Fintech · Consumer credit Shipped

Improving credit plan selection at Digipay

Funnel research pointed to Plan Selection as the step where the experience broke down. I led the redesign end to end, and the new flow shipped.

Role: Senior Product Designer
Timeline: 10 weeks
Team: Product, Design, Engineering

Credit report card showing 200M available credit

Credit Plans screen comparing Mellat Bank and Post Bank plans

$Get a Loan onboarding screen$

Mellat Bank plan card with installment, fee and collateral

+30%

Relative lift in conversion after launch

Funnel stages mapped end to end

Interviews with drop-off users per stage

3 × 8

Concepts × participants in usability testing

The problem

Plan conditions, requirements and costs weren’t clear at the moment of choosing, so users picked plans without knowing what they asked of them.

What I changed

I restructured the selection journey and its information hierarchy so conditions and costs are clear when users choose, and complex decisions get their own steps.

Impact

+30% relative increase in conversion against the previous experience, and research practices that took hold across the team.

My role and contribution

I led research and design end to end: the research approach, journey mapping, solution exploration and final design decisions.

I worked with a junior designer on three concepts, coordinated usability testing across the design chapter, led stakeholder sessions and aligned business and design teams around the changes.

01Context

Users dropped off across the funnel, and no one knew why

The brief was a business goal: lift conversion across Digipay's credit application funnel. Users were dropping off at several stages, and the reasons weren't clear.

I mapped the full application journey and interviewed 15 users who had dropped off at each stage, alongside support calls, chats and sessions with the Operations team.

Funnel data
15 interviews per drop-off stage
Journey mapping
Customer Support sessions
30–40 support calls and chats
Stakeholder conversations

The original research journey map: eight stages from onboarding to activation, each with rows for goals, actions, concerns and an emotional rating, built from the team's workshop notes. — Original journey map: all eight stages, from onboarding to activation.

02Opportunity

Users committed to a plan before they understood it

The research surfaced two kinds of barrier, and they needed two different responses.

Research → business opportunities

Limited guarantee methods

A cheque was the only accepted guarantee; users without one couldn't proceed.

Limited merchant availability

The merchant network didn't always carry the products users wanted.

Shared with business stakeholders to inform the product offering.

Research → UX opportunities

Unclear plan requirements

Users didn’t fully grasp a plan’s conditions, documents and commitments while choosing it.

Information arriving too late

Some requirements and fees only became clear several steps into the application.

Together, these made Plan Selection the key opportunity: help users understand before they commit.

So rather than redesign every step, I proposed fixing Plan Selection, where users choose a credit plan.

The design challenge

How might we help users understand credit plan requirements before making a selection, so they can choose a suitable plan and avoid unexpected barriers later?

03Exploration

Three concepts, 24 sessions, no single winner

Interviews showed three recurring priorities: credit amount, monthly installment and interest rate. With a junior designer, I built three concepts around them, each covering the full selection journey. They differed in information priority, density per screen, decisions per step and UI patterns.

Credit Plans screen: credit amount slider and repayment term options above a list of provider plans. — Step 1Set amount and term, then compare plans

Bottom sheet listing eligibility requirements for the selected plan: an active bank account, age range, and proof of military service where applicable. — Step 2Check eligibility for the plan

Collateral and registration screen: collateral type selector and online or in-person registration options with fees. — Step 3Choose collateral and registration method

Plan details screen listing application deadline, credit usage window, payment start date and required documents. — Step 4Confirm plan details

How we tested

I defined the testing approach and coordinated sessions across the design chapter. Each concept was tested with eight participants (four existing users, four new), and we mapped friction, hesitation and navigation at each step.

Usability testing journey maps: one board per participant across the three tested concepts, each with a persona summary, the sequence of steps, a plotted high-and-low experience line, and clustered sticky notes capturing actions, experiences, opportunities and pain points. — Comparing feedback across flows showed which interactions worked best at each stage.

What testing showed

Finding 01

Focused decisions beat fewer steps

Users preferred one clear decision per step, even if it meant more screens.

Finding 02

Interaction patterns affected comprehension

Some decisions worked better as their own step than combined with others or hidden in dropdowns.

Finding 03

Stated preferences didn’t always match behaviour

What people said they prioritized didn’t always match how they evaluated plans. Watching behaviour revealed their real criteria.

No single concept won. I built the final journey from the strongest parts of all three, based on observed behaviour, friction points and participant feedback.

04Decisions

Clarity mattered more than fewer screens

Testing showed what users needed first and what could wait, so I ranked plan information into three levels.

PrimaryDecision-critical

Installment amount
Credit amount
Number of installments
Final payment
Interest rate
Guarantee

SecondaryEligibility and process

Conditions
Registration methods
Registration fee

TertiarySupporting detail

Payment conditions
Purchase deadline
Registration deadline

Two trade-offs I worked through with the business

Trade-off 01

Fewer steps vs. clearer decisions

The initial preference: A shorter flow, assuming fewer steps would feel easier.
What testing showed: Users moved through a longer flow more easily when each step held one decision.

We prioritized clarity over minimising the number of screens.

Trade-off 02

Late fees vs. transparent selection

The initial preference: Showing Digipay's processing fee towards the end of the application.
What research showed: Users needed the real cost before committing; a large fee discovered late caused frustration and drop-off.

We moved the fee into Plan Selection, so the commitment is clear upfront.

The business accepted both decisions, and both shipped.

Beyond design’s control

Many users had no cheque, the only accepted guarantee, so they couldn’t proceed. This evidence led the business to add promissory notes as a second option, which shaped the guarantee step in the final product.

05Solution

Costs and conditions, clear at the moment of choosing

Interviews, concept testing and observed behaviour shaped the information architecture and interactions. A refreshed onboarding now sets expectations before the flow starts.

Before the redesign

Users set an amount and installments first. The plan’s conditions (documents, guarantee, service fee) only appeared on the next screen, in a long block of text.

Conditions appeared after the choice, not during it

The service fee was buried in a long block of text

No way to compare plans side by side

Previous plan selection screen: provider, credit amount and installment count set with stepper controls, installment and final repayment totals at the top. — Plan selection — amount and installments set with steppers, with no sight of the plan’s conditions.

Previous plan details screen: eligibility conditions, service fee, registration and credit deadlines, required documents and repayment start, stacked as one long scrolling page. — Plan details — conditions, documents, fee and deadlines in one long page. Scroll inside the frame.

After the redesign

01Onboarding

Set expectations first

Three short screens explain what the credit is, who qualifies and where to spend it.

Onboarding screen one: what Digipay credit can be used for.

Onboarding screen two: how Digipay credit helps, amounts and repayment terms.

Onboarding screen three: what users need to qualify.

02Choose

The real cost, visible before choosing

Decision-critical details come first, and each complex choice gets its own step.

Plan comparison screen showing credit amount, repayment terms, interest rate, processing fee and guarantee types across providers. — **Compare before committing** Amount, rate, guarantee and fee side by side. **Backed by** Trade-off 02

Eligibility bottom sheet listing provider requirements before the plan is confirmed. — **Eligibility up front** Requirements appear before the point of commitment. **Backed by** Research finding

Guarantee selection screen comparing certified cheque and promissory note with their requirements. — **One decision per step** Choosing a guarantee gets its own screen. **Backed by** Findings 01 and 02

03Confirm

A focused last step

Supporting details and registration options appear only when they matter.

Plan details screen showing application deadline, credit usage window, payment start date and required documents. — **Progressive disclosure** Deadlines and conditions, when they become relevant. **Backed by** Tertiary info

Registration method bottom sheet: online or in-person registration, with the registration fee above the primary action. — **Registration as its own choice** A separate bottom sheet to pick the method that suits. **Backed by** Secondary info

Built to flex and scale

The flow is modular: steps can be added, removed or updated independently, so new plans, repayment options and guarantee methods fit in with little redesign or engineering effort.

06Impact

A 30% lift in conversion, and testing became routine

+30%

Relative increase in conversionAfter launch, conversion rose 30% relative to the previous experience (not 30 percentage points).

Final usability validation

Did the comprehension problem go away?

Before launch, five existing Digipay Credit users tested the final design. All chose a suitable plan without notable confusion or questions that would send them to support, and all five found it clearer and easier.

Qualitative validation with five participants.

Product outcome

Launched, with conversion up

Both trade-offs shipped, and the business added promissory notes as a second guarantee.

Organizational influence

Helping usability testing take hold

The project showed the value of usability testing, which became a regular part of the team’s process, and our Design Chapter Lead secured dedicated research funding.

What I took forward

This project challenged the idea that fewer steps always mean a better experience. When each step has a clear purpose, users are comfortable with a longer flow. Breaking complex information into focused decisions did more for comprehension than squeezing it onto fewer screens.

Let’s talk about this project

I’m happy to walk through the details, Figma files and the decisions behind this work.

gelareh.naghioun@gmail.com

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