“How can I log into a loan app through Facebook? My friends will know I applied for a loan.”
Namrata Dhanak - July 2017
“I needed money in 24 hours for a medical emergency.” “I can give them access to my bank account if I can get a quicker loan. But is there a safer option?” “I trust X Bank. They would have fair clauses for repayment.” “I love this app. Wait, 12%!! That’s too high, Y Bank offers a loan @ 10.99%”
The coolest user experience can fail if a loan is priced slightly higher than competition. Or if we become over ambitious and ask for online access to their bank account details, which they may perceive as intrusive or unsafe.
We may take such user insights either as guiding principles or as stumbling blocks that need to be crossed for innovation.
We have seen great ideas being polished down to ordinary, run-of-the mill products for lack of a definitive strategy. A well-defined strategy starts by identifying objectives and helps understand gaps in order to create probable solutions.
What matters to the user more – legacy of a strong brand or money in his account within 24 hours? To begin with, who is the targeted user? Is it the young professional who has saved his credit card details on a bunch of shopping apps or the careful planner with a fixed monthly budget? Correct customer segmentation and prioritization are an important step towards creating a good strategy.
Even before we identify the user’s needs and likes, it is important to define the business goals. If the single point business objective is to create a path breaking loan platform that disburses the loan within 12 hours, then this should form the root of our design strategy.
This may require our user to share sensitive information online and it could be a potential for drop-offs. Displaying statistics of other users who have opted to share similar information may help. One may also use the Goldilocks principle and offer a reduced rate in return for online submission.
Whatever be the technique, it is important not to lose sight of our primary objectives. The importance of referring back to the design strategy at every step cannot be stressed enough. Here’s to creating great products that start with a vision and evolve into success stories!
