THE TEAM

One Lead UX Designer (Me), one Operations Manager, two Junior Product Designers, and three UX Researchers, and two Product Owners (one which I had to replace for a long stretch of the project), and three full-stack tech teams.

 

THE CHALLENGE: DRIVE TASK COMPLETION

Let’s pretend you’re a new customer—you’ve just been approved for the credit card of your dreams, but it’s accompanied by a daunting checklist: Who else do you want to make a cardholder? How do you feel about paperless billing? When is my card arriving?

How can strategic design influence you to complete these tasks without falling off?

Stakeholders asked our team to envision a new flow for post-application enrollment that would guide and onboard customers while impacting a wide spectrum of cardholder metrics: reducing agent phone calls by 5+ million annually; increasing NPS values; and improving conversion rates for payments, mobile app downloads, authorized users, and paperless billing.

From a UX perspective, this meant shaping each page and individual component to trigger the right conversation at the right time for each customer all while creating similar, within the multiple unique experiences dedicated specifically to responsive web, iOS native app, and Android native app.

 
 

THE APPROACH: REDEFINING NEEDS

Before kicking off design, we interviewed product owners and analyzed available data to define customer needs and known behaviors—then initiated weeklong design sprints targeting each insight.

With a basic structure in place, we then cycled through continues revolutions of design strategy as a unit: measuring and adapting the user experience through in-house usability testing.

As a final step, we liaised with various technical teams on a regular cadence to guide implementation and provide quality assurance—ensuring stakeholder approval at each stage.

 

THE INSIGHT: WHAT CUSTOMERS WANT

These original demands came too early in the customer experience—when customers are particularly sensitive to hidden inconveniences and impersonal interactions that rob or deflate the user experience.

Why were we bothering customers to set up payment methods immediately when they hadn’t spent anything yet or, even, held their physical card?

Today’s digital customers expect fluid and uninterrupted experiences. If you can join HBO Go and instantly begin streaming Game of Thrones, why can’t you spend your own money immediately after being approved for a new card? If not the ability to spend on the card, why not the ability to track the card?

 
 

THE ACTION: WISH FULFILLMENT

After heavy research and design, we centered the customer experience around choice and convenience. Really, it was a simple matter of asking the right questions, questioning our assumptions, and staying sensitive to customer needs and timelines.

We stopped masquerading tasks as mandatory and removed the sense of false urgency—giving costumers the freedom to enjoy their new card and perform housekeeping tasks as they developed in the real world.

 
“It’s clear, to the point, and sets us up nicely to hit the ground running. For this type of task, I will give you 10 minutes of my time, not one second more. I like what you have here because I feel that you set me up for success all within that 10 minutes.”
— Customer
 

THE RESULT: GETTING TASKS DONE

This new experience brought a variety of benefits to both the customer and Capital One. There is a projected 18 million dollars  combined cost savings for Capital One pulled from call centers and reduced paper statements being delivered based on the combined updates between new web New Account Setup and Enrollment. Findings from the new Mobile Account Set-up show a 60% increase in Paperless adoption for mobile active customers in the pilot group who skipped Paperless set-up at Digital Enrollment - estimated in $1.3M annual Paperless savings. Additionally, the introduction of the Card Tracker within the mobile apps drove mobile activation for customers up 40%. New features like these helped lead the way for Capital One to receive the 2017 and 2018 JD Power Award for Mobile Satisfaction for Financial Institutions.

To comply with non-disclosure agreements and client confidentiality, some information in these case studies are modified or omitted.

“Tommy and I have worked very closely over the past 6 months on bringing Single Page approval designs to life, including working with Legal, Engineering, Web Accessibility. Tommy has been a great partner in working with engineering and providing feedback. He was really open to design suggestions from engineering and even incorporated them (ex: username guidelines). In addition to Single Page, we’ve worked on content updates, research and design sprints. Throughout, Tommy has displayed a keen understanding of business needs, technical constraints and combined with exceptional design process. I really appreciate his ability to tune his work to meet needs of both the consumers and business goals.”
— Soumya K, Product Manager
“Tommy has been crucial towards the Onboarding efforts. He has consistently taken both lead and initiative to ensure continuous progress and development is made. He has worked closely with our development team and product partners on both tactile and strategic objectives. One attribute that makes Tommy so valuable to the team is his ability to make and maintain connections across both LOBs and departments. He then is able to leverage these relationships for purposes of collaboration and increasing the influence of our design/product team. He utilizes findings, insights, and internal knowledge to aggressively defend our objectives but is always willing to have a conversation to be convinced otherwise if appropriate reasons are brought to his attention. Simply put, if there is something that needs to be done, Tommy has gotten it done.”
— Kwasi T, Design Strategist
“As a product owner, we typically work with some assumptions and parameters that push towards a goal given the constraints. Tommy was laser focused on not only the designs, but on providing an experience that delighted the user. This meant that he would need to challenge some of the notions of given assumptions. He pushed me to validate core assumptions and pushed the envelope to deliver what mattered most. In doing so, he and I were able to create an amazing experience for the customers.

The process of iron-sharpening iron with product, design, and tech by pushing and collaborating was great. As tech or product would review designs and identify feasibility issues, Tommy would move with great speed and accuracy to get us to the next iteration. I have worked with at least 18 or so designers at Capital one; only one moved with the vision, speed, accuracy, and proactive follow-up that I enjoyed while working with Tommy. If I needed a product delivered to save my career or the company, I would select Tommy.

The collaboration was impressive but the results are even better. The work for account setup has driven significant improvement in payment accounts and paperless rates, while the changes introduced by the card delivery tracker have driven a 20% increase in early app activity and a 40% increase in card activation rates. These improvements were so impressive the results were brought to upper management.”
— Don W, Mobile Product Owner