NatWest

The challenge:

Fostering the expansion of independent businesses is a valuable opportunity for the bank to attract new clients and cultivate rewarding relationships. However, it's clear that previous solutions have fallen short in addressing the diverse needs of small and medium-sized companies.

The process:

Discovery workshop
Competitors analysis
Survey design and recruitment
Survey insights and co-design
New service proposal and wireframes

WHAT I LEARNED

I've come to appreciate the significance of infusing digital products with an element of excitement to garner buy-in from clients. I tend to gravitate toward research and prioritise user needs—During this project I've recognised the value in flexing my creative muscles when necessary.

WHAT I LEARNED

TEAM & ROLE

I worked as a lead in team with a Project Manager

WHAT I DID

Creation of the project roadmap and execution of all its steps

WHAT I DID

I led research and analysis, presentation and outcome, managed project deadlines and provided mentorship for team members

WHAT I DELIVERED

Workshops, Questionnaire, Competitors review, Candidates recruitment criteria, Insights, Wireframes.

WHAT I DELIVERED

Alignment workshop, Ethnographic research findings, User testing findings, mapping of the current experience and pain points, design principle and roadmap

PROJECT OUTCOME

Several interactive boards, a comprensive report of all the phases of the project and wireframes of the new service proposal

Discovery workshop

The NatWest "Access to Expertise" website aims to connect business owners with mentors. After launching the beta version, I conducted a thorough review of analytics and an independent usability test. This revealed two key issues: users faced choice paralysis due to numerous obscure options, and they often selected a generic route labeled "General Business Support," indicating difficulty in finding specific services.

To address these issues, I organized a discovery workshop where I presented my findings and proposed two strategies. The first involved fixing usability issues and adding advanced filters to the existing beta. The second strategy focused on gathering quantitative data to generate new ideas and improve the service.

Both NatWest and I preferred the second option because no generative research had been conducted before the launch, presenting an opportunity for innovative improvements to the "Access to Expertise" service.

Competitors analysis

For this project, I utilized competitor analysis to inspire the design. Following the brief, my focus was primarily on exploring top-tier categorization and filtering experiences, particularly regarding how mentors are matched with users and how the expertise levels of mentors are displayed.

To accomplish this, I examined over 10 competitors across various payment models (paid, free, subscription) and documented their user journeys. This served as inspiration for my design approach. I categorised the competitors into the following groups:

1-Time and location-specific services

2-Services centered around the prestige of well-known mentor figures

3-Subject-specific services

4-Gamified experiences

The analysis findings were presented using FigJam.

Co-design workshop and final wireframes

I shared all the key findings with NatWest stakeholders during a collaborative design session. This session involved bringing together internal members of the product team to collaborate and brainstorm solutions collectively. This approach was chosen because the client expressed a desire to be directly involved and preferred a collaborative approach toward finalising the wireframes.

Workshop activities: Squiggle birds (icebreaker) and Crazy8

Via NatWest co-design session & internal ideation, we created two routes to explore solutions to design challenges.

Route A: "Hero mentors"

•Hero mentors as iconic figureheads & gatekeepers to content, services, & community

•Each hero mentor has a specialised subject area supporting the needs of key business stages

Route B: "Quiz + Circles"

•A quiz aims to data capture more engaging & rewarding, building a profile for the user

•Via this, the user accesses a “Circle”- a community of similar businesses who can share relevant advice, plus associated mentors

•The user can track their progress, & subsequently move between circles

Survey design and recruitment

I designed a survey of 26 closed questions + 2 open questions.

My research objectives were:

1-Understanding users mental models and expectations for this service (both for experienced and first timers)

2-Understanding users preferences in categories/filters in relation to their persona type and demographic, type of business, present challenges (ie brexit, energy cost), business location

3-Discovering what expert users have tried in the past and liked/disliked

My recruitment criteria:

•300 UK business owners

A split demographic of women and men with inclusion in mind (ethnic minorities and sexual orientation)

•Small to medium business

A split blend of 3 categories defined by annual turnover: Less than £250k, £250k-£750k and £750-£2m

The most important finding was that Higher (£750k-£2m) and lower (<£250k) turnover businesses have substantially different expectations in terms of topics, length of engagement, and type of engagement when it comes to support. Because of this the users needed to immediately be identified and directed towards a tailored experience for their group. From the survey I was also able to define what this experience should look like.

Survey design and recruitment

I designed a survey of 26 closed questions + 2 open questions.

My research objectives were:

1-Understanding users mental models and expectations for this service (both for experienced and first timers)

2-Understanding users preferences in categories/filters in relation to their persona type and demographic, type of business, present challenges (ie brexit, energy cost), business location

3-Discovering what expert users have tried in the past and liked/disliked

My recruitment criteria:

•300 UK business owners

A split demographic of women and men with inclusion in mind (ethnic minorities and sexual orientation)

•Small to medium business

A split blend of 3 categories defined by annual turnover: Less than £250k, £250k-£750k and £750-£2m

Survey design and recruitment

I designed a survey of 26 closed questions + 2 open questions.

My research objectives were:

1-Understanding users mental models and expectations for this service (both for experienced and first timers)

2-Understanding users preferences in categories/filters in relation to their persona type and demographic, type of business, present challenges (ie brexit, energy cost), business location

3-Discovering what expert users have tried in the past and liked/disliked

My recruitment criteria:

•300 UK business owners

A split demographic of women and men with inclusion in mind (ethnic minorities and sexual orientation)

•Small to medium business

A split blend of 3 categories defined by annual turnover: Less than £250k, £250k-£750k and £750-£2m

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