Application Trackers 🔀

The Home Loan Application Journey
At NAB tracking Home Loan Applications for customers was non existent, they relied on information from their Broker or Banker.
Howeverthe tools used for both Broker and Banker to track information was spread across 3-5 different platforms.
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Key information was being withheld internally amongst banking staff colleagues, which would in turn mean external stakeholders (customers & brokers) were constantly calling / emailing for information on the application's progression.

The problem statement:
How might we inform all users of the progress of a home loan application across 3 different user bases that had all different levels of knowledge and experience in the process?
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The solution:
We started looking at an end to end experience to enhance the application tracking ability throughout our 3 main users. By building a single application tracker that would relay consistent information accordingly at the necessary time for each user.

Design phases

Discover
‍Project scoping
User Research
Workshops
Process mapping

Define
‍User Journey Maps
Research validation
Edge case definition
1 on 1 Interviews

Develop
Wireframes
Prototyping
‍Metric testing

Deliver
Dev build support
Future enhancements
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Designing for who?

External users

Customers
Typically new to the home lending experience, these users need the most information in small increments that is easy to understand and at timely matters.

Brokers
Experts in application writing and finding the best loan in the market. Deep knowledge of lending policies but every lender has variations of processes.

Internal users

Frontline bankers
Experts in writing NAB applications and understanding policies and processes, but will pass on the application for processing to the Operations team

Backend operations (Assessment / Fulfilment teams)
‍Key user base in processing both External and Internal applications, but limited to what is written in the application.

Designing why?

Low visibility between Customers, Bankers & Brokers throughout the application process
Results in Brokers calling over 600 times a week to Broker Response Centre at NAB, querying the status of applications
Back and forth communications through multiple channels between bankers and their assessors, extremely difficult to track a long list of freehand notes.

Key pain-points with current experience:

Customers could not track their home loan applications
Customers would heavily rely on banker/broker communications
Banker and brokers track applications across multiple platforms, through a trail of notes between themselves and assessors.

Building a consistent experience

The application trackers will combine the Home Lending Experience for all audiences into one way, meaning:

Clearer transparency across the each user during the home loan journey
All users will see consistent information across the whole journey.
Customer can call their broker/banker, if they need to and Banker/Broker, will see the same details as their customer.

Processes

User research

Our user bases had different levels of use case for the application tracker.
It was important to understand was what the user's primary actions for their trackers, how much they would use the tracker, and to what degree of difficulty was required for using the tracker. ‍
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Customers
Light users - most likely use this tracker once
Will require most guidance and information.
- 1 on 1 Discovery sessions: pain points, terminology debunking
- Lo-mid-hifi concept testing
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Brokers
Medium users - use this tracker weekly
Requires key information to inform their clients
- 1 on 1 Discovery sessions: how they interact with clients, what they need from us,
- Lo-mid-hifi concept testing
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Bankers
Heavy users - use this daily
Process driven users who need to action key items to progress the application
- 1 on 1 Discovery sessions: pain points, nuances
- Current state process mapping
- Usability and friction metrics testing

Before

Legacy platforms

Bankers: Oracle Banking Platform

Brokers: Broker Portal

After

Prototype to see all 3 trackers in affect, please select user and then select milestone to review the relevant information

Outcome

Clear view of information across all 3 users. Each user can see exactly what their counterpart is seeing, reducing the need for unnecessary communication.

We've empowered each user to with the right information at the right time so they feel in control and in charge of their position during the application process.

Reduced calls to Broker Response Centre by 30% to 420 calls a week
"I have a much easier way to track my applications, from one place, instead of 3 different platforms" - Home Lending Executive
"I know what to expect with my home loan application, I can see what is coming up and prepare for it" - Nab customer

Mark Peou