
Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banking Group: Account opening journey
Optimisation of the current account opening process to improve conversion.

The Challenge
CYBG wanted to enhance the user experience & improve the conversion rate of their online account opening journey. Too many users were partially completing the process, and few were resuming their application at a later date. We sought to better understand why this was happening and to help users complete the journey successfully.
Heuristic Evaluation
My first task was to perform a heuristic evaluation on the existing process to identify potential usability improvements. This enabled me to highlight a number of areas that may have been causing user errors, frustration and confusion.


Competitor Analysis
We then analysed the account opening journeys of competitor and challenger banks to benchmark our process and identify opportunities for improvement. This process was hugely valuable in providing an overview of where we were in relation to our competitors and where we needed to be.
Analytic Evaluation
I requested a range of analytic information from our data team to help identify where the usability issues were. This helped us pinpoint drop-off points, specific fields that were resulting in user errors and sections that could be optimised to aide conversion rates.


Stakeholder Engagement
A number of key approaches emerged from the research and in order to bring stakeholders on board I created and presented a deck summarising our findings and recommendations.
Wireframing
We then created a full set of wireframes presenting the full user journeys. We highlighted where and how we were addressing the usability issues identified through the research.


User Testing
We created a low fidelity prototype and a set of test scenarios to test our assumptions with real users. Through the testing sessions we confirmed many of them, identified areas for improvement and discovered user preferences and frustrations we hadnt previous identified. This was invaluable in developing the journey further.
Emotional Journey Mapping
Based on observing the user testing sessions I developed an emotional journey map that helped identify what steps and features of the process evoked positive and negative emotions. I mapped this against the task success rate to establish key areas for improvement.


High Fidelity Prototyping
We developed a rich, high fidelity protoype that included the ability to capture user input data, tested it with users and then presented our findings to key project stakeholders in order to gain sign-off of the proposed enhancements.
The Result
The implemented changes to the account opening journey resulted in the removal of many of the issues users were having. We created a simpler and more usable process that reduced user frustration, improved success rates and customer conversion.
Scott is passionate about creating a great experience for customers. He is extremely good at articulating his work and presenting to stakeholders. This along with his expertise and experience in his field and his keenness to work with others – makes him a great member of any UX/UI team!
Scott is approachable, pragmatic and a joy to work alongside. He is able to come up with options and ideas to make complex work simple and easy to use and understand. Great with senior management and stakeholders. Always able to articulate his thoughts and views in a way others will understand. A fantastic team player and just knuckles down to tackle any problem!
Let's work together
I specialise in designing goal oriented products and services that are both usable and beautiful. From tech startups to international financial institutions, I can help make your products stand out from the crowd and achieve your goals.