BANKING FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS | LAUREL ROAD
Summary
KeyBank purchased a student loan company for MBAs and medical professionals in 2018, and in March 2021, they launched a digital banking experience for doctors. The executive team collaborated with my Human Centered Design (HCD) team to create a money management system that complimented Key's banking products. My HCD team conducted extensive research, including interviews with 25 Health Care Professionals (HCPs), and developed user personas and insights. We used these artifacts to conduct an ideation session with executives, leading to the development of a concept allowing HCPs to compare their financial journey to that of someone a few years ahead of them. The resulting Peer Comparison Tool was piloted with doctors in May 2022, with 56% expressing liking for the feature. Through this project, my team at KeyBank demonstrated the power of HCD, and developed differentiating product concepts with the end user at the center of the ideation and development process.
The Challenge
In 2018, KeyBank purchased a company that provided student loans for MBAs and medical professionals. In March of 2021 they launched their digital banking experience for doctors to expand a range of products to their core customer. One idea was to deliver a money management system that complimented Key’s banking products. The executive team partnered with the Human Centered Design (HCD) team to investigate the impact for their users, and to delve deeper into the needs, values and behaviors of their clients. As the leader and creator of the HCD team for KeyStudio, I oversaw and coached the team on how to solve this problem.
Research
By conducting extensive interviews with users and researching secondary and competitive sources, the HCD team drew upon our expertise in user-centered research. The research performed was:
In-depth interviews with 25 Health Care Professionals (HCPs)
Reviews of articles on HCP (Health Care Professional) habits and behaviors
Competitive analysis of comparable money management apps and tools
Analysis of survey data on Health Care Professional (HCP) lifestyle, salary, financial habits
Analysis of current customer data to understand loan balances related to occupation, geographic profiles and age and career data
My team used the research to come up with personas and insights.
Ideation & Design
Using the artifacts of this research, we developed an ideation session with executives in New York that helped them understand the initial goal of developing a money management system in the context of their users' needs. Using expanded user personas and trend-based lenses in the workshop created a rich environment for ideation and led participants to think outside the box.
“I had a major shift in how I was envisioning the solution, which brought things into much sharper focus for me. ”
During the workshop, the HCD team identified three themes for further prototyping and testing, and developed a concept that allowed HCPs to compare their financial journey to that of someone a few years ahead of them. Based on the feedback received from users, the executive team identified the tool as a key differentiator to expand to a wider audience.
Pilot & Testing
After the design session, we gathered the themes, learnings and ideas and used them to craft a proof of concept for the HCP banking product. The new experience contained tools for forecasting as well as educational, helpful information customized to doctors, nurses or other medical professionals.
We attended the HLTH 2021 conference in Boston and shared this concept with doctors. 6 out of 10 of the people we talked to said they would use this tool, and they made additional suggestions for other facts they’d like to know, such as when their peers bought homes or started their own practices.
They also responded favorably to the educational content, especially the podcast idea and the information that came from their peers.
The development and design team conducted a rapid sprint to build a peer comparison dashboard based on our concept. My team assisted with additional usability testing and setting up metrics for tracking success.
“This is not a resource that I have seen before in any other bank, so it’s a helpful enough tool that I would open an account.”
Impact
Through this project, we demonstrated how the HCD process can change the thinking of diverse teams
As a result of the HCD process, differentiating product concepts were developed that put the user at the center of the ideation and development process
A wider audience could benefit from peer comparison developed in this project for health care professionals, and its initial value could be expanded
A version of the HCD “Peer Comparison Tool” was piloted with doctors in May of 2022
When surveyed, 56% of doctors said they liked the new feature
15,000 people answered the brief questionnaire, enabling the banking team to expand their data set
Additional design and research by Samantha Gustafson and Aaron Simmons
In accordance with my non-disclosure agreement with KeyBank, I have omitted confidential information from this case study. All information in this case study is expressed by me, and does not necessarily reflect the views of KeyBank or any of its employees.