Case Study

Putting human experience at the center of deliquent accounts.

SETF offers financial services to nearly 700,000 retail and lease customers across Southeast Toyota's 177 dealers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Its website, SETF.com, is intended for registered customers to manage their accounts and vehicles, make payments, explore offers and coupons, and get help.

Challenge

Unfortunately, some of their customers experience financial hardship and fall behind on their required monthly paments which can lead into collections.

They needed to address their challenge by revamping how they interact with their customers in collections through a personalized engagment strategy that will reduce the number of past due accounts.

Role

  • Product Owner
  • Involved in all stages of the solution from concept to fruition.
  • Responsibilities
  • Discovery and requirements gathering
  • Research
  • Information architecture
  • Wireframes
  • HTML Prototype
  • Mockups
  • Functional Specs
  • Cross-team collaboration

Scope and Constraints

  • Budget
  • 80 hours allocated to project.
  • Timeline
  • 2 week turnaround time
  • 2 client review sessions
  • Shortage of Data
  • Metrics of success for traditional outreach methods was not provided.
  • Don't know why customers account has gone into default.

Research

The current methods available to resolve past due accounts are not optimal. Although rational, can by dry.

Phone Calls
Mailed Letters

Insights

  • 3+ days past due to start standard mail notification (varies based on risk level).
  • 60% of customers with past due accounts continue to log in via setf.com.
  • Not all customers understand the impact of going into collections.
  • Not all customers understand the steps they need to take to avoid collections.
  • 75+ days past due to start repossession procedures.

Hypothesis

By 60% of customers who are past due continue to log into their accounts then we could use that digital opportunity to engage customers and raise awareness.

By creating a customer centric, personalized and guided experience, then we can drive higher engagement and deliver messages that most deeply sympathize with each one of them.

By humanizing the language used to communicate to customers then in default we can create trust and drive them to respond to past due notifications.

By gathering data we can understand their situation and assist the collections department with an outreach strategy for each unique case.

Increase

response rate to deliquent account notifications

Improve

resolution of accounts over 60 days past due.

Collect

customer data to inform the future collections strategy.

UX Strategy

Considering the ecosystem, there are two sides of the coin.

  • Customer - Digital and personalized experience to drive engagement and empower customers to resolve their debt.
  • SETF - Data-driven collections process will enable a personalized outreach strategy and improve recovery rates.

Customer Outreach Strategy

Reach

Rescue

Relief

Reach

By reaching out, SETF can position its brand as a hero and emotionally connect with its customer during this critical moment. SETF can build awareness of first notification, amount of notifications, number of days past due, amount owed and due date before repossession. They can also offer aid and value.

Rescue

SETF can target the key emotional moment that are drivers when making a decision. They can do this by create an immersive and engaging brand-to-human experience.

Relief

SETF can pinpoint the customers reasoning for default and personalize engagement contextually tailored to drive action. It will encourage the customer to be contacted and make their account current.

UX Tips

Empathy is essential

There is a 42% increase in conversion rates with personalized messaging and call-to-actions.1 Triggering serious emotions can also increase subconscious positivity by 35%.2

Emotion motivates us to take action!

Data Collection Strategy

Reach

Recover

Return

Reach

By reaching out, SETF can cement a positive brand image between brand and customer. SETF can leverage data and increase customer visibility to support outreach strategy. They can also reduce customer risk of repossession.

Recover

Create human and emotional experience to drive higher engagement. Connect with customer through tailored messaging that builds trust. Increase payment intent by empowering brand to help resolve their debt.

Retain

Exceptional customer experience and trust increases brand recall. Positive relationships gain loyalty in long-term customers. While also reducing the rate of future defaults.

Psychology Tips

Emotional targeting delivers results

According to a study, customers who have an emotional relationship with a brand have a 306% higher lifetime value and will likely recommend the company at a rate of 71%.1

That's not all. Retention is key for growth and higher revenue, which is why it is important to be aware of the cognitive biases that affect your customer's decision making process.

Solution

Create a roadblock for customers in default who log into the website and send a humanized message during this critical moment that will drive them to engage and begin their recovery process.

SETF will use this moment to build empathy and understanding with the customer. Educate that SETF is here to help them avoid being sent to collections, or worst, having their vehicle repossessed.

The engagement will allow customers to self identify common life changes that can inform the collections team what is happening and allow them to provide a solution.

Architecture

Customer

SETF

Design

When a customer who is in default logs into their account they will be presented with an overlay. An experience that shows empathy and achieves that by utilizing the right tone and voice.

Account Roadblock

The left column of the experience raises awareness. Showcases vehicle details and amount due with an option to make a payment or contact through secure message or phone call.

The right column has humanized messaging that most deeply resonates with the customer. Empowering them to resolve their debt and keep them in the driver seat.

Question 1

In collaboration with the SETF collections team, we identified the top 5 reasons a customer might fall behind on payments.

A customer has lost their job, has a lower income, death in the family, have medical issues, or bank information has changed. If a customer does not fall into any of these options they can choose "other" and type a reason.

Question 2

Once a customer has chosen a reason we ask a secondary question to gain deeper insight on their situation.

Contact

After completing the questionnaire the customer will choose to get help through a phone call or secure message. Allowing the SETF outreach team to contact the customer on their time within a 24 time frame.

Outreach Confirmation

All values are captured from the engagment and formatted into an email. The collected data insight from each customer interaction will inform SETF's outreach strategy. Providing the customer a personalized solution to resolve their debt.

Results

Within the first 4 months, SETF received 6,312 cases of customers motivated to be helped through their financial struggle. This human experience has brought their previous default rate to decrease by 70%.

Payments made

25.10%

Traditional Methods

43.20%

Human Digital Experience

172% Increase

Extensions given

1.70%

Traditional Methods

5.70%

Human Digital Experience

336% Increase

Promise to pay

1%

Traditional Methods

17%

Human Digital Experience

1700% Increase

Client Retention

During this process I was able to build a strong and healthy work relationship with Southeast Toyota Finance. Since the completion of the collections project, SETF has continued to use Wayfinder's UX services resulting in +$1.5 million in revenue.

We continued our success with a redesign of their website. The revamp won a Web Excellence Award in 2021.

Week 1

Legacy Website Audit

Week 2

Wireframes and Prototypes

Week 6

Mockups and Prototypes

Reflection

When applying human experience design, we can create valuable connections between people and a brand.