Customer birthday
In the age of personalised customer experience, banks are increasingly searching for ways to present services in manners that strengthen and enhance their relationships with customers. One opportunity lies in providing a personalised birthday greeting which has a positive emotional impact.
This idea originated from the CEO's practice of sending birthday greetings to staff. I proposed extending this sentiment to our customers by sending timely and belated birthday greetings in the app after log on. This personalised approach aligns with Newcastle Permanents’ renowned warm and caring customer service, enhancing goodwill in a digital context.
My Role: Opportunity identification, UX research, UX design
Team: UX designer, UI Designer, Business Analyst
Time: 2 weeks
Challenge:
The primary objective is to introduce a personalised birthday greeting feature within the banking app, aiming to improve customer satisfaction, foster a sense of connection with the bank, and potentially drive increased engagement with our customers when using our banking services.
Limitations: Not on the scheduled roadmap. Limited to the banking app channel.
iPhone with customer birthday greeting
Research
As this was not a scheduled feature, I focused my research on interviews with various bank staff to understand customer expectations regarding personalised experiences and their attitudes towards receiving birthday greetings from their bank.
I also analysed other banks' approaches to personalisation and birthday greetings to identify competitor approaches, practices, and areas for differentiation. Interestingly not many Australian banks were sending greetings to their customers.
Birthday greetings for iOS, CBA and HSBC
Design Process
Initially I developed a high-res prototype of the user experience showcasing how the personalised birthday greeting feature would be integrated into the banking app, considering factors such as placement, timing, and tone of the greeting.
Figma prototype
Privacy Measures and Consents: Explored data security measures to safeguard user data and ensure compliance with data protection policies, including encryption of sensitive information and observing existing customer marketing consents for personalised features.
Detailed the above processes and conditions in UX wireflows for developer reference.
UX flow
Various copy approaches were explored with the team and marketing to find the best tone of voice.
Greeting copy versions
Solution
The final design was kept as simple as possible. For a customer who has given their consent to our direct marketing policies, on the day of their birthday we automatically present the single-page greeting after they have logged on via the log-on button. The customer can dismiss the greeting screen and carry on with their banking tasks.
Interaction video
Outcome (TBD)
As this has yet to be implemented into the banking app, there are no measurable outcomes to date, but we plan to measure any customer feedback, with a focus on negative feedback. Should there be sufficient negative feedback, we will consider implementing controls for customers to permanently disable any future greetings.
Next steps…
Depending on how customers respond to receiving birthday greetings, I would consider expanding the functionality to allow customers to send money as a digital gift for birthdays and other events. (See Westpac digital gifts).