Building an International Small Business Redesigned Application for User Efficiency
PROJECT
Mexico Platinum SBS (Small Business Supplemental) Card
MY ROLE
Senior Product Designer, Project Design Manager
STAKEHOLDERS (Project Team)
Partner Team (Mexico) | Project Manager | Product Manager | Development Engineers
The Product
The card application allows business owners (Company) to add and give supplemental cards to their employers (the Joint Obligor), Legal Representative, and Beneficial Owners (if applicable).
The Problem
Streamline customer-facing processes such as application forms and document upload.
Reduces steps to complete an application. The forms were long, laborious, and confusing for users. For consistency, this application design process would then be applied to other card work streams in Mexico for Small Business and Consumer.
To build a OneAmex Application integrated with GO2 Unify (customer service backend).
The above confusion was causing applications to be “pended” (i.e. not completed and going into pended limbo status). This increased calls to Customer Service using up resources and time, also a loss in successful credit card approvals, and a loss in revenue for American Express.
My Role | PI Planning
The previous designer was having some issues with the stakeholders, resulting in tensions. My manager assigned me to enter as the Senior Product Designer & Experience Manager and give guidance and reassurance to the line of business and partner team in Mexico that the project will be completed according to the requirements and on schedule. As the Senior Designer I led the design process with an Associate Designer - worked closely with the Project Manager, Product Owner, the Partner team in Mexico, Accessibility team, User Research, and development team.
Requirements
Remove 102 input fields, going from 361 inputs to 259. Increase the credit bureau inquiries for credit checks from one to two. Design for four (4) applicant sections: 1) the Company (owner); 2) Joint Obligor; 3) Legal Representative; Beneficial Owner(s). The user must upload a minimum of five (5) documents for verification. Two credit bureau inquires are made: one for the company holder and one for the legal representative.
SBS Company Application Fields
SBS Company Go2 Journey
Design / Solution Process
Wireframes built in Figma - detailing when certain dynamic fields will display and other notes for collaboration and the Market to consider. Hi-Fidelity mock displaying the entire application journey. Displaying Figma comments the project manager and I used comments regularly to iterate and align on requirements and edits.
Heuristic Review
Mural - is a web based collaboration and “white board” platform that supports team brainstorming, ideation, alignment, sharing mocks and more. Below are examples of using Mural for an internal heuristic review with a handful of team members including several Design Directors, Product Designers, UX Researchers, Product Partners and the Accessibility subject matter expert (SME).
Final Mocks
Mural - is a web based collaboration and “white board” platform that supports team brainstorming, ideation, alignment, sharing mocks and more. Below are examples of using Mural for an internal heuristic review with a handful of team members including several Design Directors, Product Designers, UX Researchers, Product Partners and the Accessibility subject matter expert (SME).
Some mocks display the comments in Figma, the project manager and I used comments regularly to iterate and align on requirements and edits.
My Analysis
This was a fun yet challenging project because Mexico (as any foreign market) has some very different cultural differences and user expectations. Along with the U.S. based Project Manager we had to provide guidance and best practices with internal and external research to back-up our guidance and suggestions. There were many-many design iterations, more than I could count, the design process took a handful of months until all stakeholders signed off. We did have a successful launch with Key Improvements listed below.
Key Improvements and Outcomes
Migrated acquisition volume across 20 Channels for Consumer and SBS (Small Business Supplementals)
Launched 14 card products including Co-Brands
Doc-upload Now Real-Time
Instant Reply of Canceled, Declined and Pended Applications Created.
Fraud Process via NAAT and Go2 Improved
Digital Centurion Capture Option Developed
New Integration between SBS Individual and One Force Established
Application Documents can be requested systematically as part of Go2 Ul Features
SBS Company, a New LOB was Developed and Built
DNB Bureau Integration and bureau calls for SBS
|| The below sent in a company wide email by the VP Product Development Market Foundation, Enterprise Acquisition Products & Platforms
Special Thanks: (A long list of non-design contributors, including:) UX/UI Designer: Travis Richardson