A new way to loan shop
Achieve provides financial solutions for people struggling with debt. As lead designer on a newly formed team, I uncovered a powerful win-win opportunity—one that gives consumers what they want while significantly increasing sales potential for Achieve.
After joining a new team, I dug into the funnel metrics and was surprised by the 89% abandonment on the entry point for our flagship product. Users have to navigate five screens and enter sensitive PII before seeing any information about Achieve's rates or their offers.
This is an industry-standard approach.
User interviews revealed a key need: people want to know as soon as possible whether applying—and sharing sensitive personal information—is worth their time. Specifically, they’re looking for a ballpark rates upfront to decide if continuing the application makes sense.
I held a cross-functional brainstorming session around this key pain point. Then, my junior designer and I developed a few concepts to run by our target audience.
One idea I had was a tool that displays a rate ranges upfront without requiring PII, allowing users to refine results by providing self-stated financial info. This idea wound up being a resounding winner.
With such a positive signal, I began further developing and refining the design. Key findings:
- Adding info to refine rates was intuitive
- Framing things in terms of accuracy of rates was confusing - I was totally wrong about that.
- Designing the ability to intuitively compare offers took several passes
Once I'd worked out the kinks, we conducted an A/B test of the current experience vs. this redesigned experience.
90% preferred the new design. People found it easier to explore options, more trustworthy, friendlier, and were more inclined to provide PII because they understand the value in doing so.
Providing a ballpark of ranges and offers upfront, before asking for any PII, means we can meet a key consumer need that no one else in the marketplace is meeting.
A user can then refine rates by providing any financial information they are comfortable providing. The experience of exploring loans is transformed into a conversation, rather than an interrogation.
By addressing a key pain point and eliminating a primary cause of abandonment, this redesign is projected to open the funnel for an additional $20 M in annual revenue.
The MVP is currently in development.
