Credit Builder
Credit Builder Onboarding
iOS - 2022
Role :
Designer II
Tools :
Figma
Duration :
3 months
Credit builder is the second product of Brigit. This case study is meant to tell the story of the process my team went through to introduce it. Through this process we found the surface area of the product and today help thousands of Americans build their credit scores.
The "why"
What makes credit an attractive product?
In our polls and research initiatives among different demographics, improving credit score consistently ranked at or near the top of most requested features for Brigit.
The issue
The problem we're trying to tackle
26 million American adults are considered to be credit invisible. This no access to critical financing like auto loans, rent, and other key financial services. 40% of American credit scores have >700 credit scores.
Engineering
How will the product actually work?
Before I dive any further, it's important to explain how the product will actually work from a finance-engineering standpoint.
As you can see, the back-end is somewhat complicated, but I knew this was important to understand. I took this process and broke it down into 3 main steps that would make it easy to explain to anyone:
- You open a loan with our partner Coastal Bank
- We pay back that loan together over the course of 12 months
- After 12 months you get your money back and a shiny new credit score
- You open a loan with our partner Coastal Bank
- We pay back that loan together over the course of 12 months
- After 12 months you get your money back and a shiny new credit score
The Sprint
Creating a story
of the sprint sprint happened in the product concept stage, where we decided on the story we were going to use as a vehicle for explaining how this product would work.
The top 3 concepts we voted on were:
1. Build credit is tough, like climbing a mountain, and we will be your guide throughout this journey
2. Build your credit fast with Brigit
3. Tell us what your needs are and we will help you build credit based on those parameters
The top 3 concepts we voted on were:
1. Build credit is tough, like climbing a mountain, and we will be your guide throughout this journey
2. Build your credit fast with Brigit
3. Tell us what your needs are and we will help you build credit based on those parameters
The main theme choice
Climbing a mountain as a metaphor for building credit
we settled on this story:
Building credit is a mountain you climb. Brigit will give you the plan, supplies, and financing to equip you on this journey.
The concept we voted on ended up being credit as a journey - building credit as a metaphor to climbing a mountain - with us providing supplies, guidance, and cash to support your journey.
Building credit is a mountain you climb. Brigit will give you the plan, supplies, and financing to equip you on this journey.
The concept we voted on ended up being credit as a journey - building credit as a metaphor to climbing a mountain - with us providing supplies, guidance, and cash to support your journey.
The outline
Telling the story from a product perspective
-User finds out about credit builder through web search / advertisements
-1st impression: visits credit builder landing page where we provide value props
-If user likes what they see, they can download our app where we further explain how credit builder will work
-Once user signs up, the process is mainly automatic and hands-off; they only have to keep paying our subscription fee and into their savings
-1st impression: visits credit builder landing page where we provide value props
-If user likes what they see, they can download our app where we further explain how credit builder will work
-Once user signs up, the process is mainly automatic and hands-off; they only have to keep paying our subscription fee and into their savings
Onboarding screens
Effective content delivery
Since the content itself is so complicated, we should aim for the design elements to be as invisible as possible, while retaining a pleasant and familiar visual hierarchy.
First Attempt
Onboarding people actually read
Is it possible? After getting the green light from compliance and engineering team to see if this product construct was feasible, we began to work on the onboarding.
My first exploration resembled onboarding for typical apps that have straightforward functions. The critique for this was that it was too vague and it didn't really explain how the product worked.
My first exploration resembled onboarding for typical apps that have straightforward functions. The critique for this was that it was too vague and it didn't really explain how the product worked.
Attempt "too many screens":
This was my second iteration. I went overboard with the copy and tried too hard to explain it. I went back to the drawing board and redesign it to be more “punchy.“
Attempt "the happy medium":
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I condensed the copy as best as I could while still explaining sufficiently how the product worked. We had a lot of regulatory constraints, ie: we can't say "we help you open a loan and pay it back for you," because that wouldn't sufficiently prove credit-worthiness to the big 3, so needless to say it was no easy task.
Pulling it all together
Final Screens
Is it possible? After getting the green light from compliance and engineering team to see if this product construct was feasible, we began to work on the onboarding.
My first exploration resembled onboarding for typical apps that have straightforward functions. The critique for this was that it was too vague and it didn't really explain how the product worked.
My first exploration resembled onboarding for typical apps that have straightforward functions. The critique for this was that it was too vague and it didn't really explain how the product worked.
- focused on minimizing everything, especially the amount of copy users would have to read
- Reduced illustrations to outlines and 1 color
- Used bullets wherever I could
- Focused on $9.99/month since affordability is one of our biggest upsides
- I wanted the users to focus on content and have the images be secondary
Early tests
So what now?
Sometimes, when you set out to answer questions, you don’t necessarily end up with the solution, but with better questions.
Based on our analysis, the MVP fell short in two key areas
1. We did not do a good enough job communicating the financial engineering aspect of the construct.
2. There is no post-onboarding experience, leaving users confused as to what happens next.
We immediately set forth a plan to work on the two shortcomings. Our lead designer would take over, to focus on better onboarding communications throughout the app.
Based on our analysis, the MVP fell short in two key areas
1. We did not do a good enough job communicating the financial engineering aspect of the construct.
2. There is no post-onboarding experience, leaving users confused as to what happens next.
We immediately set forth a plan to work on the two shortcomings. Our lead designer would take over, to focus on better onboarding communications throughout the app.