JP Morgan & CHASE

Chase app communication settings

Company
JP Morgan & Chase
Role
Design lead
Duration
May of 2021 to Aug of 2021

Overview

The Chase app offers over 20 products and services to support customers in managing their financial well-being, including account management, credit cards, and self-directed investments. However, the app's communication with customers is not personalized, and customers face difficulties in managing their communication preferences. As a result, many customers receive more email notifications than they anticipated. With the Chase app rebranding initiative that began in late 2019, the app's communication team recognized this as a great opportunity to enhance the overall communication experience within the Chase app ecosystem.

What I did

  • Partnered with the product owner to define the core user experience and establish a Key Experience Indicators (KEI) framework for the design scope of work.
  • Worked with various design stakeholders across different products and services to gather design requirements and outline the roadmap for the core app.
  • Led UX/UI efforts from ideation to development.

My impact

  • Streamlined all communication channels for consumer-based experiences within the first month of the pilot rollout.
  • Aligned the 2022 design vision with other platform design teams, ensuring a unified design approach for app communication.

What’s the big deal

When customers are using their Chase app, they are notified about their account activities—whether it's opening a new account, verifying their identities, or catching possible fraudulent actions. However, many of them have felt bombarded by too many notifications from the Chase app or website. It's like a constant stream of messages that can be overwhelming. Here’s what we found from the validation research with our users:

  1. Not sure where to check the communication settings on both web and mobile
  2. Takes too long to navigate to the communication settings page
  3. Feels like the communication settings page has way too much information, it can be overwhelmed
  4. Want to feel a sense of control

Based on the findings above, we thought of creating an experience that empowers customers to enroll in various communication settings and manage their notification preferences autonomously. This approach will enable users to take control of their communication experience, leading to higher user satisfaction and engagement.

Building the future vision framework

To address the issues identified in our validation research and empower customers to take control of their communication preferences, I worked closely with both the product owner and our research team to craft our forward-thinking strategy. Our vision revolves around crafting an intuitive bundling system, providing a spectrum of configuration options for both new and existing customers.

Below, we outline the key scenarios we tackled when managing communication settings:

Scenario 1: Simple set up
Key action steps
  • Opens up a new Chase account
  • Go through "one-time onboarding"
  • Customize alerts preferences
  • Set "more control" over preferences
  • Wants more, but not much
  • Makes a couple of modifications to the default preference
  • Continue to edit preferences
Scenario 2: Too many alerts
Key action steps
  • Opens up a new credit card
  • Receives too many alerts
  • Choose to update alerts settings
  • Make updates by category
  • Quickly toggle off any unwanted alerts
  • Sees confirmation of her changes

We communicated the scenarios above to senior leadership and they were pleased with the proposals we recommended. Ultimately, we successfully integrated these ideas into our 2022 target vision, in conjunction with the Chase app's rebranding initiative, as part of our collaboration with the Channel Design Team.

To effectively communicate these design strategies, we translated them into Key Experience Indicators (KEI) that serve as benchmarks aligning design requirements with our business objectives. Here are the two primary KEI benchmarks for our design:

  • Providing users with a heightened sense of personalized and scalable control.
  • Delivering relevant information simply and intuitively.
  • Empowering users to make motivating and encouraging decisions.

This approach ensures that our design not only meets user needs but also contributes to our overarching business goals.

What's actually being deployed

With the constraints of limited budgets and our tech stack in May 2021, we anticipate that reaching our target state will require more than one and a half years. Consequently, the Chase app settings will live in the mobile web browser view. This necessitates that our design must be adaptable for both web and mobile platforms while seamlessly integrating with the existing design within the broader Chase ecosystem. In collaboration with the Channel Design Team, I worked on specifying the actual designs that could be addressed in the first half of the year.

Below are sample screens that were part of the MVP delivered in the first half of 2021:

Design release in Q1 of 2021
  1. Keeping the existing side navigation. Adding additional navigation menus under alerts for users to easily view and manage notifications
  2. Allow users to see the list of alerts & notifications within the vertical table listing view
Design release in Q2 of 2021
  1. Adding different visual treatments to distinguish type of transactions (I.e. credit card, mortgage, account transfer)
  2. Adding visual indicator to allow users to see the details of the transaction

Below is the alerts management page in mobile browser view, also available in the app view.

This approach allows us to make significant strides in improving the user experience within the limitations of our resources and technology, ultimately working towards our long-term vision.

Impact and conclusion

Our 2022 vision received buy-ins from the senior leadership, and MVP release in the first half of 2021, we've seen a 3-5% rise in users actively managing notifications. This achievement marks a significant step towards scaling our cross-functional efforts across all communication channels at Chase Bank, encompassing everything from email templates to the evolution of Chase digital assistance. We are optimistic that these results will continue to drive positive change and enhance the overall user experience for our valued customers.


Deliverables

  • UX strategy framework and task flow chart
  • Product + Design strategy framework
  • Prototype and design specs