UX Design Playbook and strategy, Designing For Trust
BECU Project Overview
Widely publicised security breaches, ‘fake news’ and growing awareness of the collection and misuse of personal data have inspired a collective unease about the risks of using digital products, the internet and IOT.
This project began with researching opportunities for increasing BECU members use of BECU digital banking apps—and ultimately answers the question, “How might we increase end-user trust and adoption of digital banking tools?”
Role
User Experience Design Lead, User Researcher Lead
Client
BECU (Boeing Employee Credit Union)
Outcomes
• A digital engagement strategy that centers on increasing end-user trust.
• UX playbook ‘Designing for Trust’.
Problem Space
Credit union members wait in line at the BECU Neighborhood Financial Centers (NFC) to conduct banking transactions that can easily be completed online using the BECU mobile app or website. BECU stakeholders wonder why (?)—and sought my help to gain a deeper understanding of this customer group and to uncover explore opportunities for increasing digital engagement with these members.
Challenge
How might we support credit union members to adopt using the BECU mobile app or website for completing common banking transactions, instead of traveling to neighborhood branch locations?
Process
Problem Definition
We begin by processing insights from start-up interviews with BECU stakeholders with the goal of defining research questions.
We dig into:
Looking at all touch points available to customers for completing transactions
Nature of human interactions within the Neighborhood Financial Center space.
Customers bigger world context for visits to the NFC
Where do BECU business goals and customer goals overlap
Research Questions
Who are the people that go into the NFC to complete banking transactions—and why?
What do these customers need and desire from a banking experience?
Are there qualities about the physical banking space that can be emulated in the digital banking space?
Research Plan
I combined complementary research methods to surface barriers and opportunities for increasing digital engagement.
Research Findings
SME Interviews Reveal BECU Pain Points
I sought the differing perspectives of BECU corporate leadership and a frontline banker to learn about the challenges and goals that inform BECU digital engagement strategy.
Pain Points
“There are people who won't even try using the app, so they have no idea how easy it is to deposit a check from home.”
—BECU Digital Channel Manager“Some members are very security conscious and need to see that the thing they want to accomplish, really happened.”
—NFC Branch Manager
Member Survey Yields Unexpected Finding
Seeking a quick snapshot of banking attitudes and habits I ask members to complete a survey:
79% of people who took the survey have used BECU digital banking tools
There is a clear gap in digital adoption between the mobile and web tool, with more members preferring the website
Key Finding
Stakeholders were surprised to learn that digital adoption is high among visitors to BECU neighborhood financial centers.
Key Finding
”I don’t trust digital banking!”
— Some BECU members, referring to digital banking tools
1:1 Interviews with Members Surface TRUST
When asked about using BECU’s mobile app or website some participants were quick to respond, ”I don’t trust them!”
It puzzles me that the people expressing “I don’t trust” appear to have little else in common
Impromptu Focus Group Reveals Key Insight About Non-digital Customers
During a lull in visitor traffic I gathered together five customer service bankers and asked them to describe their non-digital customers.
Bankers describe, “It’s more about HOW these customers are, than who they are”
Key Finding
Non-digital customers don’t share demographic traits, rather, they share the same fears and concerns about online banking.
Emerging Themes
Uncovering An Opportunity
Finding a connection between feelings of trust, tolerance for risk and digital adoption uncovers an opportunity for increasing digital engagement with the 'risk averse' customer, by focusing on increasing their feelings of trust.
I wonder, is it possible to design ‘trust’ into the user experience?
Initial Research Triggers Digging Deeper Into Trust
Intercept Interviews
Seeking to validate insights from initial research with members, I want to hear from more people about their disposition toward risk and digital money transactions. Two ‘types’ emerged from my semi-structured interviews with 15 people in the wild.
Worried Type (N4)
Uncomfortable when they cannot be certain of outcomes
Want everything to be perfectly clear before starting
Focused on possible consequences over possible benefits
Feelings of concern may lessen when offered something they really need
Trusting Type (N11)
Despite knowing the risks, embrace digital banking
Stays focused on the benefits to them
Believe it's unlikely something will go wrong
Trusts if something goes wrong their bank will fix it, there will be no lasting harm to them
Literature Review — Trust is the new frontier for UX designers
“TRUST is the new frontier for UX Design”
—Bhaskar Chakravorti (2018)
Key Insights
End user TRUST is a priority concern for business, technology and governments—now and for the future
Every human being (!) relies on feelings of TRUST when engaging with connected technology
UX Design impacts peoples feelings of TRUST toward technology
Aha! Moment
UX Designers are powerfully positioned to impact peoples feelings of trust and positively influence acceptance of digital tools and IOT.
Hold On!
When I interview professional UXD to find out how they are using their super-powers for increasing end user trust, I learn:
In day-to-day work environ’s, ‘trust’ as a goal is not on the UX designer’s radar
Increasing user trust through design seems an overwhelming and difficult goal—because feelings of trust are individualistic and impossible to see
The Big Idea!
Through my interviews with UX teams I validate a need for a tool to help UX designers get their arms around designing for increasing end user trust.
How might I support UX teams to integrate ‘trust’ into their practice as an actionable design goal and positively influence technology adoption?
Establish Design Principles
Deck of Cards Format
I decide on a card format for transferring knowledge to UX teams, because design cards are trending and popular with my intended user group.
A Competitor Analysis
Conducting a comparative analysis I suss out the do’s and don’ts.
The tool should not require effort or time to figure-out how to use it
Scope objectives to minimize confusion about the purpose of the tool
Easy to grasp taxonomy that makes obvious how the content is useful
Include only essential, high value content to reduce cognitive load
Apply Gestalt design principles to make content easily consumable
Design Research
Seeking quick feedback I engage eight designers to interact with low fidelity iterations of ‘designing for trust’ cards.
Low Fidelity Testing Resulted In Clear Design Requirements
Testing surfaced specific features and functionality my users need and desire from a design tool for it to be useful:
Show "trust busters" and "trust builders" on the same plane without overwhelming the user
Employ a device to link correlating cards (content areas) in a meaningful way
Must have functionality to expand to reveal more information and visual examples desired by users
Low Cognitive Burden
User Feedback: Friction with Card Format
Thumbs-up: Participants express they would value and use a design tool for learning about end user trust in UX.
Friction: Users want more details of information and, to have the tool include visual examples—content that won’t fit into a card format.
Friction: Participants struggled with making the connection between a trust busting UX event and correlating trust building UX solution.
PIVOT!
Friction with the card concept propels me to look for an alternative design format that will make it easier for UX designers to connect trust busting events with the correlating trust building solutions.
Looking For Design Inspiration
With the pivot I do a quick search for formats that will support my newly defined requirements. I love:
A Game of Thrones Online data visualization that connects content areas the way I’d like to achieve.
Googles UX Playbook makes simple work of sharing examples to instruct designers—exactly what my target users want.
Content Strategy
Because content informs design, I need to develop a content strategy before beginning design.
Process
CODE: I code and categorize the data I’ve collected from research into two primary buckets: Trust Busters, Trust Builders.
LABEL: I assign each incident in the buckets a user friendly descriptive label eg. “Gap of Understanding” or “Show & Tell Security”.
OUTLINE: I outline the text I’ll need to include with each label.
Outcome: Content Map
I create the below visualization that shows the UX trigger, all Trust Buster and Trust Builder content areas—and how they relate.
Design Ideation
Constraint: Time
Now that I understand the content areas to be included, I dive-in to layout three key pages required for the tool:
Dashboard
Trust Busters
Trust Builders
With deadline pressure, I move from sketch pad to XD and make decisions quickly, solving for layout, interaction and visual design at the same time. I know, YIKES.
Design Execution
01. Dashboard Page
Achieves Design Requirement: Show "trust busters" and "trust builders" on the same plane without overwhelming the user.
02. Trust Buster Page
Clicking a Trust Buster point on the sphere opens content explaining the trust busting event and—connects user to the correlating UX design solutions
Achieves Design Requirements:
Employ a device to link correlating cards (content areas) in a meaningful way
Low Cognitive Burden
03. Trust Builder Page
Clicking on a Trust Builder point on sphere, takes user to a new page providing the details of information and visual examples that participants expressed they wished for, during testing of the card concept.
Achieves Design Requirement: Must have functionality to expand to reveal more information and visual examples desired by users
Trust Builder Pages (9 total)
Demo of UX Playbook ‘Designing for End-User Trust’
Start video for a preview of UX Playbook ‘Designing for Trust’.
Reflection
Thank you BECU
Especially rewarding that my research uncovered a strategy for increasing digital engagement that is generalizable and has value for UX teams beyond the banking and finance domains.
The project has made me a UX TRUST EVANGELIST. With technology ubiquitous in peoples lives, I advocate designing for trust as a critical value and responsibility to users, that all UX teams should incorporate into their practice.
Why is trustworthy UX design important? In todays world people have a thousand points of contact with technology in a week—it’s easy to imagine all these interactions adding-up to being a decisive factor in whether someone feels they’ve had a good day or bad day.
I felt extremely rewarded when my research and Designing For Trust tool inspired invitations to present outcomes to UX teams at SAP Concur, BECU and Microsoft.
University of Washington Human Centered Design Showcase