Design principles for delivering a better customer experience

Our research indicates that businesses spend an exorbitant amount of time on managing their money and want to spend more time on other core business functions. Business owners find existing tools or processes cumbersome and outdated which adds to this burden. We want to design our experience to be absolutely simple and pain-free. To do this, we have established some design principles we want to share with you below.‍

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1. Provide visibility

Our customers will always be informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback at the point in time that it matters.  If our customers are confused about what is happening, what timeline things will take, or what is required to complete an action, then we have failed. When browsing the site or using the mobile app we will always be transparent on progress through the utilisation of loading spinners, transitions and clear, concise messages.‍

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2. Customer control and freedom

We want to make it easy for customers to avoid mistakes with the use of clear calls to action and strong input controls.  We know customers become impatient when they are unable to complete a process and it is unclear why.  This is one sure fire way to introduce annoyance and frustration.  We will ask the question at every point of our design stage  – ‘What will happen when a customer does this or enters that?’.  From here you can implement steps in our copy, flow and design to avoid silly issues.‍

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3. Speak the customer’s language

We want to speak our customers' language, with words, phrases and a tone of voice familiar to our business owners.  Our customers will not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing as we will use terms consistently across any channel. We know you don’t have time to work out want a very ‘banky’ term means. You just want things written in a way that makes sense. ‍

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4. Recognition rather than recall

Our customers should not have to remember information. We should already know it. We will use all the data we have to personalise and streamline the customer experience. If we need to collect data to avoid a customer from re-entering it multiple times in the future, then we will do it. We know that customers hate having to enter data that they have already provided, or expect you to know. It not only creates rework but emphasises how disconnected the bank is from their needs. ‍

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5. Flexibility and efficiency of use

We want to move away from a one size fits all experience that banks offer today. Customers will be allowed to personalise and tailor the experience to their preferences.  This becomes especially important as we launch more features in the future. We know, it is going to get increasingly hard to fit all those nifty features into one small mobile screen. To work around these challenges we want to let our customers decide.‍

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6. Aesthetic and minimalist design

Our user interface will be pleasing on the eye but not include any gimmicky add-ons.  We won’t indulge ourselves for the sake of customer experience. Our product will look crisp, clean and with a focus on helping our businesses thrive!