Fueling sales efforts with education, data and community
Customer Resource
Center
launched 2012
updated 2020
Challenge
Elan Financial Services is a division of U.S. Bank that provides a complete range of processing and payments services for more than 1,700 clients across the United States. In order to keep this broad and diverse sales force motivated and engaged we developed the Customer Resource Center—a site that focuses on enrolling bankers in promotions, training and personalized data driven experiences.
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I directed a creative team of UX researchers and designers, visual designers and writers during a blended process —equal parts waterfall and agile depending on the context. We had originally built and designed the CRC four years earlier and during that time we had learned quite a bit about what motivated and interested our user so for this iteration our mantra was "Evolution and Revolution".
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Duration: Engagement to launch—5 months.
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All designs support WCAG AA requirements.
Roles
Creative Director
Work Session Facilitator
Art Director
UX/UI Designer
Prototype Developer
Interviewer
Methods
Site Engagement Analytics
Surveys
UX Research
Behavioral and Future Analysis
Content Audit
Content Mapping
Site Analytics
Affinity Mapping
Site Map
Client Work Sessions
Wire-framing
Card Sorting
Prototyping
​Design System
Annotated Mockups
Tools
Sketch
Photoshop
Illustrator
Keynote
pencil/sharpie + paper
Site Engagement Analytics
We started with an expansive discovery phase intended to draw out information and insights across a wide range of user types and take a deep dive into the site history and performance metrics.
User Survey and Research
We had been eliciting feedback from users since the site's inception but we also emailed a set of questions to our users to broaden and get updated feedback.
Banker Activities
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Submit applications
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Track applications
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Redeem rewards
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Understand promotion details
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Learn about products/take training Determine which card to recommend
Manager Activities
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Track performance of branch/view reports
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Inspire bankers to engage with the site
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Access marketing materials
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Sign up their branch for promotions
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Learn about products/take training
Key Insights
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Visually Simple Homepage Design: Minimize the content on the homepage to focus on clear and consistent topics and CTAs
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Intuitive Navigation: Update navigation on the homepage to be more intuitive, simple, and reflective of how users engage with the content on the CRC
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Clear Path to Frequent Actions: Provide quick and easy access to Applications, Reports, and Ca$h-In on homepage for purpose-driven, transactional activities
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Personalized Experience: Create a personalized dashboard to enhance the customer experience both by giving access to progress/tracking and acting as a motivational tool
Design 1—Primary Navigation
The first design sprint involved the main navigation header. The goals for this stage were to set the tone for a look and feel that was clean and modern and establish building blocks for meeting accessibility standards. A main priority for the client was how to integrated the new "Dash" link. The Dashboard represented a major step forward in terms of implementing more data-driven content and we wanted this elements to capture this sense of innovation and excitement.
Previous Navigation
Final Navigation
Design 2—Home + Dash
The Home and Dashboard were considered the highest priority pages because they would ultimately set the tone for the rest of the site. For each we followed an iterative process starting with conceptual wires that we evolved up through detailed design.
Home—Conceptual Wireframe
Home—Final Design
The Dashboard was intended to be a centralized hub to giving users access to numerous streams of data to help motivate, educate and engage them with CRC activities. We started with mining the research and examining the various data steams to create a list of possible modules. We then prioritized those modules based on the user feedback and began iterating on individual concepts in focussed sprints. The main challenge became how to design an elegant page that didn't overwhelm the user with the massive amounts of data but struck a balance—creating a well-balanced, easily scannable page that presented data in a visually engaging format.
Dash—Conceptual Wireframe
Dash—Final Design
Design 3—Templates
Once the Home and Dashboard were complete, we moved on to the templatizing the remaining pages and content. Because the overall look and feel had been established, we could move immediately into high fidelity wireframes and start mapping out rules, guides and detailed annotations for page level content and multi-level navigation.
Design System
Upon completion of the design phase, we compiled and codified the work into a comprehensive design system, guide and annotated mock-ups. The final deliverable itself was used primarily for our developers to help guide their efforts so was less weighted toward visual design and brand and more focussed on functional design.
Wrap
Fueling sales efforts with education, data and community
Launched: 2020
Thoughts, Learnings and Beyond
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​In addition to the main site, we also provided banners and emails to support communications.
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All designs support WCAG AA requirements.
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Future projects: In-context support/ chatbot for user help throughout the site and update Google Analytics process, naming convention and reporting.
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Documents: Site Map, Design Comparison, Design System