How might we accept stimulus checks during a global pandemic?
Depositing checks was already easy and the most highly used feature in the bank’s app. But, when Covid-19 shut down branches and forced people inside, we had to quickly support government issued stimulus checks, increase limits and deposit money faster.
1. My role
As the UX/UI designer, I was responsible for designing the user experience, ensuring compliance of UI elements with the design system. I collaborated closely with the development team to implement proper UI structure for accessibility.
Goals
Design a simple and intuitive user experience that can be delivered within tight timelines, utilizing our existing technology stack.
Utilize native operating system components for a seamless user interface.
Allow users to easily identify what is a government-issued check.
2. Background and planning phase
Millions of people were going to get stimulus checks due to the Covid-19 lockdown. But bank branches were closed, and the mobile app didn’t support approving these treasury checks.
The global crisis created an immediate need - the ability for the mobile app to support U.S. treasury checks, with a very tight turn around time. We needed to implement this support within 4 days. That’s from first conception to dev completion.
I immediately met with dev and product on limitations and options for implementation.
Phone with an error message when trying to deposit a treasury check.
The updated design allowing customers to deposit treasury checks.
3. The design phase
I decided on a toggle switch for 2 reasons:
It was an easy element for users to understand and see on the screen.
As a base native component, dev could easily implement it within the timeframe.
I also felt that this callout on the screen would give confidence to users that they could deposit government checks. The solution provided strong visibility and clarity to the user.
The content strategist and I worked out content that would cover the base stimulus use-case and other expected use-cases.
4. Implementation Phase
Over the course of 4 days, I worked closely with dev and our A11Y team testing the build in various stages.
While dev worked on implementation, I also worked with marketing to feature the change on U.S. Bank’s website’s main banner.
The U.S. Bank website with the mobile deposit feature highlighted.
Closing
We made it through all the red tape to release to our customers before the stimulus checks went out. This small but important change greatly impacted our customers. Of the 72% of Americans accessing their accounts from their mobile devices in 2020, nearly half were depositing checks for the first time.
These changes were evaluated in the 2021 benchmark evaluation, where U.S. Bank’s experience rose to 1st place, up from 4th place in the last evaluation.
The evaluation mentioned the toggle design specifically as one of the reasons for the jump.
Confirmation screen explaining more about what to expect from the deposit.
First place in the mobile deposit benchmark for 2021.
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