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Digital transformation of financial separation service 

Transforming a bank service from in-person to digital as a part of the digital sustainability initiative

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Project brief

Customers separating from their partner must manage their financial separation amidst emotionally difficult times. For this, a customer had to visit the bank, fill forms, make financial decisions and provide required documents. The bank was moving towards digital sustainability, which aligned with the increasing number of customers using digital banking over in-person banking.

 

Having an in-person-only service for financial separation created a hurdle both for the business and for the customers, hence the digital transformation of the service was planned. It aimed at reducing the in-person customer visits, reducing the load on bank staff for processing the physical forms and providing a clear, transparent and easy digital process. 

Platform

Web service

Domain

Banking

Year

2021

My role

As Medior UX Designer I led the research, wireframing, and usability testing phases, working alongside a design lead and product manager for stakeholder coordination and service blueprint development.

Customer insights

Customer surveys and interviews with customer support representatives were conducted to understand the in-person service experience.

 

The findings were synthesised and documented as customer pains and needs. This analysis refined the project scope and influenced the future design decisions.

Customer pains and needs

Stakeholder workshops

Workshops were conducted with stakeholders from multiple departments of the bank to map each team's role and interdependencies within the financial separation process.

 

The sessions revealed the complexity of the service, which involved coordinated handoffs across operational, advisory and legal teams. They also surfaced technical constraints in combining the service into a single digital workflow. 

Stakeholder workshops

Service blueprint

Based on the research findings and workshop outputs, a service blueprint was designed to map the complete financial separation journey across all touch points. Several iterations were required to resolve the complexity of varying customer situations. The journey needed to account for different financial relationships of the customer with the bank, such as joint mortgages and shared accounts, which determined the steps each customer would need to complete.

 

The blueprint covered the full scope of the service, from the multiple entry points through which a customer might discover and access the workflow, such as web search, mobile app, or internet banking, through to the final acceptance of agreed terms by both partners and the bank. It captured the interplay between automated system checks, human advisory touch points, and a negotiation loop that allowed partners to communicate and revise decisions through a digital portal.

Service blueprint.jpg

Designs

All designs were built using the existing design system components and patterns, ensuring consistency with the broader product.


Given the critical and emotionally sensitive nature of this workflow, two key decisions were collaboratively made by the team:

  • Limit the initial application phase to desktop only. The customers could engage with complex financial decisions in a focused environment of a desktop

  • Add a customer situation questionnaire as a first step of the workflow, which would help the bank understand the current relationship between the partners and improve future communications with the customer support team

 

The designs were guided by four principles:

  • Centre empathy in every interaction by using clear language and avoiding unnecessary complexity that could overwhelm an already anxious customer

  • Define a linear workflow structure to reduce cognitive load during an already stressful process

  • Provide contextual guidance and additional information at key decision points

  • Build a progress tracking system accessible across all devices, giving customers visibility and control throughout the process

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Usability study

The study was conducted to:

  • Understand the customer’s willingness to initiate this process through a digital workflow

  • Observe how often customers felt the need for more information or wanted to contact the bank

  • Assess the overall experience and reaction to the purely digital workflow

 

Three key findings emerged from the sessions:

Skepticism about the digital process

All participants were comfortable using the digital interface. However, when it came to the workflow, they were hesitant. They needed assurance at every stage that their selections were preliminary and nothing was being finalised without their confirmation.

Finances across multiple banks

Some participants held accounts with multiple banks. They wanted a holistic view of their finances in one place to use as reference within this workflow.They felt this would help them make more informed decisions and reduce the risk of error.

Insufficient binary questions

Participants were comfortable answering the customer situation questionnaire but found the yes/no format too restrictive. They felt the questions didn't fully capture their circumstances and wanted space to provide more detailed explanations for some answers.

"In digital, one can make wrong decision. But if you talk to someone, you get to know more possibilities." 

- Participant in the usability study

Design improvements

The usability study highlighted specific design gaps that led to a round of design iteration. Updates were made to the service blueprint, key workflows, and individual components to address the findings directly.

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Next steps

Based on the findings from stakeholder workshops, the service blueprint and the usability study, I created a report to outline the recommended design decisions for the next phase. 

 

Key recommendations included:

Digital tracking

Implement a digital tracking system accessible across all devices. Customer anxiety was high throughout the process and visibility of progress was critical to building trust

Dedicated advisor

Assign a dedicated advisor after the initial application is submitted. Customers consistently expressed a need to validate their decisions with a human before anything was finalised

Trust metrics

Define trust metrics and use them to guide workflow design. Customers needed confidence at every step that their choices were reversible and well-informed

My learnings

The project deepened my understanding of designing for emotionally complex scenarios, where empathy and functional requirements equally shape the design decisions. 

 

  • Service design and UX design require fundamentally different thinking. Mapping a service blueprint forced me to consider the full system before proceeding with the design

  • Working across multiple stakeholder groups including customers, bank employees, and backend systems showed me how interconnected the touch points are, and how a decision made at one point in the service ripples through the entire workflow

  • Designing for emotionally sensitive situations requires restraint. The instinct to add guidance and reassurance everywhere must be balanced against overwhelming an already anxious customer. Every additional element needs to earn its place

  • The usability study shifted my understanding of trust in digital services. Customers weren't just evaluating usability; they were deciding whether they trusted the system enough to act. That distinction changed how I approached the workflow structure

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