work within the HCD CoE can be felt across the bank’s digital ecosystem - here are a few standout examples of what we achieved together. 

Early on, our team worked on concept testing for the mobile app, which simplified the payment experience and increased the number of self-serve users. After speaking to customers, we optimised existing, and imagined all new, features and functionality. This improved the bank’s NPS, security and propelled them toward being greener and more sustainable.  

To move away from the traditional, antiquated card reader, and provide an alternative for impaired consumers, both permanently or situationally, our team within the HCD also explored voice authentication. We performed qualitative research, and a quantitative survey to understand how customers of the bank would use voice, and where in the financial ecosystem it would be most useful. This innovation went on to help new customers sign up, providing the option to do so by using voice. Our work helped increase the completion of this process by 300%. This innovation is now also being used to verify user identities when opening the bank’s mobile app.

Most recently, we reviewed the banks digital debt management pathways to relieve pressure on call centres and provide an important alternative for customers in arrears and wanting specialist support during the pandemic. 80% of research participants struggled to complete the existing journey without intervention - we helped craft alternative solutions. These findings combined with our usability and strategic recommendations improved the service which is now clearer and easier to navigate.

An award-winning design function 

We used our deep understanding of customer insight and bank strategy to educate the bank, rolling out an extensive and bespoke educational coaching and training to develop key competencies internally and support the agreed transition. In total, we trained 40 Journey Developers and improved knowledge and understanding of design thinking by up to 60% within personal banking teams. 

The bank is now self-sufficient and we’re beginning to withdraw our team having done what we set out to achieve; to develop a self-sustaining in-house design and research capability who put the bank’s customer first in the design of leading financial products and services.