How I streamlined onboarding for small business clients
By introducing a new tool to evaluate small business client needs
Platform
Desktop, mWeb
Product Designer
Role
3 months
Duration
THE PROBLEM
Business owners could not communicate their immediate financial needs to a banker without participating in a time-consuming, in-branch review.
THE SOLUTION
Key Bank’s Small Business Check-In is a quick, six-question long questionnaire that assesses business needs and hands these off to a banker to better address and follow up over the phone immediately.
DISCOVERY
We surveyed 40 bankers across all US branches to understand current pain points around business owner appointments.
Insight #1
Bankers need a client's industry, revenue, and future investment plans at minimum to provide any value
In an exercise where bankers were asked to narrow down the top three pieces of information that they would need from a client: industry, revenue, and future investment plans were the top-voted items.
Insight #2
Learning about a client for the first time takes too long
We created small business owner personas to journey map the current in-branch experience and identify pain points with our bankers. Many stated that sitting down with a client to learn about them for the first time was the hardest part of the process and usually what took the most time. Survey feedback indicated that many clients were turned off and, in some cases, quit during this process.
Insight #3
Bankers want to receive client information ahead of time, not during their first appointment
Universally, bankers agreed that having a client’s information ahead of time would significantly cut down on the time needed to address their needs. With this in mind, we began looking for a non-invasive way to collect client data and were struck by one statistic.
“78% of Americans prefer to bank digitally via mobile banking app or bank website.”
REQUIREMENTS
Building an MVP that targets bankers and small business owners
Pooling from our list of bankers who provided feedback, we asked a select group, who specialized in business solutions, to provide content for our questionnaire. With the guidance of this group and our stakeholders, we agreed on three main goals for our MVP.
The MVP should be:
Approachable and easy to understand
Quick and convenient for both the client and the banker
Informative upfront, providing immediate value
IDEATION
How might we get bankers a small business owner's information sooner?
Pulling together our stakeholders and subject matter experts, we used the feedback from our banker focus groups to guide an ideation workshop where participants were asked to explore six ways to tackle the problem within a 20-minute time frame. We then voted on our favorite options.
Ideation workshop
We agreed that a quick, interactive questionnaire that could be accessed from Key’s small business landing page was the best solution for business owners who are often on the go.
USER FEEDBACK
Gathering feedback from small business owners
“How do I compare to other small business owners?”
We learned that competition was a big client focus, regardless of industry. Clients wanted to know that they weren’t alone in their current state of business.
. To remedy this, we explored adding a “quick insights” feature which we included in our lofi designs
“I want to tell bankers more”
We learned that clients felt comfortable with our list of questions but always wanted to tell us more than what was asked.
With this in mind, we added a free-response section at the end where clients could provide as much information on their business as they felt comfortable.
FINAL DESIGN
Introducing: Small Business Check-In
The Small Business Check-In is a quick questionnaire available on Key.com that, once completed, automatically connects clients to bankers who are ready to assist with their business needs.
Quick Insights
These are pieces of data-driven information given whenever a client selects a response on the questionnaire. The information provides context to where the client’s business stands in their industry and area.
Free Form Responses
Clients felt comfortable with our list of questions but always wanted to tell us more than what was asked. So, we added several free-response questions that allowed clients to share additional information about their business, ensuring that they felt confident heading into their appointment
Shortened survey
We narrowed down the six questions that small business owners and bankers deemed necessary to inform their conversations.
How are you feeling about your business today?
What are your top concerns?
How do you accept payments?
How do you make payments?
Are you planning for any large purchases?
Is there anything else you'd like us to know about your small business?
THE OUTCOME
A better onboarding experience for small business owners and bankers
Key's Business Check-In rolled out on all devices in March of 2022. According to bankers, the product works well to break the ice with new clients before coming into the branch and quickly check the pulse of existing clients.
With many small business owners too busy to sit down for a half-hour full review, the Check-In offers a faster way to address client concerns and provide valuable insights.
“It’s very refreshing to see a tool like this, I’ve never seen anything like it. I enjoy how personalized it is and how it lets my banker know what I might need ahead of time.”
“The Check-In has allowed me to enroll clients in products that they otherwise wouldn’t have known about because they don’t have the time to come into the branch.”
LESSONS
What I learned
Provide immediate value: While we're confident that bankers can assist small business owners once they come into the branch, clients aren't as sure. Providing valuable insights in response to each question shows our value upfront and proved to be the highlight of the product in testing.
Open up a dialogue: Tackling something as complex as small business operations can be stressful. Giving the space for users to tell us what they want to with free response questions can be more valuable than multi-select answers.
Convenience is Key: The existing review could only be conducted in the branch with a banker. By creating an abbreviated version, we allow clients to talk to us on their own time prompting them to open up more and get to the root of the problem.