Prototyping Informative & Trustable Experiences for a Fintech Loan Application
CREDITPER
UX Design
User Research
Wireframing
Visual Design
Usability Testing
In Pakistan, only 7% of women aged 18-29 in rural and urban areas are financially included. Creditper, a digital asset loan provider, approached IDEATE Innovation wanting more female uptake of their mobile product that enables low-income populations to buy assets on credit.
8000 Users
2.6% Women
At the time, only 2.6% of their 8000 users were women.
To provide research and design recommendations for increasing female inclusion and uptake of Creditper services.
My roles spanned across both research and design. I collaborated with another designer, and 4 other researchers.
I joined this project after the first round of research had been completed. Our research team had already assessed women’s relationship with finances and with credit. My role then became assisting the research team to understand the following:
Additionally, we also conducted qualitative interviews with users from an extremely broad spectrum of active and inactive Creditper users, to really understand their financial behaviors, their pain points, and how they use the platform. Geographically, we held these interviews in various regions to ensure a wide range of experiences. The research team conducted the first round of interviews in Karachi, and I joined the research team to assist in Lahore, Pakistan. I created mid-fidelity prototypes, which we tested during these sessions to provide actionable feedback for our design iterations.
Screens from the mid-fidelity prototypes
In total, we talked to 69 individuals.
These interactions revealed that:
Many users were unfamiliar with financial terminology.
The platform’s value propositions were not clearly communicated.
Users needed a more intuitive and streamlined credit management process.
These insights helped map the user journey for different personas and their specific pain points. For example, the onboarding journey would be more important for an older businesswoman who does not trust online applications for financial matters as she is not that tech-savvy. She is also put off by long and tedious procedures to access loans and installments. On the other hand, the Breadwinner persona would be handling most of her family’s finances and would need flexibility in repayment when getting things on installments.
What the Miro board looked like during synthesis of data
Our research and testing uncovered several critical insights:
Low Financial Literacy: Many users had limited understanding of financial concepts, necessitating simpler language and clearer explanations.
Time Constraints: Small business owners were often too busy to engage deeply with the platform, preferring quick and easy-to-understand solutions.
Trust Issues: Users were hesitant to fully rely on the platform without clear, demonstrable benefits.
From these insights, we developed specific “How Might We” (HMW) questions to guide our design:
HMW make CreditPer's offering and application easy to understand?
HMW ensure there are fewer barriers for women in terms of required documentation?
HMW ease people's anxieties about repayment?
HMW highlight the benefits of flexible payment plans?
HMW enable a digital experience while maintaining trust and support?
HMW portray CreditPer as a reputable brand?
Our in-depth research led to a set of design principles for increasing female uptake of Creditper by redesigning various touchpoints in the user journey. We took an Urdu-first app redesign with a focus on making it accessible for low-literate and low tech-literate users. Among larger recommendations about their service, our design process led to several significant improvements, some of which include:
Improved Onboarding Process
Streamlined onboarding with step-by-step guidance and incentives for completing setup tasks.
Enhanced Awareness
To incentivise growth, we built a referral system with incentives, since many women rely on word-of-mouth and the experiences of friends and family.
Flexible Loan Repayments
A flexible payment plan option was one of the biggest attractions to women who were deterred by the anxiety they feel regarding fixed payment plans
Transparency
We tried to ensure complete transparency and clarity about pricing and installment amounts to satisfy user concerns and confusion about calculating out how much they would need to pay.
Trust-building Features
We included user testimonials and case studies demonstrating the platform’s benefits. In order to assure women about the app’s authenticity, we clearly communicated and leveraged the licenses and regulated status of the company.
This project was a valuable learning experience for me, especially for understanding the financial challenges faced by women and their financial inclusion in Pakistan. Being able to take part in much of the research and design processes enhanced my skills in user research, user testing, and design iteration. Our redesign successfully made the Creditper platform more accessible for female users, catering especially to their needs.
