Standard Bank Vehicle Asset Finance (VAF) Application Flow Redesign: A UX Case Study
Introduction
The Vehicle Asset Finance (VAF) application flow at Standard Bank needed a redesign to address high abandonment rates, a complicated user journey, increase share of wallet and attract new customers. The project aimed to simplify the application process, improve user engagement, and deliver a user-friendly experience aligned with the bank's brand standards.
As one of two UX designers on the project, my responsibilities included UX design, UX research, and prototyping. The project timeline was 6 weeks, with a focus on delivering a streamlined experience within this tight schedule.
Problem Statement
The initial challenges with the VAF journey included:
High Drop-Off Rates: Users were abandoning the application due to a confusing and complex process.
Complicated Navigation: The application flow was not intuitive, with users struggling to understand the steps.
Competitor Pressure: Standard Bank’s competitors offered more user-centric experiences, putting the bank at a disadvantage.
Our goal was to redesign the application flow to simplify the journey, enhance user experience, and reduce friction while maintaining alignment with Standard Bank's component library and branding.
Discovery Phase: Understanding the Market and Users
Competitor Analysis
To understand industry best practices, we conducted a UX competitor analysis focused on vehicle and asset financing. This analysis revealed how competitors tackled common design challenges and provided insights into areas where Standard Bank could improve.
Key insights included:
Decision-Making Tools: Competitors provided affordability and comparison tools to help users make informed choices.
Educational Content: Competitors included clear educational content to guide users through the financing process.
Managing User Expectations: Communicating the steps involved in the application process helped reduce user anxiety.
Progress Indicators: Visual indicators helped users track their progress, reducing confusion and abandonment.
Stakeholder Interviews
We conducted interviews with key business stakeholders to ensure that the design aligned with both user needs and business objectives. Stakeholders wanted:
Higher application completion rates.
A simplified, more intuitive process.
A seamless integration with Standard Bank’s brand and component library.
These discussions provided a clear roadmap for the redesign, ensuring that we balanced user needs with the business goals.
Research and Insights: Identifying Key Pain Points
UX Audit / Expert Review
We conducted a UX audit / expert review of the existing VAF application flow to identify potential issues that might hinder the user experience. By comparing the interface against usability heuristics, we predicted areas where users would encounter difficulties.
Key findings:
Unclear Information Hierarchy: Users struggled to distinguish between important and secondary tasks.
Complex Navigation: The flow was cumbersome, with no clear guidance for users on their next steps.
Lack of Progress Indicators: Users were unsure where they were in the application journey, increasing frustration.
The audit provided quick, cost-effective feedback that allowed us to address these issues early in the design process.
Ideation: Tailoring the Experience for Diverse Users
Experience Profile Framework
We created an Experience Profile Framework to target different types of users based on their digital experience and bank account knowledge. This framework helped ensure that our design catered to a range of user profiles.
The framework included:
High Lending Knowledge & High Digital Experience
High Lending Knowledge & Low Digital Experience
Low Lending Knowledge & High Digital Experience
Low Lending Knowledge & Low Digital Experience
This allowed us to design for both digitally savvy users and those who might need more guidance, ensuring a tailored experience for everyone.
User Personas, Scenarios and Task Flows
We developed personas and scenarios to help ideate, iterate, and test our solutions. By incorporating user motives, barriers, and desires, we designed the application journey with real-world user behavior in mind.
These personas helped guide our design process and informed our usability testing, ensuring that the final product addressed the key challenges faced by each user type.
Design and Prototyping: Bringing the Vision to Life
Sketches and Wireframes
We began by creating rough sketches for the structural page layouts and the overall application journey. Since we were restricted to using the Standard Bank component library, the sketches helped us explore design possibilities while maintaining consistency with the bank’s brand.
The sketches were then translated into low-fidelity wireframes, focusing on:
Simplified navigation to reduce user friction.
Clear information hierarchy to help users focus on key tasks.
Integration of decision-making tools like affordability calculators.
Usability Testing and A/B Testing
Usability Testing
We conducted multiple rounds of usability testing to validate our design decisions. The insights gathered during these tests helped us make key improvements, including:
Providing more relevant content tailored to user needs.
Enhancing the presentation of information to make it more digestible.
Implementing pre-populated information and progressive disclosure to simplify the form-filling process.
These insights informed several iterations of the wireframes, ensuring the design was aligned with user expectations.
A/B Testing
Once the wireframes were refined, the business decided to run an A/B test. The new application flow was tested with 20% of the market over two weeks. The test results were positive, and based on the performance, the redesigned journey fully replaced the old version a few weeks later.
Final Solution: A User-Centric Application Flow
The final solution was a streamlined, intuitive application flow that catered to diverse user needs. Key features included:
Simplified Navigation: Clear, step-by-step progression helped reduce confusion and improve completion rates.
Improved Content Presentation: Relevant information was presented at the right moment, making the journey more straightforward.
Decision-Making Tools: Users had access to affordability calculators and comparison tools, empowering them to make informed decisions.
Progress Indicators: A visual progress bar allowed users to track their journey, reducing drop-offs.
By adhering to the Standard Bank component library, the redesign maintained brand consistency while significantly enhancing the user experience.
Outcome and Lessons Learned
The VAF application redesign successfully improved the user journey, resulting in higher completion rates and a smoother application process. The combination of user research, competitive analysis, usability testing, and A/B testing ensured a comprehensive, user-centric solution.
Key Takeaways:
Iterate Early and Often: Early usability testing helped identify key pain points, allowing us to make informed design decisions.
User-Centered Design is Essential: Catering to diverse user profiles ensured the solution was accessible and intuitive for all users.
Collaboration Ensured Success: Regular stakeholder check-ins helped align business goals with the needs of users.
The project is ongoing, but the initial results show that we are well on our way to delivering a superior user experience for Standard Bank’s Vehicle Asset Finance customers.