Brief
Through the Travel Proposition, we want members to feel that Nationwide is enabling them to have the best holidays possible. The intent is that by creating value for our members, we deepen brand affinity and membership, supporting society income and growth. To create this value, we are aligning products and services to;
Core themes of travel need (Value, Protection, Engagement)
The travel lifecycle (Planning, Booking, pre-travel, Holiday, Return)
Understanding the customer
Why, How, WhaT
Behavioural Change
Defining Emotions
Experience map
Three Concepts
1) Holiday mode
Our member – what do they want?
People want their holiday to be an escape from mundane, daily worries.
They want to switch into a “holiday mode", so they can relax and focus on what matters most.
They have a problem
People can feel like they’re being held financially captive by their finances. Mortgages, loans, Direct Debits, etc. can be a distraction from people enjoying their hard-earned holidays.
With their daily finances on display, they’re reminding them of the concerns of home. As a result, they find it harder to be 'in the moment' when on holiday.
Nationwide guides them
Our idea is to create a section within the Banking App that allows members to access travel-related services, but also strips back their financial interface.
Press the 'Holiday Mode' switch to begin
Tell us when and where you're planning to go on Holiday
Tailor the Nationwide travel services that fit your needs:
Re-order/hide accounts
Travel insurance (and 24/7 helpline)
Marketing messages
Saving Pots
Travel advice messages
Financial recommendations (and discounts)
2) Savings Pot
Our member – what do they want?
Minimise friction for their holiday.
Have the ability to manage their money better.
And to have no more awkward bill splitting.
They have a problem
Overspending is too easy
i.e. I don't want to accidentally dip into my holiday funds before I leave. This makes them feel frustrated and financially unstable.
Accounting is hard when I can't ring-fence my money
This makes them feel like switching to a challenger bank, who offer pots and better money management tools than Nationwide.
Splitting bills is awkward and takes too long
This makes them feel socially awkward, and takes away the joy of a holiday. It also makes them feel like switching to a challenger bank, who do this very well.
I want to be paid what I'm owed.
And I want to pay my fair share.
This makes them feel like they’re being ripped off, or that they’re in debt to others. It also leads to feelings of financial unpredictability.
Nationwide guides them
At Nationwide, we know that:
A lot of people find it hard to save.
Holidays are very important to people.
People use 'mental accounting' to manage their money. But separating your money is difficult without the right tools.
To solve these problems and improve our members' holiday experiences, we can use user research and design thinking to create evidence-based solutions.
3) Financial smoothing
Our member – what do they want?
Make their money more predictable
Make their money last longer
To be free from anxiety around having to make large repayments
To reduce shock of unexpected bills
They have a problem
Holidays can be expensive. Costs can rack up before, during and after the holiday. These are often unexpected and can mount up over time if not managed correctly.
It’s hard to keep track of outgoings. For example, credit card balances, pending payments that might not show up until after the holiday, etc.
Members can feel anxious, uncertain and not in control of their finances.
Nationwide guides them
We believe holidays should be a time where members can free themselves from the financial burdens of everyday life.
We understand holidays are important. It’s okay to want to spend money on them.
By understanding our members, we help them better engage with their finances before, during and after their holiday. This leaves them in a strong position to focus on planning their next holiday too!
Outcome
Three concept products for our stakeholders to gain financial backing
Turning research into products in a short timeframe, whilst done completely remote
Establishing how our two teams can work together. Leading to my proposition projects for our department
Demonstrating the impact of designing with emotion
What I learned
Emotion is a common language
From the outset we used the members emotions to frame solutions. We wondered how the stakeholders would engage with this new way of framing our solutions. Stakeholders understood and became engaged with our process much better than any project before. I think that because emotions are felt by everyone, it lets us paint an empathetic understanding.
Weaving in emotion is Natural
Setting an emotion as a projects purpose gave the concepts and understood purpose. Every traditional UX and business goal was easily able to connect to this emotional purpose.
Working completely remotely
Covid-19 had just started and forced everyone to work from home. The challenge was to create an engaging way to workshop with the stakeholders. MIRO became our tool of choice. There were many learnings such as:
Always do a warm-up into to the tool session. This let us set a candid tone and check everyone understood how to use MIRO.
Encourage video to be on, especially at the start of the project. Face to face builds rapport.
Some tasks are better done in silence.
Some tasks aren’t that obvious. By letting people quietly watch how others are progressing, we encourage engagement.
Designing quickly
I’ve not done many rapid concept project. Taking user research and creating concepts that can gain budget for a fully-fledged new product was exciting. The focus on the upfront and storytelling highlighted how much I enjoy this part.