Seamless Bank Connection: Redesigning Open Banking and Partnering with Mastercard’s Finicity API
Biz2Credit
Biz2Credit set out to redesign their customer journey with the goal of boosting conversions and increasing monthly lending. The application requires customers to connect their most recent bank statements to access their eligibility for funding, a step with significant customer drop-off rates. Addressing this issue became essential to improving the overall application process and enhancing customer confidence. There was also an opportunity to switch our banking aggregator to MasterCard Finicity.
Role Lead Product Designer
Responsibilities Product Design, Visual Design, Project Management, Content Writing, QA Testing
Problem Statement
A key focus was the bank statement connection page, a critical step where 53% of customers dropped off—the highest drop-off rate in the application. We hypothesized that this was due to a lack of trust in Biz2Credit or Yodlee, the third-party data aggregator used to connect bank accounts. The page was cluttered with text and frequently prone to crashes. Customers unable to connect their bank accounts via our current aggregator could manually upload PDF bank statements, but this approach significantly slowed the lending process and increased the risk of fraud.
We designed our customer funnel to track application progress through key milestones. While bank statement submissions were a crucial step in the process, they fell between the "completed" and "submitted" stages, where we observed significant drop-off. Addressing this challenge was key to improving the overall approved-to-funded conversion rate. By increasing the submission rate at this critical step, we aimed to approve and fund more businesses each month, driving measurable growth for the company.
Improving the Funnel
Solution
Over several months, I iteratively redesigned the bank connection page, streamlining text, incorporating social proof to build trust, and optimizing functionality with Yodlee. Each update incrementally improved submission rates, ultimately increasing successful bank connections by nearly 20%.
Additionally, we explored switching our banking aggregator to Mastercard Finicity. Leveraging the trusted "Mastercard" brand was expected to instill greater confidence in merchants to connect their bank accounts. Collaborating closely with Mastercard, we integrated their new API, which further improved the user experience, increased submission rates, and reduced drop-offs. Testing multiple iterations throughout the project ensured continuous improvement and measurable results.
UX Friction Points:
The Bank Statement Connection Page had several major pain points contributing to its high drop-off rate. Key friction points included:
Confusing Progress Bar: The page featured its own progress bar, separate from the rest of the application, which left customers confused about their progress.
Unclear Instructions: Customers were presented with two options to upload bank statements, but the design made it appear that both were mandatory, leading to further confusion.
Poorly Integrated iFrame: The Yodlee integration was displayed in a scrollable iFrame that didn’t fit properly on the page. Its appearance resembled a spam ad, discouraging customers from connecting sensitive bank information.
Inefficient Bank Search: The bank list was displayed alphabetically, prioritizing lesser-used banks at the top. This forced customers to manually search for their bank, adding unnecessary friction.
Lack of Trust Signals: The page lacked compelling social proof or assurances about data security, failing to build customer confidence in sharing their information.
In the initial redesign, I focused on creating a cleaner, more user-friendly experience. I removed the scroll from the iFrame and restructured it to prominently display shortcuts for the top 8 U.S. banks, simplifying selection. A type-ahead search bar was added to make finding specific banks faster and more intuitive.
To guide users, I incorporated a graphic element with an arrow, making the task clearer. Security information was strategically placed to build trust and reassure users about their data. Additionally, the visibility of the manual bank statement upload option was minimized, encouraging users to use the bank connection integration, which aligned better with our underwriting processes.
Results for Initial Redesign
The page had a 53% drop-off rate, and additional customers were not proceeded due to our engine knock out rules. Only 27.4% of customers were successfully completing this step in the application. Following this initial redesign, we saw an increase of successful submissions go up to 40.5%.
Previous Bank Statement Page Conversion:
27.4%
New Bank Statement Page Conversion:
40.5%
A New Bank Statement Page
The initial redesign of the bank statement page delivered strong results, but we recognized further opportunities to reduce drop-off rates and increase application submissions. By analyzing competitors like OnDeck and Bluevine, we observed that using a modal for the open banking integrator created a more secure and private user experience.
Building on this insight, I redesigned the page to prominently highlight the two options available to customers, with Yodlee (the bank aggregator) opening in a modal for a more seamless experience. We conducted A/B testing against the existing design and saw a significant improvement in performance. These insights later informed our approach when testing Mastercard’s Finicity Aggregator, driving even greater results.
Mastercard Open Banking Aggregator
Our recent redesign has led to significant improvements in conversion rates and a notable increase in submitted applications. Building on this success, we decided to test a new banking aggregator: Mastercard Finicity. By leveraging the trusted Mastercard brand, we aimed to instill greater confidence in merchants when connecting their bank accounts. Working closely with the Mastercard team, we seamlessly integrated their new API, enhancing the user experience, boosting submission rates, and reducing drop-offs. Below are the updated designs featuring Mastercard’s Finicity integration.
Finicity by Mastercard Integration A/B Testing Results
After working with the Mastercard team and creating several iterations of the design, we A/B tested with a sample of our customers. We saw great results and are now expanding this product to other customers.
Previous Success %:
50.8%
Test Group w/ Mastercard Success %
93.3%
Conclusion
After refining multiple redesign iterations and continuously testing different approaches, we achieved outstanding results with our new integration. It was truly a great experience collaborating with Mastercard to make this possible. Moving forward, I look forward to working on more projects that involve ongoing research and partnerships with companies to create the best possible products for customers.