TSB

Defining and building the bank's new revenue digital product

Context

We helped TSB execute its growth strategy by designing and building a new revenue-driving onboarding product that lets users open personal and business current accounts in the mobile app in just 10 minutes.

During the global pandemic, the industry shifted to digital-first products and services, and our support helped the company move away from the outdated practice of visiting bank branches to open accounts, making the process faster, more convenient, and more accessible for customers.

The proposition helped the company accelerate its growth strategy, guided by its purpose: Money Confidence. For everyone. Every day. Additionally, the smooth customer onboarding journey helped the app reach a 4.8-star rating with more than half a million reviews in the Apple App Store.

Design approach

01

Simplifying the complexity

Creating a customer bank account in the UK involves several steps, including collecting personal information, verifying identity, and running eligibility checks, among others.

We partnered with Entrust Identity Verification (Onfido) to streamline registration. We reduced the journey from 49 questions to 22. The reduction focused primarily on eliminating manual, text-heavy data entry that could instead be automated through smartphone technology or modern risk-assessment algorithms.

To boost completion rates and reduce cognitive load, we adopted the progressive disclosure UX pattern.

This approach helped the team break down a complex journey into a smaller, one-step-at-a-time pattern, presenting users with easier-to-understand steps.

Reducing error

Mobile typing error rates reach up to 11%, making manual data entry on small screens exhausting. Understanding typing can lead to user friction, so we invested in UI components that use single-click tools to reduce typing and mitigate user errors.

02

Accessibility from day one

We have united around the principle that accessibility must be at the heart of our design strategy. By making this a priority, we not only enhance our decision-making process throughout the project but also ensure that TSB successfully champions its mission to provide inclusive services for every customer.

To uphold the highest standards of accessibility and ensure compliance with WCAG guidelines, we partnered with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Their expert team reviewed our design system, and we diligently refined our design patterns based on their valuable insights, making our services more accessible and user-friendly for everyone.

03

Building the TSB design system foundation

We’ve helped the TSB design team establish the foundation of the bank design system, ensuring consistency at scale.

A living design system composed of patterns and accessible UI components that allow the design team to build and test journeys more effectively and quickly.

04

Injecting brand personality

The high data collection steps in a bank account user flow can lead to friction, fatigue, and high drop-off rates.

With this in mind, our design approach focused on making the customer journey dynamic, intuitive, and ultimately enjoyable. We invested in enhancing brand moments throughout the account creation onboarding process.

TSB app design exploration

In addition to the onboarding project, we assisted TSB in refining its banking app. We explored the use of sophisticated motion design to improve the product's appearance and, more importantly, to enhance user navigation throughout the services.