Natwest

Mobile banking re-imagined

Partnering with client to re-imagine an everyday banking app.

Helping an iconic British bank evolve to stand tall against challengers and attract new customers with a mobile app used by 8 million people.

As a Product Designer in the client-side Publicis Sapient team at Natwest, I’ve had the chance to re-imagine the mobile experience for the banking app, collaborating hands-on from research to final delivery in a number of features during the course of 12 months.

I worked closely with the research team to understand customer pain points and barriers for new and improved features around three main themes: registration/login, security and personalisation. The findings collected throughout this process paved the way for rolling out new features and refreshing the look-and-feel of the app.

In a combined effort across disciplines and streams of work, our team were able to greatly improve the mobile banking experience, making it easier, more personalised, more secure and more memorable than ever.

Meet the transformed Natwest mobile app.

A refreshed experience designed for customers, with customers.

Combining design, research and development with the Natwest customer at the very centre of the thinking process. This is how we did it.

Informed by preliminary research findings, the objectives defined for the project were to 1) reduce the early dormancy rate with new users; 2) increase average feature usage by month and type; and 3) decrease the usage of other banking channels post registration.

Following a few ideation sessions and workshops, we set out to define our research approach for this project and traced a plan for 6 rounds of qualitative and usability research, primarily focusing on non-tech-savvy customers (and non-customers).

The first round of interviews revealed three main concerns preventing non-tech-savvy customers from engaging with the product: scepticism, safety concerns and lack of confidence. These themes were then taken forward to the next stages of research.

By the end of the first sprint, we had collected enough data to understand customers expectations, behaviours, needs and pain points when using current accounts, credit cards and mobile banking. We created problem statements to illustrate those perceptions:

How do we express the benefits of the app to less tech savvy customers? How do we change stakes perceptions around apps being insecure? How do we simplify the sign-up and setup process for the app? How do we enable users to perform key tasks without overwhelming them? How do we make logging in quick and easy while still making it feel secure? How can we encourage customers to get into the habit of using the app?

Collecting user feedback on potential features.

Bringing customers' stories to life.

Despite focusing primarily on non-tech-savvy customers, a holistic approach was required for pursuing a design solution that would satisfy most customers. How could we engage both sceptics and super-users at the same time? I collaborated with the team to bring two personas to life, building a visual narrative to illustrate their stories and onboarding journeys.

Embedding customisation into the onboarding flow.

Research showed us that customers expected their banking app to offer support while navigating through their finances for the first time. Moreover, they did not want to be overwhelmed by features that were not relevant to them. Our design solution focused on education and especially customisation as the main drivers for an inclusive onboarding experience.

Validating concepts with users through research.

As research advanced, general themes and hypotheses started to emerge, prompting us to validate them with customers. I helped the team ideate and produce mood boards, sketches and low-fidelity prototypes for concept testing in the third round of research.

Prioritising features for implementation.

For the final two rounds of research, we prioritised and selected 15 features based on customer impact and effort to deliver. With the MVP delivery within sight, I produced high-fidelity prototypes for end-to-end journeys to collect holistic feedback from customers. These findings led to refreshing the look-and-feel of the app for MVP. Among other artifacts, I designed a set of illustrations to visualise the different features and customer journeys.

“I am loving the app, nice fresh look. Easy to use. No need to go in branch anymore.”

– Joan Spencer, Natwest customer