TRIANGLE MASTERCARD
Roles: UX and Product Designer
Problem: "How might we make the Triangle MasterCard top of wallet [a customers go-to credit card]?".
Solution: An updated credit card application and Triangle mobile app that encourages customers to save their Triangle Rewards for a product they want. Canadian Tire would help the customer achieve their goal as fast as possible by giving them milestone rewards as they continue to spend. Additionally, we ask the customer about the product they want right on the credit card application instead of setting it up on the app. This allows us to figure out what the customer wants right away and then tailor future experience with the Triangle MasterCard around that goal.
BACKSTORY
In November, 2018, I was selected to be apart of an employee training where employees from across the organization were chosen to provide a solution to the following question:
How might we make the Triangle MasterCard top of wallet [a customer's go-to credit card]?
Our team had two days to answer this question. We were given the problem statement two weeks before the event. Here are some of the challenges/problems and how I solved them.
CHALLENGE 1: PREPARATION
TL;DR: I wanted to prepare before the event. To prepare, I conducted 14 user interviews to learn from some current Triangle MasterCard (TMC) users before the event. I wanted to know what they liked/disliked about Triangle MasterCard/TMC, their favourite credit card overall, and any other insights they had about the TMC.
First, I contacted the TMC customer service to get customer service data. Customers often call customer service lines to complain, so I knew this would probably give me some valuable information on the problems with the TMC. When I had the common complaints, I knew I needed to get to know some actual users of the TMC to figure out why they might be having these problems.
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User Research (Triangle MasterCard)
I didn’t have a lot of time and I didn't have a budget for prep-work, so I posted a call for interviewees on social media and asked all of my friends and family who had the TMC. In total, I got over 15 000 words of content from text messages and transcribed phone interviews. People were very willing to talk about why they liked their favourite credit card and overall credit card spending habits. I gathered the following insights from these interviews into the event:
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Most current TMC users like rewards credit cards, specifically cash-back and travel rewards.
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Most current TMC users don't value Triangle Rewards/Canadian Tire money as much as the rewards they get from their favourite credit card. Often times, these rewards are cash-back or travel rewards. Users like these rewards because they're flexible.
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Many current TMC users have credit cards associated with their bank. They expressed that choosing a card with their bank was convenient, usually because all of their financial information was in one place -- one company for their banking and credit card needs.
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Some current TMC users don't know the full benefits of Triangle Rewards. Some users don't even know all of the stores where they can redeem.
Quotes from Users (Pitch Deck)
Top Left: What is your favourite credit card?
Bottom Right: Which retailer is your favourite and why?
CHALLENGE 2: PROBLEM STATEMENT
TL;DR: We needed to narrow down our problem so we could come up with a solution. Our problem statement was: "The TMC isn't "sticky". Customers aren't loyal to the TMC like they are with their current credit cards, so they may use the TMC a couple of times, but it is not their go-to card.
On the day of the event, we got into teams and determined the problem we needed to solve. Based on all of the feedback I had collected ahead of time, we determined that the card wasn’t “sticky” enough. Some people don’t see the value of Triangle Rewards like they do with other rewards credit cards, and some people aren’t loyal to Canadian Tire like they are with their bank. We felt this was similar to someone who buys multiple Apple products because they all work together. Our problem statement became:
The TMC isn’t "sticky". Customers aren’t loyal to the TMC like they are with their current credit cards, so they may use the TMC a couple of times, but it is not their go-to card.
Unfortunately, I was unable to fully validate our final problem statement. The statement was created based on user and market insights, but I wanted to validate our new problem statement with a few users to make sure we were on the right track, and give my team a chance to talk to some real credit card users. My team did not see the value in talking to users. They did not want to talk to new people and felt more comfortable conducting secondary research on competitors. Eventually, I convinced one team member to come with me, but it was very short and not as effective as I had hoped.
THE SOLUTION
TL;DR: See top of the page for a summary of the solution.
Credit Card Letter Mock-up
Sketches (left), Sketch mock-up (right)
Overall, we received a lot of positive feedback for our idea. This was a training event, so there are no plans to implement this application, but it did give the judges a revamped plan backed by customer and secondary research to potentially solve the TMC top-of-wallet problem.
REFLECTION
Successes
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The Aesthetics: I really liked my design of the Triangle application and all of the visuals I created for this project. My goal was to make them feel tangible and professional -- as if this solution was already in the market, and I think it paid off well.
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Prep-Work (User Research): I was thankful for the user research I had conducted ahead of time. If I had waited until the event, we would have had very little user research to work with.
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I loved the problem: I truly fell in love with the problem in this experience. Making the TMC top-of-wallet felt like a real problem for Canadian Tire, so it was exciting to be able to tackle something so important.
Failures/Things I Would Do Differently
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I would conduct user testing: To save time (and considering group reluctance to user interviews) I avoided testing a paper prototype of the mobile app with users. I regret making this decision. I should have challenged my group by giving them real user feedback. It would have added more depth to our pitch.
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Design Thinking Back-up Plan: I should have had a back-up plan for dealing with a group that may be reluctant to design thinking. I was aware that some teams at Canadian Tire don't regularly work like this.