Balance Transfer

Role: UX Manager
Challenge: Design a seamless balance transfer experience across web and mobile platforms while accommodating both single and multi-card customers in a responsive environment.

Discovery & Strategic Foundation

I began by mapping the complete customer journey and identifying critical intersection points with existing flows. Working closely with engineering teams, I facilitated sessions to uncover and document edge cases, ensuring technical feasibility aligned with user needs.

To validate our entry point strategy, I developed a comprehensive research plan and partnered with our user researcher to test various access points across both platforms. This collaborative approach ensured our design decisions were grounded in behavioral data rather than assumptions.

Cross-Platform Design Complexity

A key challenge was designing for both web and mobile within a responsive framework. I led collaboration between design and development teams to establish a unified approach that respected platform conventions while maintaining journey consistency. This required balancing technical constraints with optimal user experience across breakpoints.

Leadership Transition & Project Continuity

Midway through the project, I was promoted and transitioned off the team. Simultaneously, my replacement joined, creating potential disruption during a critical delivery phase. Multiple teams had competing interests, holiday schedules complicated handovers, and the dual-platform launch deadline remained fixed.

Taking initiative to ensure project success, I:

• Created a RACI matrix to clarify ownership and eliminate ambiguity

• Repositioned myself as "Informed" with an advisory support role

• Designed a structured onboarding program for the incoming designer

• Conducted paired design sessions to transfer context, rationale, and decision history

• Maintained involvement in reviews, providing strategic feedback while empowering the new lead

This proactive approach prevented project derailment and maintained design quality through the transition.

Design Challenge: Optimising for the Majority While Serving All

A critical question emerged during the design process: Should we optimise the journey for single-card holders (93% of customers) or multi-card holders?

Data-driven insight: Analysis revealed 93% of credit card customers held only one card, suggesting we should prioritise this segment's needs, primarily viewing their offer details with minimal friction.

Initial optimised flow: [Insert image: Single-card optimised flow]

However, we couldn't ignore the 7% with multiple cards. Based on user behaviour insights, we hypothesised that these customers would:

1. Want visibility into all available offers across their cards

2. Have individual criteria for determining the best deal (rate, duration, fees, etc.)

The Multi-Card Dilemma

The primary mobile entry point was through tier 2 of a specific credit card detail page. This created an expectation that the balance transfer would use that particular card as the source.

The tension: How do we allow customers to compare offers across all cards while managing the expectation set by their entry point—and clearly communicating if they select a different source card?

Solution: Transparent Card Comparison with Clear Expectations

I proposed a design solution that:

• Displayed all balance transfer offers in a scannable, comparable format

• Visually highlighted the contextually relevant card (from their entry point)

• Explicitly notified users when selecting an offer would change their source card

• Contrasted promotional rates against standard rates for clarity

[Insert image: Multi-card comparison solution]

This approach addressed the web experience gap as well (where users couldn't access tier 2 directly) by providing full offer visibility regardless of entry point.

Rapid iteration: I mocked up this solution during the design review and shared it with the team within 5 minutes. The design was refined, implemented, and validated through user testing.

Impact & Validation

User testing demonstrated this solution outperformed previous designs, with:

• Reduced confusion around source card selection

• Improved confidence in offer comparison for multi-card holders

• Maintained efficiency for single-card customers (93% majority)

Key Takeaways

Strategic leadership during transition: By creating clear accountability structures and comprehensive knowledge transfer, I ensured project continuity despite organisational change.

Data-informed prioritisation: Optimising for the 93% while elegantly solving for the 7% demonstrates balancing user needs with business impact.

Collaborative problem-solving: Rapid prototyping and cross-functional alignment enabled quick validation of complex interaction patterns.