

Newcomers to Canada (N2C)
Redefined Experience
UX Research, Design Thinking, Design Sprint, UX/UI Design, Information Arquitecture
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Bank of Montreal (BMO), a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company, needed to reimagine how newcomers can discover information and apply for products on bmo.com to Increase in Newcomer customers acquired digitally, and help them feel that the bank genuinely understands their needs and can help solve their problems.
Primary Audience (pre-arrival, arrival and post-arrival):
- Permanent residents
- Foreign skilled workers
- International students
MY ROLE
Senior UX Designer
ORGANIZATION
BMO Bank of Montreal
LOCATION
Toronto, Canada
CHALLENGE
Newcomers to Canada couldn’t open a bank account eligible for newcomer offer online as they were requiered to book an appointment at the branch for eligibility and the onboarding process would take days/weeks
A considerable amount of research had already been completed to understand this segment by a variety of internal and external groups; however, the research was fragmented and disparate.
SOLUTION
We partnered with an agency to consolidatd and make sense of the pre-existing research, and I facilitated Design Sprint in order to align the team about current pain points and understand better our target market.
We created wireframes and high-fidelity mockups (mobile and desktop) to be tested & implemented.
A P P R O A C H
Identified and engaged core stakeholders and partners: We’ve held learning sessions to help share learnings and insights from research and campaigns and to consolidate our team's knowledge so we could build a holistic understanding of the segment.
Mixed-Method Research: Performed in-person interviews with New Canadians & Branch Managers to uncover further learnings about this segment and their needs.
Consolidate and make sense of the pre-existing research: Hired an agency to synthesize all research to develop pronto-personas and experience maps which help outline newcomers' feelings, thoughts, pain points and opportunities for banking.
Design Sprint: Led and facilitated a Design Sprint in 4 days to find a solution collectively with the team and reduce misalignments and misunderstandings, and work in a tangible way (creating ideas) over endless discussions.
UX/UI Design: With an aligned solution after the Design Sprint was completed, we prototyped the entire journey and created high-fidelity mockups to be tested and finally implemented.
DESIGN SPRINT PLANNING


RESEARCH INSIGHTS


HIGH FIDELITY MOCKUPS (ACTIONABLE ITEMS)








RESULTS
After redefining the overall user experience, we achieved a unified experience that increased customer acquisition, conversion and retention by
- Driving bank account application growth
- Research to customer onboarding within minutes
- Enhanced end-to-end experience with the ability to cross-sell from day one