Redesigning the Corporate Client Home Dashboard

U.S. Bank is one of the largest banks in America with a great reputation. They provide a wide range of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses, and institutions, which means they serve a wide range of clients, users, and functions. As a designer, I was able to lead a large-scale product to serve our corporate clients.

The Goal: One of our primary goals was to redesign the home dashboard for corporate clients, catering to the unique needs of three distinct personas. Our vision was to implement comprehensive widgets and provide an overall customized experience based on user feedback and evolving needs.

Where to begin?

Before initiating the redesign, it was necessary for my team to start user research. We wanted to better understand the distinct needs and challenges faced by our very different users surrounding the current product, and more specifically their dashboard. Our team needed a strategic approach to facilitate this research and transform those findings into design. Direct communication with users was essential as well as continuing to ensure I was on the right track with my designs.

Hey users, let’s chat.

The first step of my approach was to review any previous research, related to the initiative, and then conduct user interviews with all personas.

Our personas are a combination of system administrators, program administrators, and cardholders with subsets of personas within each of these groups. I needed to understand users’ current processes, what information is most important to their roles, and what challenges they encounter in their day-to-day work. We were able to successfully interview 6-8 users from each persona archetype.

The Plan

1. Define Research Objectives:

  • Determine the specific goals of the user interviews, such as:

    • understanding user pain points

    • gathering feature requests

    • or validating design concepts

2. Develop Interview Questions:

  • Create a set of open-ended questions that cover a range of topics, including:

    • current dashboard usage and pain points

    • specific tasks users perform on the dashboard

    • desired features and functionality

    • preferences regarding layout, design, and data visualization

    • any additional suggestions or comments

3. Recruit Participants:

  • Select participants who represent a diverse cross-section of our target audience.

  • Aim for a sample size (5-7) that allows for meaningful insights while considering time and resource constraints.

4. Conduct the Interviews:

  • Start each session by introducing yourself, explaining the purpose of the interview, and obtaining consent for recording (if applicable).

  • Encourage participants to speak openly and share their honest opinions and experiences.

  • Use probing questions to dig deeper into specific issues or preferences.

  • Take detailed notes during the interviews, capturing key insights and quotes.

5. Synthesize Findings:

  • Summarize the key findings and insights in a clear and concise manner.

6. Iterate and Test:

  • Incorporate user feedback and insights into the dashboard redesign.

  • Continue to conduct usability testing or follow-up interviews to validate design changes.

7. Continuous Engagement:

  • Maintain open lines of communication with users throughout the design and development process to gather ongoing feedback and validate changes.

Our Users

Based on our research we were able to understand the following about our users:

  • Needs account health information quickly

  • Wants to understand and monitor cardholder challenges and activity

  • Tasked with keeping cardholder information up-to-date

System Administrators

  • Wants to be able to generate reports more easily

  • Needs to be aware of cardholders experiencing any abnormal account activity

  • Tasked with monitoring cardholder activity and approvals

Program administrators

  • Wants to be able to view pending transactions quickly and easily

  • Need to submit attachments and receipts for purchases

  • Tasked with contacting the bank if any challenges arise

Cardholders

Strong Themes

Program administrators were currently running multiple reports, parsing through the information needed, and recording that information in their own Excel documents for reference. These users were so comfortable with this process that they had trouble feeling excited about a redesign.

  1. On average, it was taking users eight clicks to reach the information they needed to complete their tasks.

  2. Overall, users felt that the product did not serve them in the way that they needed and ultimately would incorporate other products into their workflow to accomplish their tasks.

  3. Each business’s needs were very different based on its own workflows and goals.

The Challenges

  1. Complex Information Architecture: The existing dashboard contained almost nothing, but the product contained a vast amount of information and features, leading to information overload and a cluttered interface throughout the site.

  2. Diverse User Base: The corporate dashboard had users from different businesses and roles, each with unique needs and preferences.

  3. Legacy Technology: The underlying technology of the dashboard was outdated, making it difficult to integrate modern design and functionality.

Our Solutions

After completing our research and gaining a much more in-depth understanding of our users my suggested solutions were:

Streamlined Information Architecture:

  • Simplify the dashboard's structure by categorizing content logically, starting at the top level managing account health to more specific cardholder information.

  • Use clear and intuitive navigation menus to help users find what they need quickly.

Responsive design:

  • Ensure the dashboard is responsive, utilizing our design system and adapting to various screen sizes and devices.

Personalization:

  • Allow users to customize their dashboard with widgets or modules that are relevant to their roles.

  • User profiles for saving preferences and custom layouts.

  • Notification settings for alerts, updates, and important events.

Dashboard widgets:

  • A widget library that users can add or remove, such as tables, reports, or task lists such as:

    • Declined transactions

    • Past due balances

    • Cardholder search

    • Rejected payments

    • Virtual payments

    • Common reports

  • Include drag-and-drop functionality for widget placement.

Data Visualization:

  • Use effective data visualization techniques to present information clearly.

    • Donut chart allowing users to see credit usage based on account

Task Automation:

  • Implement automation features to reduce manual tasks, such as reminders, scheduled reports, and workflow triggers.

Accessibility:

  • Ensure the dashboard complies with WCAG accessibility standards for users with disabilities. - Provide alternative text for images and proper keyboard navigation.

Onboarding and Training:

  • Offer onboarding tutorials or guides for new users.

    • Tooltips or guided tours via Pendo to introduce users to key features

A/B Testing and Iteration:

  • Continuously gather user feedback and conduct A/B testing to refine the dashboard based on user preferences and behavior.


What’s Next?

Continuing to gather user feedback and monitoring usage analytics will be essential for making ongoing improvements to the corporate home dashboard. Additionally, exploring opportunities for integrating emerging technologies like AI and machine learning to provide more personalized content and recommendations could further enhance the user experience.


Takeaways

  • Research pays off.

    Since this project started as a design handoff, it was crucial to find any related findings and strategize to create a research plan. Providing valuable insights into user behaviors, motivations, and expectations ultimately supported my efforts to make better design decisions.

  • Collaborating and persuading is critical.

    The design team at US Bank is significant. So to keep this project on track a lot of diverse perspectives were considered, which led to a few competing factors, such as usability, aesthetics, technical feasibility, and business goals. To manage this, ongoing collaboration was necessary as it allowed for a balanced consideration of these trade-offs and helped find compromises that satisfied everyone.

  • Using metrics and data drive better UX.

    Using Net Promoter Score (NPS, which is a metric used to measure user satisfaction and loyalty) provided my team with a comprehensive view of the user experience, enabling us to push better user-centric design decisions.

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