SWK BANK: Dialogue-oriented approach for easy and pleasant use

With her experience in UX design, our colleague Sarah Jacoby, Experience Consultant and Product Owner, made a decisive contribution with her ideas to the fact that we were able to win SWK Bank as a customer. In this short interview we look back on the website relaunch project.

It is fair to say that you played a large part in the fact that we were able to win SWK Bank as a customer, right, Sarah?

Sarah Jacoby: Yes, somehow I am one of the main culprits that was able to win SWK Bank as a customer for ETECTURE. We decided on the tender spontaneously. I accepted the task together with a designer from our network. Later on, after winning the contract, the cooperation with the mintley agency also emerged in the further course of the project.

How did you develop the idea and presentation for the customer?

Sarah: Although we had little time, we first carried out a competition analysis. We looked for modern, target-oriented user experience solutions in the banking and finance sector in order to collect food for thought. From this we developed a basic idea for the target group, which mainly consisted of younger men. As part of the pitch, we presented our idea using a storytelling approach. For this purpose, we developed a consistent and target group-based visualization with a matching visual language based on illustrations and supporting the desired user experience as strongly as possible.

We also chose a new, modern font that we recommended to SWK Bank for the relaunch. With our ideas we were able to convince everyone involved at SWK and won the pitch. We then kicked off the project with joint conception and technology workshops alongside the SWK team.

Did you further develop your ideas in the workshops? And what are the cornerstones of the concept?

Sarah: Exactly, we discussed and specified our design ideas with the customer as part of a conceptual workshop. We then converted the results into a basic concept. The aim was to find innovative solutions for the first step on the way to a loan. Configuring loans online is complex. We wanted to reduce this complexity and make the complicated process simple, error-tolerant and clear in order to make it easier for the customers of SWK Bank to use this. A clear cornerstone of our solution is the conversational approach. We instantly adopted SWK’s strategy of being a bank with real contacts who seek contact with their customers. The clear, reduced structure and the simple but unambiguous user guidance are also crucial parts of our approach. This also includes laid-back communication with easily understandable short texts. The decision to use illustrations instead of photos for the visual implementation of the website ensures its straightforward use and a high recognition value – especially in other media or in marketing campaigns.

What do you find particularly successful about the website?

Sarah: There are many points. I really like the illustrations. I think the entire implementation of the configuration for the various credit products was successful – but there was also a lot of work put into it. Customers can see at any time which step they are in and have an overview of their inputs from the previous steps. In addition, they receive direct visual feedback when making their entries, without losing the overview. The whole process has been greatly simplified for users and streamlined as much as possible. I am particularly pleased that many of our original ideas have made it live. The drop-down menu for selecting SWK products is one of them. I think that’s great.