Product Design Challenge for Finance Brand

Product Design Challenge for Finance Brand

Client
Prudential
Role
Lead UX Designer
Industry
Finance
Year
2023

Prudential Enhances Online Financial Services with an In-House Design Challenge to Improve Guest Payment Experience

Client

Prudential is a financial company that offers insurance, retirement planning, and investment management services to both retail and institutional customers. The company aims to enhance the financial knowledge of its retail clients and increase brand awareness.

Problem

Prudential's absence of an online guest payment system and its outdated guest payment process present an opportunity for improvement. Prudential aims to address this by designing and developing a modern guest payment experience.

User & Audience

This product was aimed at customers who wish to make a payment for a Prudential customer, such as a family member or friend. Existing customers were a secondary priority.

Scope & Constraints

This project began as a voluntary design challenge initiated by Prudential leadership to create a guest payment experience. It was a 2-week challenge with no restrictions on design or development. We were tasked with designing and presenting the experience to leadership. The winning design would then be developed.

Role & Responsibilities

As the lead designer for this project, my responsibilities included guiding the design process, creating wireframes and prototypes, and presenting the experience. Our team consisted of eight members, including three designers (including myself), three developers, and two business analysts, who made managing the project much easier.

The Design Thinking approach Delivers Optimal Solutions Aligned with Prudential's Goals and User Needs

The design thinking process emphasizes finding solutions that are desirable, feasible, and viable—values aligned with what we believed would increase our chances of winning the design challenge, as they were key points sought by leadership. This methodology enabled our team to overcome time constraints and focus on addressing both Prudential's and its users' needs. We found that a single iteration of the design thinking approach could effectively lead to an optimal solution, with the potential for further development upon success.

Preliminary Research
Helps to Understand the Client and its Competitors' Guest Payment Solutions

Our preliminary research consisted of client research and competitive analysis. The competitive research aimed to uncover how Prudential's competitors address the challenge of guest payments, while the client research focused on understanding Prudential's current approach to handling guest payments. The goal was to gain insights that could inspire potential solutions.

Client
Competition
Summary

The client research involved a team discussion to gather information about Prudential's guest payment services. Fortunately, our business analyst was well-versed in the topic and provided the necessary information to outline Prudential's current guest payment experience.

The competitive research aimed to understand how competitors provide guest payment solutions to their users. We created an online whiteboard of screenshots showcasing competitors' guest payment services, noting key findings and insights.

Our research revealed that Prudential lacks an online option for guests to make payments and does not offer an unauthenticated experience for account holders to make payments. In contrast, almost all of Prudential's competitors provide a guest payment solution or a "make a payment" option for users who prefer not to log in. Additionally, these competitors typically display this service either on the login page or directly on the home page.

Client
Competition
Summary

The client research involved a team discussion to gather information about Prudential's guest payment services. Fortunately, our business analyst was well-versed in the topic and provided the necessary information to outline Prudential's current guest payment experience.

The competitive research aimed to understand how competitors provide guest payment solutions to their users. We created an online whiteboard of screenshots showcasing competitors' guest payment services, noting key findings and insights.

Our research revealed that Prudential lacks an online option for guests to make payments and does not offer an unauthenticated experience for account holders to make payments. In contrast, almost all of Prudential's competitors provide a guest payment solution or a "make a payment" option for users who prefer not to log in. Additionally, these competitors typically display this service either on the login page or directly on the home page.

Define Requirements
For Guest Payment Processing

Our research raised questions about the requirements for processing guest payments, as competitors used various methods to identify users and apply policies. To address this, our business analyst leveraged their internal network to uncover these requirements. At the same time, the rest of the team worked on streamlining the prototype for the presentation and defining the problem statement.

Business Requirements
Design & Development
Problem Statement

To ensure our solution was realistic, the analyst identified that a key requirement was matching users with their policy numbers, last name, and date of birth.

The team focused on developing a streamlined prototype, opting to use Prudential’s existing design system to facilitate both design and development.

To ensure a solution that met the user's needs a problem statement was created using the point of view framework.

Business Requirements
Design & Development
Problem Statement

To ensure our solution was realistic, the analyst identified that a key requirement was matching users with their policy numbers, last name, and date of birth.

The team focused on developing a streamlined prototype, opting to use Prudential’s existing design system to facilitate both design and development.

To ensure a solution that met the user's needs a problem statement was created using the point of view framework.

Brainstorming Exercises
Generate Creative Solutions for Guest Payments

The goal of our brainstorming activity was to generate numerous creative solutions for guest payments. We listed potential methods and features, including insights from our competitive analysis. After grouping ideas by relevance, we identified areas needing further exploration and brainstormed solutions within each group for better clarity.

Brainstorming
Affinitization
Solutions

The brainstorming exercise consisted of the team adding their ideas to an online whiteboard. We set a timer for 10 minutes to add any features or solutions we could think of.

The affinitization process followed, where we grouped similar ideas under overarching themes and labeled each group based on the ideas it contained.

Since our grouped ideas didn’t form fully developed solutions, we conducted a "how might we" exercise for each group, which led to several feasible solutions.

Brainstorming
Affinitization
Solutions

The brainstorming exercise consisted of the team adding their ideas to an online whiteboard. We set a timer for 10 minutes to add any features or solutions we could think of.

The affinitization process followed, where we grouped similar ideas under overarching themes and labeled each group based on the ideas it contained.

Since our grouped ideas didn’t form fully developed solutions, we conducted a "how might we" exercise for each group, which led to several feasible solutions.

Guest payment Challenge won by Leveraging Design Systems for Efficient Development

In the end, we successfully won the challenge and handed over the design to the development teams. Our choice to utilize Prudential's existing design systems was well-received by leadership, as it enabled immediate implementation. The design system greatly accelerated our process, allowing us to deliver multiple solutions efficiently. My appreciation for design systems has significantly grown through this projec

Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3

In reflecting on our process, it has become clear that we should have adhered more closely to the original prompt rather than engaging in prolonged debates over potential solutions. This indecision ultimately cost us valuable time, which could have been more effectively utilized in preparing our presentation. Moving forward, clarity and decisiveness will be prioritized to enhance overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Thanks for exploring my work!

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