SUMMARY

To service underbanked and underappreciated clients, collaborated with research and data partners that conducted qualitative and quantitative research. Understand who, why, when, and how clients frequently overdraft — facilitated multiple workshops with stakeholders and client-facing teammates, created archetypes, ideated concepts, and generated solutions/services

OVERVIEW

Like many other banks, Truist reduced overdraft-related fees in 2022, and with a new product launch, they enabled new clients to experience no overdraft fees. But, instead of just "pulling people out of the river" to help them from drowning in related fees, Truist wanted to go "upstream to find out why they are falling in”. 


Using a dual-phased Service Design approach to service underbanked and under-appreciated clients. The Service Design team was asked to deepen the understanding of frequent overdraft behaviors, needs, and goals. Furthermore, identify, evaluate, improve, and develop possible products and services to reduce overdraft frequency and support a better financial future. 

RESEARCH FOR UNDERSTANDING + DISCOVERY

Generated alignment with leadership and stakeholders to understand the view, scope, timeframe, resources, access, and what already exists in this space internally and externally.  

Collaborated with research and data partners that conducted qualitative and quantitative research. Understand people by statistically analyzing client data to find patterns in behavior, timing, location, and demographics. Then, conducted interviews to discover things data cannot tell us like

1. What are their thought process, motivations, struggles, and desires?

2. How frequent overdrafts manage cash flow?

3. What overdraft prevention strategies are being used currently?

4. What causes frequent overdrafts, especially for those that have experience with high negative balances? 

5. Identify barriers to reducing overdraft frequency or eliminating it.

WORKSHOPS AND CO-CREATING SOLUTIONS

Synthesized data collected through both search and research and created a report. Based on leadership and team built KRA’s, widening scope. Facilitate multiple full-day workshops to help stakeholders, partners, and client-facing teammates align on opportunities, share diverse insights, and collaborate on holistic, user-centered solutions. Collaboratively worked towards generative and answering the following How might we’s in our two phases. 

Phase 1

• How might we remove stakeholder bias and let the client's true voice be heard?

• How might we utilize service design tools and methodologies (like empathy mapping and journey mapping) to humanize and generate empathy? 

• How might we leverage "(specific product)" and other existing solutions?

• How might we provide consultative advice to clients?

• How might we create dedicated support for existing clients to switch to a (specific product)?

• How might we prototype and prioritize ideas from the previous workshops? 

• How might we better understand the overdraft experience from the lens of our branch and call center teammates?

• How might we reduce fees without causing shame and judgment?

Phase 2

• How else might we better understand over-drafting behaviors to help empower and educate people without bringing shame and judgment?  

• How might we better help clients during times of crisis?

• How might we empower teammates to act on their empathy for clients in times of need? 

• How might we help people safely build credit? 

• How might we reduce the need to understand the complexity of banking more effectively manage finances? 

• How might we improve outreach to clients who need support rather than relying on them to contact us?

• How might we help clients free up income so their funds are less limited?

• How might we improve financial management and knowledge, leading to better money management? 

• How might we improve client information across all their finances? 

• How might we make learning financial habits a no-brainer? 

• How might we help people escape generational poverty? 

• How might we improve access to time-accurate account information? 

• How might we encourage savings for a rainy day? 

• How might we surprise & delight clients when they see new benefits from new behaviors, tools, or products? 

FINAL OUTCOME

Aside from the quick wins achieved through Phase One. For Phase Two we had the opportunity to dig deeper and Identify new solutions that could support reducing overdrafts and build a better financial future for clients. Our concepts were divided into these three areas: 

• Client-Focused: Use transactional and emotional data-driven support to help determine and meet financial goals.

• Teammate Focused: Empower teammates with improved resources to provide better care. 

• Future Focused: Develop accessible and creative financial wellness learning experiences  

SUMMARY

To develop Truist’s signature service, generated data collection toolkits to conduct rapid ethnographic observatory research and service prototyping, various service experiences.Collaborated with the team for data collection and research out.

OVERVIEW

Aligning and Understanding: business value and mission. Held multiple with stakeholders and teammates. Utilized visualization techniques like word clouds to highlight the values and mission.

Generate Ideas: Prototyping phrases to test user stories seeing the difference in frequency of "mission words" before and after 24 hours. Conducted further tests using service phenomenological logic to understand clients' and teammates' effectual network and memory basin. 

Make: to making tangible concepts and socializing them, built testing toolkits and assets to use during service prototyping observational research. Participated in data collection.