USAA: Homepage
A complete redesign emphasizing wayfinding and merchandising.
01 Overview
CONTEXT
USAA is well-known for providing financial services and insurance products to U.S. military members and their families. Our primary focus was to design the homepage with this persona in mind.
Through data analysis, we discovered that the homepage was not performing up to the desired standards.
This insight gained attention within the company, leading our team to develop a POV within two weeks. The goal was to outline a vision for the homepage and secure funding for the project.
If our proposal got accepted, we were granted a 90-day timeframe to deliver the final design.
PROBLEM
The USAA homepage lacks clear differentiation in brand value, a prominent product presence, and effective navigation solutions. As a result, users were burdened with figuring out who USAA is, what they offer, and where to navigate next.
GOAL
By delivering an updated USAA home page that’s inline with competitors we’ll meet users where they are on their journey with us. We’ll inform, orient, and inspire them to take their next steps.
MY ROLE
My responsibilities involved discovery, ideation, and research to address the challenges faced by the homepage and propose effective design solutions.
BUSINESS GOALS
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Increase application starts and completes
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Increase in storefront visits
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Increase overall member conversion
02 Discover
We began our two-week timeline by identifying our gaps, primarily in data and competitor analysis, which became our primary focus.
DATA
We recognized the importance of a data-driven approach to kickstart our project. Upon analysis, we discovered that when users land on the homepage, most of them navigate elsewhere using the global navigation, particularly through logon and product options.
Surprisingly, only 0.3% of visitors find a direct path to the storefront (product main pages) from the actual homepage.
This revelation was eye-opening, shedding light on how users were utilizing the page. Essentially, the homepage itself played a minimal role in navigation and merchandising.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
To begin this project, we recognized the importance of understanding the strategies employed by both our direct and indirect competitors. Although our persona is unique to USAA, comprising military members, their spouses, and children, we believed there were valuable insights to be gained from exploring how similar companies and industry disruptors design their homepages.
We extensively reviewed the homepages of over a dozen companies offering overlapping products and services.
During our analysis, we observed several key attributes that our competitors possessed, but were missing on the USAA homepage:
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Robust wayfinding and merchandising
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Clear expression of brand value
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Promotion of modernity and exclusivity
Using these insights, we crafted our design direction and defined success metrics for the project.
SoFi
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Ally
Lemonade
PERSONA
As previously mentioned, USAA is recognized for its exclusive membership, catering primarily to military members themselves. While eligibility extends to their spouses and children, our core focus in design centers around the needs of active duty and former military personnel, who constitute the heart of our user base.
Building upon a wealth of existing research, several key insights steer our design strategy:
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Age Range 30-60: Our primary users typically fall within the age range of 30 to 60, encompassing a diverse group of individuals across various life stages.
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Emphasis on Financial Stability: Our users hold a strong emphasis on achieving and maintaining financial stability, seeking trustworthy solutions to effectively manage their finances.
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Heightened Security Awareness: Security stands as a paramount concern. Our users are well attuned to the necessity of safeguarding their personal and financial information.
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Tech-Savvy and Online Proficiency: A considerable portion of our users possess tech-savvy capabilities, demonstrating comfort in navigating online platforms for their financial requirements.
Moreover, our member base anticipates USAA to have a profound understanding of their unique needs arising from their military affiliations. They highly value our recognition of their dedication to service and rely on us to provide accessible, dependable, and comprehensive financial services designed to cater to their distinct requirements.
03 Define
PITCH DECK
Within a rapid two-week timeframe, we presented an executive deck outlining our findings from data and competitive analysis, along with our well-defined action plan and success metrics.
Action plan
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Effective Wayfinding: Implement user-friendly navigation to enhance storefront and servicing accessibility.
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Brand-Aligned Merchandising: Showcase relevant offers that align with USAA's brand identity.
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Emphasize USAA's Value and Benefits: Highlight USAA's unique value propositions as a key differentiator.
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Simplified and Effective Business Practices: Demonstrate how we conduct business with simplicity, efficiency, and modernity.
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Versatile On-Page Spaces: Create adaptable spaces to cater to diverse user experience needs.
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Future-Proofing: Build for the future, enabling rapid iteration and personalization.
With our compelling pitch, we successfully secured funding for the project.
This marked the beginning of the 90-day countdown to deliver the final design.
04 Design
IDEATION
With our valuable insights from data and competitive analysis, we began our ideation phase.
To ensure a diverse range of concepts, we developed a concept spectrum that guided us:
Y axis: Leading with wayfinding vs. leading with merchandising
X axis: Separating wayfinding and merchandising vs. integrating them fluidly
TESTING
Following extensive ideation, we finalized two concepts (along with a control) that closely aligned with our predefined success metrics. These concepts were chosen for testing to assess their effectiveness in meeting our project goals.
Test objectives
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Determine which concept drives the highest user engagement.
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Assess how visual treatment influences emotions and perception of the brand.
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Identify the treatment that aids in better comprehension and consumption of information.
Methodology
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Interactive prototypes with randomized prompts and follow-up questions.
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Sequential testing (each user saw 2 concepts and a control).
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Comprised of 3 distinct sections.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
FINDINGS
To gain deeper insights and topline learnings from user feedback, we facilitated watch parties with our internal team and stakeholders. These discussions helped us analyze the results and make informed decisions based on the findings.
05 Deliver
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER
With the valuable insights gathered from user testing, we were well-prepared to proceed with the final design phase.
To ensure a brand-aligned and accessible experience, we applied USAA's design language system, Reveille.
Collaborating closely with our Marketing partners, we ensured that the page seamlessly aligned with ongoing campaigns and brand strategy efforts.
Prioritizing accessibility, we worked with accessibility partners to ensure proper tagging was in place from a screen-reading perspective, even though our Design Language System had already been vetted and tested for accessibility.
The project involved cross-partner collaboration, spanning from Content to Legal to Military Affairs. Our internal team of prior service members played a pivotal role in ensuring the use of appropriate language and tone to effectively communicate with our core audience.
FINAL DESIGN
SEO optimized headline highlighting brand identity
Seasonal or event banner
Another product campaign content block
App showcase with easy QR download
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Common servicing tasks
Product content blocks for easy wayfinding
Content block with rotating product campaign
Eligibility content block with external navigation for deeper dive
Link farm to mirror omni-channel global navigation
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Another way to access common servicing tasks
POST-PROD TESTING
To ensure a gradual rollout and gather data, we devised a post-production digital optimization test (DOT) plan, distributing the traffic as follows:
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Control: 30%
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Product Powerhouse V1: 40% (10 product tiles)
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Product Powerhouse V2: 40% (6 products tiles)
CONCLUSION
This project received significant attention from high-level executives and required expertise from various departments. Nevertheless, it operated like a well-oiled machine, allowing us to deliver a game-changing user experience.
The results were impressive, with a 118% increase in acquisition CTR
This demonstrated the success of the final design and its positive impact on user engagement.