Unifying Banking Experience
Designing a unified, engaging digital experience across four markets (KE, TZ, UG, RW). London Design Awards Gold, 2023.
Client
NCBA Bank
Industry
Retail Banking
Services Offered
View App
Awards
London Design Award - Gold Winner 2023 for Service Design in Banking
Introduction
NCBA Bank is a leading financial institution that serves over 10 million customers across multiple countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. It boasts a diverse customer base encompassing individuals, businesses, and institutions, NCBA is recognized for its innovative banking solutions and customer-centric approach.
The Challenge
The NCBA Pamoja project set out to comprehensively analyze the current customer experience across NCBA's
digital platforms, identifying opportunities to maintain a consistent brand experience while addressing
local user preferences and needs.
Our goal was to develop a unified, engaging, and user-friendly digital experience, ensuring seamless
adaptation and heightened customer satisfaction for NCBA's retail customers across its subsidiaries in
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda.
Our Approach
We adopted a qualitative research approach, conducting in-depth individual interviews to gain insights into the existing customer experience across NCBA's digital platforms. Based on our research findings and incorporating principles of product psychology, we then designed an omnichannel digital banking platform.
In-depth Interviews
We conducted in-depth interviews across four countries to inform the design of a unified omnichannel banking experience for NCBA's diverse customer base.
Personas Development
Each persona embodied unique personalities, backgrounds, and characteristics, which guided our design decisions.
Benchmarking
Understanding global and local internet banking trends informed our design process and validated the assumptions derived from our qualitative research.
Product Psychology
All user journeys incorporated product psychology insights in order to create an intuitive and easy-to- understand user experience.
The Outputs
We uncovered insights into customer preferences, needs, and behaviors across NCBA's digital platforms, guiding the development of a tailored solution to enhance the overall user experience.
1. Personas
Leveraging insights obtained from our analysis, we developed representative personas, each characterized by distinct backgrounds and traits, which served as guiding frameworks for our design decisions.
2. Detailed Research Report
We provided NCBA with a comprehensive research report containing the findings and recommendations obtained from the research phase.
3. App and Web Design
Service blueprinting maps frontstage user interactions and backstage processes, systems, and teams, revealing dependencies, gaps, and inefficiencies to ensure seamless service delivery across every touchpoint and operational layer.
Key Outcomes
Our work helped NCBA create a more unified, relevant, and intuitive digital experience across its banking platforms, guided by real customer behaviour and market needs.
App downloads in Tanzania in 3 months
“The project gave us a much clearer understanding of how our customers experience digital banking across different markets.”
“The insights helped us make more confident decisions about what to improve and where to focus first.”
“We were able to create a more consistent digital experience while still responding to the needs of each market.”