U.S. Bank

Approach

I was involved in the focus groups, ideation, prototyping, testing, naming, branding, and rollout of the app and goals coaching service.

Focus Groups

With a team of UX researchers, we met with prospective and current U.S. Bank customers to talk about how they felt about money, specifically their money. We had each participant make a timeline of their life and asked them to add their big and small life goals to the timeline. People lit up when talking about financial and non-financial goals. When we asked each person what they thought it would take financially to accomplish their goals, they quickly became overwhelmed about making money decisions. We found that no matter the stage of life, the common worry about money was, “Am I doing it right?”

Ideation + Prototyping + Testing

After more hypothesis testing through quantitative and qualitative research, we developed prototypes for the goals coaching experience. We kept the interactive life timeline from our focus group. We added money personality questions and emotional check-ins to understand the customer’s spending habits even better. Then we prototyped what a single-user experience might look like. Prototypes were non-branded to make sure that negative and positive bias of U.S. Bank brand was not at play during user testing.

The Rollout

With the app in user testing and pressure to get something to market quickly, our team pivoted to create a pilot program for the real-life coaching experience in Las Vegas, NV. I wrote a video script and recorded the voiceover to be shared on branch screens and with branch customers. I created in-branch signage and marketing with an in-house designer and developed content design and content for the microsite with targeted micro-marketing campaigns depending on the user’s site visits. In January 2020, in-person and virtual goals coaching went live. Goals coaching proved to be an asset to U.S. Bank. In a world of instability during the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic, individuals, families, and business managers all had questions about what to do financially to stay afloat. Las Vegas branches with goals coaching were the only branches in the region to gain a significant customer base.