Redesigning a credit card company’s Price Rewind experience with co-creation and storyboards.
Overview
Company X is a global leader in banking, credit cards, and wealth management, with over than 110 million clients in 19 countries.
In 2016, Company X partnered with WAE to evaluate its credit card Price Rewind benefit, which allowed credit card customers to receive a refund if an item they purchased had its price reduced within 60 days.
My Role
Design Strategist & Researcher
As a Product and UX strategist at We are Experience (WAE), I led many design research projects for Company X to understand its core customers and explore opportunities to improve the user credit card journey and associated offerings.
With Company X ready to incorporate the (1) Easy Receipts and (2) No-claim Submission features into the Price Rewind user flow, my team was asked to use participatory research to uncover insights that would help with execution.
I managed the research process by choosing the research methodology, translating objectives into workshop activities, drafting the screener and discussion guide, creating the storyboards, facilitating the workshop, and synthesizing and communicating insights. I also managed logistics such as recruitment and the research dry run.
The data and insights uncovered through the research were developed into a findings report including wireframes.
Duration: 6 weeks
Objectives
Our objective was to get specific and actionable insights into what would make the (1) Easy Receipts and (2) No-claim Submissions concepts delightful for customers and increase product registration and complete refund rates. Both features targeted customers’ desire to reduce or avoid onerous paperwork and receive faster refunds.
We chose a co-creation format, with 2 groups of Price Rewind customers. Each group had varying levels of familiarity with the benefit.
Designing the Co-creation Workshop
The structure for these sessions focused on a combination of research methods to spark creativity and design thinking among participants. Each group workshop was divided into two parts: (1) Understanding the Current Mindset and (2) Concept Development through Co-Design, which included identifying opportunities and creating the future experience. Initial user flows were developed by Company X and my team turned the prototypes into less refined products to encourage customer input and collaboration in order to improve the final experience.
Understanding the Current Mindset
Building Rapport
A quick ice-breaker that transitioned into co-creation topic was used to build rapport among participants. They were asked to pick up cards showing “fill-in the blank” statements and to complete the sentence. They were asked to share past experiences and behaviors off-the-bat, such as if seeing an item on sale soon after purchase, or deciding to delay a purchase to find lower a price.
“I like___ , I wish ___”
To lead discussions about current attitudes toward Price Rewind, participants were asked to complete “I like, I wish” statements so that we could discuss and understand how they felt about the current program and why. This also introduced them to the idea of design-thinking and co-design.
Rethinking the Program Role Play
We then asked the participants to “role play” as product managers, researchers, and designers for Price Rewind — How would they begin thinking about building a product? We asked them to bring experiences in their lives into the conversation, such as thinking about great shopping experiences/apps/services that they used.
Concept Development through Co-design
Storyboard Brainstorm
We divided each workshop into 2 groups of 3. Each group received a storyboard that explained the high-level idea of the Easy Receipts or No-claims features. Existing Company X materials were used to create the storyboards. We chose not to use the prototypes to encourage participant input and critique.
Pluses and Deltas
Following the initial Storyboard Brainstorm we asked participants to identify strengths and weaknesses for each of their ideas.
Round Robin
We then asked each group to evaluate the other group’s solution and advise why the solutions could fail. They were also asked to provide additional suggestions or ask questions. Group were asked to refine their solutions based on feedback.
Insights Uncovered
“Checkmarks would appear to make you choose which items to price search. Because maybe you don’t want to check for a pair of socks - it would be more for a washing machine or a TV. Maybe you can even The system searches for the item and set up a screener for what’s auto-populated and what’s not.”
— Kelly, Price Rewind frequent user
“By the time you get the reminder email from Citi Price Rewind saying ‘Oh, you bought things at Target’, you wonder if it’s at home, at the office, or down there in Florida… So if I receive a reminder I should receive it at the point of purchase, like an email, or text, telling me to take a picture of the receipt now.”
— Janis, new to Price Rewind
“Have you heard of Tripit? You take your travel confirmations and you forward it to an email address, then it compiles it all together. Everything that you send from different places will be combined in the same app.”
— Brad, new to Price Rewind
“I would be even more motivated to use my card if the process was automatic and Citi was keeping track of my purchases for me; they’d send me ‘You purchased 15 items in the last week, here are the ones that are eligible for CPR, we’re looking for better price for you.’”
— Craig, new to Price Rewind
“After you submit the items, it would bring you to a confirmation page. But it could also bring you to some sort of confirmation page with all the items you purchased that are pending; also the previous transactions, how many days remaining of the 60 days while it’s looking for stuff. More of the interactive thing. Maybe also you can the the status throughout the year, to see show the value of the program. For example, “This year, you have saved $200 in total throughout the year.”
— Alan, Price Rewind frequent user
Results
Findings Report
Using the insights collected from the Co-creation workshop, my team translated considerations and potential solutions at each step of the user flow. We were also able to group different needs and expectations of customers based on how frequently they used Price Rewind.
Wireframes
My team created a set of mobile wireframes using Sketch for both the Easy Receipts and No-claims Submission features as a part of the findings report. Each step of the user flow included potential solutions and considerations from the findings report.