Travel Digest: Shareable Spend Recaps
A shareable visual recap of travel spending, designed to drive engagement and retention for Capital One card customers.
Result: Took the concept from discovery through definition to a pilot-ready prototype. When COVID-19 brought US travel to a standstill, we postponed the pilot, a deliberate decision since any data collected would have been inconclusive.
Problem: Customers rarely read their monthly statements, and existing statements and analytics tools ignore the experiential side of spending, the trips and memories behind the transactions. Money also remains a taboo topic. The question: could a visual, shareable summary of travel spending increase engagement and retention among upmarket card customers?
Role: Product design lead and Design/Creative Director for the entire Digest effort. I partnered with a Product Manager, Rocky, who led the business side; together we owned the project from concept to pilot, with support on research and final prototypes.
Approach:
Led design discovery and definition, reframing transaction data as a story of the customer's travels rather than a financial record.
Designed a visual digest of curated spend data, built to be shared instantly on social media.
Prototyped the experience and prepared it for an in-market pilot to measure engagement and retention.
Skills shown: Engagement and retention design, product discovery, data storytelling, 0→1 concept development.
Our goal was to give customers a way to see their spend data in a visually interesting format that they
Bank statements are boring. Nobody wants to read them. They suffer from low-engagement, low open rates, and are usually a reminder to the customer how much they spent, or owe. But banks are required by law to issue them.
Crowdsourcing ideas is good for flaring. I led cross-discipline design jams to collect as many ideas as possible, giving us a variety of potential "shareable moments” derived from transaction data.
Critical to my process is vetting ideas openly, which allows us to discuss what is possible. Like any good democracy, we voted on the concepts that resonate with us deeply. These would become the first test prompts.
We surveyed 200, interviewed 10 customers. Early stage prototyping moves us quickly to start conversations with customers. Working in low fidelity was the best way to get ideas in front of customers so we could determine appetite for summarized transaction data. The feedback was generally positive. However, concerns around privacy and trust arise when it comes to sharing personal finance information and social media. So we dig deeper.
We surveyed another 300, interviewed 4 more customers. Further research measures emotional engagement and willingness to share. Initial research suggested we focus on the travel vertical – something people are emotionally sentimental about – so we iterated on concepts to raise the fidelity of information as we learned more. While trust remains a big issue, surprisingly, people are still willing to share more than we expected! But there is a formula as to what they would share, and only through particular channels.
We Survey 100 (x3) trip summary content strategies. A successful trip summary combines moments to remember (emotional) with synthesized spend calculations (utilitarian). After several rounds of research a content strategy emerges: 1. surface aggregate spending insights that are otherwise cumbersome to calculate on their own 2. show spending in categories 3. cross reference their data with 3rd party or public data
Prototype: Get a message from Eno when you return home from a trip. When a customer swipes their card for the first time back in their home zip code, they receive a message from the Capital One AI bot, Eno, welcoming them to review their spending during travel.
Prototype: Imagine receiving an email from your bank welcoming you home from your trip. The cross-channel strategy leverages email, too, the same place customers expect to get their credit card statement. Customers will also receive an email notification at the next billing cycle, with a “shareable view” summarizing their spending highlights, while hiding the most personal information before they share.
Email prototypes: Year-end travel summary This concept dovetails seamlessly with the Venture Card Rewards program. At the end of the year, customers will receive a travel summary of all the trips they’ve taken and Venture rewards points earned.
Early prompts used for research
Early research results
Prototypes begin to flesh out.
Prototypes variations begin to flesh out.
Numerous options for prototypes help us gauge what resonates with customers. Visual design was helpful in retelling a travel story.