Travel Digest Pilot
Synopsis
Developing a product pilot that will increase engagement and retention with travel card users
Problem
Credit Card statements and analytics tools fail to address the experiential part of spending money, and finance is still considered a taboo subject.
Role
I led the design discovery, definition and prototyping for this visual summary of curated transaction data, packaged in a way that encourages customers to share it to their social media networks.
Goal
Our customers never read their monthly statements, so the goal was to give customers a way to see their spend data in a visually interesting format that they can instantly share. Is this a viable way to increase engagement, retention for upmarket customers?
I was product Design lead and Creative director over the entire Digest effort, and co-pilot to my Product Manager who led the business side. We share credit for concept to pilot phase of this project, with some help with research and final prototypes.
Alas our efforts were thwarted by Covid 19 and travel in the US came to a virtual standstill. It was the right call to postpone the pilot, any data collected would have been inconclusive.
Nevertheless, this is a fascinating attempt to find more elegant ways to humanize banking with design.
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.