Pre-stamped offer

Consumer finance

Summary

Removing friction for loan offers on CARS24 app which led to 30% increase in buyer conversion

Resarch I Strategy I UI/UX


Problem statement

There is a lack of visibility and communication about the pre-approved loan offers on the app

What is a pre-stamped offer?

When the user signs up on our platform for the first time, CARS24 can take their number and run it with one of our finance partner, Bajaj Finserv, to generate a loan offer for them even before they fill any forms.

What was its purpose?

This began with a focus on removing the need to fill PA forms (Pre-approval forms where we ask for PAN details, address and employment) to see a pre-approved offer. This was to remove a high friction point to view Pre-approved offer and increase our bookings

Background

1) Our prior iteration fell short of meeting expected goals, particularly for User to Booking Conversion

2) Beyond the technical issues that prevented a lot of offers from loading, we identified that product flows lacked conviction and excitement due to which they were easily getting missed by customers, resulting in lower engagement

3) Also, the offer value felt low compared to our own in-house pre-approved offer

Issues with previous flow

1) 80% of the customers land on the homepage after login and at this stage it’s important to catch their attention towards the offer

2) No elements/interactions to grab their attention

3) It’s easy to miss the homepage banner as it can go to second fold of the app if customers have seen any cars

4) Since the customers haven’t really interacted with the offer post login, it can be difficult for them to relate or understand the offer when they see a callout in other entry points like CDP, listing or postbooking

5) Most of these journeys were replicated from PA offer but there the customer has already filled the forms and can relate much better with the offer

The following were the main insights from my research

1) Customers were unaware of the offer being there on the app. We showed the pre-approved offer on a banner in home page. It also went down as recently viewed cars were shown if the user had seen some cars.

2) The loan terms are key hooks for the user to continue with the process. However, when they see certain terms change such as down payment, interest rate or the loan amount, it creates distrust towards the brand.

3) There was a misunderstanding with the user about what pre-approved offer meant. Some customers believed that the loan is ready for disbursal, unaware of the prerequisite to avail the offer.

4) 65% users availed the help of car advisors to fill the loan form as they had doubts about what were the next steps to do. The car advisor was their point of contact with the company to resolve their problems

Benchmarking

Benchmark against leading players in consumer financing to optimise loan journeys on Cars24 and enable faster execution. Identification of players were done with the following parameters:

Relevance to CARS24 UX: This is to identify apps that not only have a successful lending business but also prioritise a customer-centric app design.

Loan book size: The size should exceed that of Cars24. This ensures we're comparing ourselves with experienced lenders and well-versed in managing sizeable loans.

Loan ticket size and tenure: We'll exclude lenders offering loans under INR 3 lakh and tenures shorter than 36 months, as these aren't particularly relevant to our operations

Benchmark against leading players in consumer financing to optimise loan journeys on Cars24 and enable faster execution. Identification of players were done with the following parameters:

Relevance to CARS24 UX: This is to identify apps that not only have a successful lending business but also prioritise a customer-centric app design.

Loan book size: The size should exceed that of Cars24. This ensures we're comparing ourselves with experienced lenders and well-versed in managing sizeable loans.

Loan ticket size and tenure: We'll exclude lenders offering loans under INR 3 lakh and tenures shorter than 36 months, as these aren't particularly relevant to our operations

Benchmark against leading players in consumer financing to optimise loan journeys on Cars24 and enable faster execution. Identification of players were done with the following parameters:

Relevance to CARS24 UX: This is to identify apps that not only have a successful lending business but also prioritise a customer-centric app design.

Loan book size: The size should exceed that of Cars24. This ensures we're comparing ourselves with experienced lenders and well-versed in managing sizeable loans.

Loan ticket size and tenure: We'll exclude lenders offering loans under INR 3 lakh and tenures shorter than 36 months, as these aren't particularly relevant to our operations

Benchmark against leading players in consumer financing to optimise loan journeys on Cars24 and enable faster execution. Identification of players were done with the following parameters:

Relevance to CARS24 UX: This is to identify apps that not only have a successful lending business but also prioritise a customer-centric app design.

Loan book size: The size should exceed that of Cars24. This ensures we're comparing ourselves with experienced lenders and well-versed in managing sizeable loans.

Loan ticket size and tenure: We'll exclude lenders offering loans under INR 3 lakh and tenures shorter than 36 months, as these aren't particularly relevant to our operations

While comparing with Fintech players provides valuable insights into potential gaps in our loan journeys, it's essential to remember that customer’s loan intent is already high when they open these apps

The E-commerce sector is equally vital to consider. They don't just sell goods; they excel in cross-selling financial services and are masters at engaging customers to purchase complementary services

We aimed to benchmark specific segments of the financing journeys based on this dual character.

Some key learnings from final shortlist

1) Many of the apps in the benchmark had built distinct colour scheme not only differentiates it from other sections of the app but also enables immediate recognition among users. As we pivot towards evolving into a Super App, adopting a unique colour theme becomes crucial.

2) Navi excels in guiding users seamlessly from the initial offer discovery to understanding and eventually finalising the loan offer. Furthermore, Navi effectively utilises banners and widgets to re-engage customers who may have abandoned the process midway, clearly pointing towards the subsequent step in the journey

Change of scope

As we looked at different players and critiqued our previous flow, we realised that there was a need of revamp through out the whole loan journey in our app.

1) A new and distinctive colour scheme for consumer finance on the app

2) Improved discovery with new elements for the user to be aware about the offer

3) Clear communication on next steps on all entry points

4) Helping customers understand the offer by clearly stating that final offers depends on car and income details

5) Offer upgrade flows by allowing users to submit their PAN details

Explorations for new identity

Building a new identity required inspirations and explorations that could help in our purpose.
Different type of illustrations, visuals and depictions were used to help loan journey stand out.
The exploration that you see are of the intercept page that will be shown to the user as soon as they login on our platform.

Through various round of stakeholder meetings and user testing we improved the flows to make it seemless for the users. The structure of the offer page went through drastic change and the end result ensure that it emphasised on two things:
1) The offer and the terms
2) What the user has to do next

...I sketched out ideas on the paper, built the wireframes to bring life to the concepts and worked on the execution of the final work...
...and the following was the end result

Presenting

Presenting

Pre-stamped offer for CARS24

Pre-stamped offer for CARS24

  • Gift page

    Shown right after user logs in for the first time to create anticipation for a surprise

  • Loan offer

    The gift box opens to show the pre-approved loan offer even before he lands on homepage

  • Offer detail page

    This page shows more detail about the loan and what are the steps he can take

  • Process clarity

    As the user might have doubts about how his offer was built, we added this for clarification

  • Loan offer widget

    The loan widget stands out due to the different design language for the loan product

  • Offer update page

    As the loan offer was built mobile number, user can share more details for better offer

  • Loan calculator- Detail page

    Detail pages have a loan calculate where we tell them how to avail the offer

  • Loan widget-listing

    Just like home page, the listing page also has a widget for active recall of the loan offer

  • Strip on booking

    If the user hasn't interacted by the booking time, a small strip is shown with the loan offer

  • Gift page

    Shown right after user logs in for the first time to create anticipation for a surprise

  • Loan offer

    The gift box opens to show the pre-approved loan offer even before he lands on homepage

  • Offer detail page

    This page shows more detail about the loan and what are the steps he can take

  • Process clarity

    As the user might have doubts about how his offer was built, we added this for clarification

  • Loan offer widget

    The loan widget stands out due to the different design language for the loan product

  • Offer update page

    As the loan offer was built mobile number, user can share more details for better offer

  • Loan calculator- Detail page

    Detail pages have a loan calculate where we tell them how to avail the offer

  • Loan widget-listing

    Just like home page, the listing page also has a widget for active recall of the loan offer

  • Strip on booking

    If the user hasn't interacted by the booking time, a small strip is shown with the loan offer

Changes done

1) We've taken cues from industry leaders in financial services to redefine our UX. A significant part of this is introducing a standout colour palette exclusively for Consumer Finance journey of the app

2) This aims to enhance the Consumer Finance user experience and bolster brand recall

3) We've amplified offer visibility with a full-screen banner and animations upon app login

4) A dedicated widget has been added on the Booking Initiation screen for loan offer

5) For those finding the initial offer modest, we've added an 'offer upgrade' feature.

6) By providing their PAN and declaring their income (CF forms), customers can potentially enhance their loan amount

As this project was quite big in scope, we had to divide tasks in phases for implementation. The following were the other aspects

PDF flow revamp

For the generation of a loan offer, users have to share their income proofs with bank statement. One of the ways to share it is by uploading PDF of bank statements

Sharing method

The user is given option to choose his preferred method of sharing

Requirement prompt

List of the requirements in the bank statement is shown for error prevention

Upload page

Apat from the required action, we tell the user what is required and what they can get

Account aggregator revamp

The other way of sharing bank statements is through account aggregators, where the user just shares their bank mobile number and we fetch the bank accounts and statements through OTP. This is possible only if the bank is in the Account Aggregator network

Bank selection screen

The user selects their bank and we see whether it is in their network

OTP screen

The OTP screen is to fetch the statements from the user's bank

Account selection

The user selects his required bank account from the list to fetch the statements

PA Form revamp

For people who want to upgrade their loan or couldn't get a pre-approved offer, they have to fill self declared forms for their personal details, address and employment record for a loan offer

Personal details

The user is asked about their details and PAN if it couldn't be autofetched

Address details

User's address is asked to make sure that area is eligible for loan disbursal

Employment details

This allows us to understand user's financial history and liabilities for loan generation

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