Client

Westpac

Timeline

July 2010 - 2013

Role

CX program lead

About

Westpac's Online & Mobile channels support more than 3 million retail and business customers. In 2010 Westpac kicked off the Online Transformation Program.

I was the program CX lead from 2012, responsible for the end-to-end, mobile and desktop experience across 14 multi-disciplinary delivery teams.

Challenge #1

Design governance on a massive transformation project. When teams focus on delivering 1,500+ customer and business requirements, the real challenge is visibility - and validation - of the actual customer’s experience.

I changed all stakeholder reviews from wireframe discussions to persona and scenario based prototypes. We needed to demonstrate how flows met researched user needs, not just requirements. From here, rapid prototyping and testing assumptions through ongoing customer validation became the norm.

Challenge #2

Maintain a cohesive customer experience. I asked the team to merge all work into a shared Axure file so everyone could see and reuse each other's designs. We were designing for multiple user groups, across multiple feature teams and 5 large releases. Unsurprisingly there were fragmented user journeys and design debt that we needed to address.

A key achievement was establishing online, mobile and form pattern libraries as a team. It became the foundation of the service and evolved into the Westpac GEL. It quickly gained traction as BAs, developers and even heads of business could quote the pattern references. Most importantly, it ensured a simple, accessible design cascaded across 3000+ screens.

Challenge #3

Building up the design team. I recruited and mentored 14 CX designers in multi-disciplinary feature teams. Each person had different strengths and faced different challenges.

Some streams required superior visual design or prototyping skill, others needed extensive product knowledge or stakeholder management capability.

To create and maintain a positive team culture, everyone took turns to run daily design stand ups and design check ins. I paired people together to mentor and benefit from each others talent and experience.

Outcome

The new Westpac online banking was rolled-out to 3 million banking customers from 2013 onwards.

35% 

Increase in digital sales year on year

56% 

Reduction in complaints year on year. NPS up 50 points

Winner 

2014 Good Design Award web design and development