In Colombia, many people still prefer to visit bank branches in person to conduct their banking business. However, these branches can get crowded during the day, leading to long wait times. To address this issue, Bancolombia has introduced a new shift scheduling platform that allows customers to book appointments in advance, saving them time and ensuring they receive priority service.
Supported by @Bancolombia
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2023
Six-month period
Journey mapping
Brainstorming
Focus groups.
Design critiques.
Prototyping.
Low and high fidelity wireframing.
Figma
Teams meetings
Miro
Interaction designer, researcher
- Complex user flows design.
- Workshops facilitator.
- Usability testing expert.
- Service overview design.
- Product presentation to managers and stakeholders.
Manuela Mejía
Mayra Ramírez
Valentina Correa
Manuela Rojas
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In 2020, Bancolombia introduced its shift scheduling platform, which initially functioned effectively during the pandemy. However, a year later, more users returned to the branches and they encountered difficulties in scheduling their shifts. Numerous complaints arose regarding prolonged waiting times at branches, with users expressing confusion over the purpose of booking appointments. Consequently, we faced a new challenge: reinventing the service.
Redesign the Bancolombia shift scheduling service.
Bancolombia is considered one of the most innovative banks in Latin America and one of the companies with the best reputation to work. More than 10.3 million customers in Colombia use its digital services. In 2022 the company was recognized as the best digital bank in Colombia by Global Finance. The enterprise was awarded the Best Online Portal/User Experience Design in the country.
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Due to the regulations and intellectual property of the company, I will present the design process in a general way.
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The primary objective of our research was to understand the genuine needs of customers, users, and employees regarding service delivery and reception in branch locations, particularly concerning shift schedules.
To achieve this, we began by evaluating the current experience of different users. We conducted unstructured interviews with branch workers in a series of team sessions to gain insights into their needs and the challenges they faced with the current service. These sessions were open-ended, allowing us to ask a variety of questions about existing services and their associated issues.
Additionally, we performed netnographic research using social media to comprehend the context and user perceptions related to scheduling shifts. This method was chosen to quickly grasp the context and pinpoint the core issues with the platform.
This comprehensive approach enabled us to identify user mindsets about the current platform and shape our research plan for subsequent stages. Broadly, we aimed to:
Identify customer pain points and determine what Bancolombia could realistically offer.
A poignant insight from a bank customer highlighted the expectation of a reliable service promise when scheduling appointments in advance. We also engaged with the product owner and team representatives to understand the organizational perspective, including company expectations, trade-offs, and operational constraints within branches. From our discussions, we established two key specifications:
1. Shifts should not be treated as appointments but as a timerange for waiting.
2.The schedule should expedite service compared to walk-ins without pre-scheduling.
Our fieldwork sessions were designed to co-create with users, exploring their expectations and beliefs about the service. We employed a focus group methodology to save time and facilitate the sharing of common ideas among diverse participants. Given Bancolombia’s presence across various cities, we conducted focus groups in Bucaramanga, Barranquilla, Cali, Bogotá, and Medellín. Participants included customers, advisers, and assistant managers. The sessions were divided into two phases:
This method allowed us to capture perspectives from all stakeholders involved in the service, both internal and external. We considered hypotheses, resources, spaces, and budget requirements, all of which were presented to the product owner before starting the implementation stage. We developed a comprehensive framework for documenting comments during focus groups. With one team member serving as an observer, our framework categorized feedback into six sections: verbatims, business value propositions, critiques and problems, ideas and improvements, architecture, and insights.
We planned to complete this research stage within a month and a half, visiting one city each week, aligned with the team’s other responsibilities.
“We are having a lot of problems with the service, the bank should find a way to align all customer needs without affecting us”
Assistant manager
“We are not ready to meet a specific time promise which makes the customer angry .”
Adviser
“I would want to have the control over the service and be informed about everything before going to the branch”
Customer
The users agreed to be recorded.
We conducted a comparative analysis of the data by city, identifying main ideas and clusters across user groups. This facilitated to recognize common issues and insights that could guide targeted design improvements. An affinity map was created to review the qualitative data comprehensively.
The results were transformed into actionable activities to redefine the user experience:
From the Business Perspective:
- Detailed understanding of strategic decisions.
- Redefinition of scheduling indicators.
- Analytics to support informed decision-making.
From the Design Team:
- Designing the future and minimum viable experience (MVE).
- Definition of the business model for the next 10 years.
- Creation of a systemic map of branch operations.
- Archetyping of branch actors (internal and external).
- Development of branch information architecture.
This comprehensive research and analysis process provided aclear path forward for enhancing the service experience in branch locations, ensuring it meets the real needs of customers, users, and employees.
Following the results of the research, we defined five pillars for the experience:
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With the strategy team, we defined the work plan and the minimum that the service should have in each release based on the pillars
Due to the intellectual property of the project, I can't show the Service Blueprint, then I will present the main steps of the service:
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We designed the minimum viable experience (MVE) through the ideal service journey map. As a team, we started to define the interactions.
Throughout this process, given the intricate nature of the service, we designed multiple process flows and wireflows tailored to each stage. In the forthcoming section, I will delve into the overarching framework of three primary stages of the service while the user interacts with the online platform, elucidated through simple user flows.
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The first flow presents the main menu of the platform and how it connects with the other user flows.
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Developing a new booking was a critical process as users needed to grasp the significance of this feature and its positive impact on branch visits. Thus, we aimed to simplify the user flow as much as possible. While this overview provides insight into the flow, it's important to understand that all microinteractions, errors, and decisions are considered in a comprehensive flow which is property of Bancolombia.
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Users require the ability to manage shifts after creating them, as well as to activate shifts before arriving at the branch. To address this need, we developed a flow enabling users to edit, delete, and monitor the remaining time until shift activation.
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Following shift activation at the branch, users typically need to monitor their shift number on a TV screen and wait to be called by an advisor for their appointment. Hemce, this user flow demonstrates how users can conveniently monitor their shift on their phone, eliminating the need to wait at the branch and ultimately saving time while enhancing the user experience.
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Following the creation of user flows, we transitioned into designing detailed high and low fidelity wireflows using Figma. Our approach involved dividing the document into the main stages of the service, ensuring a clear and structured representation of the user journey. Below is an example of our definition.
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After the creation of the wireflows we tested the design with real customers of the bank branches, here is an overview of the findings:
- In contrast to the previous booking system, the perceived advantage of having more comprehensive information aids decision-making and alleviates uncertainty during waiting periods.
- The descriptions of available actions are now clearer, enhancing user understanding.
- With the appointment scheduling service, an anticipated wait time of 15 to 20 minutes after activation is expected.This functionality significantly enhances user time management capabilities.
- Users also experience a sense of reassurance knowing that the chosen destination will be available to fulfill their selected need.
After conducting various tests with different user types, we proceeded to conduct a design critique involving experts. These experts included UX, UI, Service, and content designers from various departments within Bancolombia, alongside design managers and team leaders. Their input was instrumental in refining the final details before handing over the project to the development team.
Some of the changes discussed during the critique session include:
- Adjusting certain messages presented during the user experience to eliminate confusion.
- Rearranging components to ensure compliance with accessibility guidelines for screen readers.
-Incorporating decision diagrams for instances where booking availability is limited.
- Modifying terminology to provide more accessible explanations, such as "Pregnant person," "Person over 60 years old," and "Person with Disability."
- Expanding the scope of microinteractions within the map locator interaction.
Our redesign aims to emphasize the benefits and opportunities associated with booking shifts at branches. Additionally, we sought to tackle concerns stemming from comments that had adversely affected the company's reputation.
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Now, we are in the development phase. We are a group of professionals who are improving the user experience more and more. Our main metrics to qualify the performance and success of the service are: satisfaction, success, effort and loyalty.
Check the website here
Designing something impactful for a company involves a blend of structure and insight. Service design emerged as the perfect fit for our challenge, serving as the cornerstone to immerse ourselves in the context and understand the core issues. However, I believe it's crucial to complement service design with interaction and visual design. This holistic approach enables us to unearth and address problems systematically and with meticulous attention to detail, ultimately paving the way for sustainable solutions.
Effective design demands planning at every stage.
- Review and monitor: Qualify the performance and success of the platform.
