Content designer and published author
Industry: Fintech
How credit works
Holvi, 2023
Problem
Holvi launched a new type of credit card — a hybrid of revolving and instalment credit models. Customers struggled to understand how it works.
Solution
Create a unified content strategy, conveying key messaging in the right channels at the right times in the customer's journey.
Impact*
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26% decrease in credit-related support queries
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31% decrease in default payments
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12% increase in credit card signups
*This data should be taken with a grain of salt. I do not have evidence of it, and no longer have access to Holvi's dashboards. These figures are based on what I remember from shortly after the project wrapped up in 2023.
Overview
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App
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Product emails
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Guide to Holvi Credit Card
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New credit card carrier
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Impact
1. Introduction
Problem
Holvi launched a new credit card, but it used a complex new kind of credit model that customers did not understand.
Specifically, customers did not understand the concept of minimum monthly repayments — instalment vs revolving credit — and how to repay their credit balance without going into debt.
2. Approach and rationale
Map all existing touchpoints, from first contact through to final invoicing phase for an existing customer, and identify opportunities to educate customers, so they know exactly what to expect.
Propose new content solutions to bridge customer understanding.
3. Solution
3.1. Map customer touchpoints
I started by mapping all existing touchpoints to get the full picture of exactly what customers see. Holvi's support data showed that many users experienced the same misunderstandings about how Holvi's credit model worked.
For business reasons, we built our Holvi credit card as a non-market standard product. Repayments were not as straightforward as some other credit options out there, and Holvi's credit model was somewhat complicated to wrap your head around.
My challenge was to explain it as clearly as possible. By improving customer understanding, I aimed to simplify how customers pay off their balance and minimise defaults on repayments. I also aimed to boost new customer signups.
3.2. Identify areas to improve
After mapping all touchpoints, I proposed solutions to add new and improve existing touchpoints across:
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Holvi web and mobile app
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Plan selection page
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After credit application, prior to contract signing
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Credit plan & billing page
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Product emails
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Credit onboarding
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Invoicing cycle
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3.2.1. In-app flows
Credit plan selection page
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Create visual in-app guidance on plan selection page
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Work with graphic designer to create illustrations representing 1-, 3-, and 6-month instalment plans
Credit onboarding flow
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Link to Holvi Credit Guide instead of Help Centre FAQs. We've had this HC link here since the beginning of time and can see from traffic and Hotjar tracking that almost nobody reads the full article
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This is further proof that we need to distill this complex information into more digestible, visual content
Credit plan & billing page
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Replicate our current design for the business account Plan & billing page, which includes information about the customer's plan
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Include visual representation of their chosen instalment plan
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Optionally create in-app How Credit Works click-through
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This mid-fidelity click-through was based on our existing How Holvi Works component, meaning:
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Low development effort, in line with our capacities
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Compatible with visual assets, including GIFs
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The click-through used text and visuals to explain how credit repayments are calculated when a customer makes new purchases each month. It takes a customer through a full repayment cycle on a 3-month instalment plan (representative example)
3.2.2 Product emails
Link to Holvi Credit Card Guide where appropriate
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All emails underwent a rigorous copy edit
- Lots of content gets chopped out and replaced with visuals representing instalments
3.3. Create new content
Guide to Holvi Business Credit Card
I worked closely with our Marketing Graphic Designer to visually explain the concept of our hybrid credit model.
My favourite part of this page is the GIF that splits a laptop into 3 parts, representing the monthly instalments.
Until we could enlist developer resources to build an embedded calculator, I included Holvi's "daycount formula" to explain in detail how interest is calculated.
This is overly technical for the average reader, but based on Holvi's value of transparency and the knowledge of some of our business customers, should be made accessible for those who wish to understand how their bill is calculated.
New credit card carrier
We also linked new customers to our Holvi Credit Card Guide from our new card carrier, which I designed in collaboration with our fantastic Marketing Graphic Designer.
Now new customers can get their Holvi credit card, activate it easily, and explore the ins and outs of how their card works.
4. Impact
This following data should be taken with a grain of salt. I do not have evidence of it, and no longer have access to Holvi's dashboards. These figures are based on what I remember from shortly after the project wrap-up in 2023.
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26% decrease in credit-related support queries
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31% decrease in default payments
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12% increase in credit card signups