Timeline
6 months
Role
User Testing, Strategy, UX Design, Workshop Design
Team
Dua Gettani (UX Research), Sang Lee (Content Writing)
Context
As sellers grew their businesses—expanding locations, investing in inventory, or hiring staff—they wanted access to larger loans. However, our existing underwriting model, primarily based on Flex Loans (daily sales repayments), limited those budget opportunities.
With our term loans product, we introduced a new way to underwrite loans using external financial data like FICO scores and linked bank accounts. This allowed for a more holistic view of sellers’ financial health—and ultimately, larger, more tailored credit offers.
Key Insights
Sellers were unfamiliar with Term Loans, having only been exposed to Flex Loans previously.
Offer ranges appeared inconsistent, creating confusion and reducing trust in the system.
The implications of a soft credit check were not clearly communicated.
Discovery
Where are sellers experiencing friction in the Term Loans experience?
I partnered closely with our UX researcher to identify gaps in education and usability, especially around the new Plaid integration. Our goal was to ensure a seamless experience while maintaining transparency around sensitive financial data.
Driving Design Principles
To ensure a seamless and trustworthy experience, I led a principles workshop with a product manager and engineering lead to define core design principles that guided our solution space:
Simplicity
Balance steps in the funnel with concise copy
Clarity
Transparancy in how external bank information is used
Valuable
Features that provide value for sellers, not just for the business.
Consistency
Experience consistency across all banking products
Solution
An educational, transparent bank-linking experience
I designed and tested multiple variations of the Plaid integration flow to help sellers understand how their financial data influences loan eligibility. Through iterative design and testing with 16 sellers across various verticals, I refined a flow that provides sellers' trust with a new Term Loans and Plaid Integration flow.
Highlights
Integrated clear messaging about data usage and offer accuracy
Reiterated the benefits of linking external accounts throughout the journey
A/B tested two flows to optimize for both trust and conversion.
Loan Originations
$900,000
Eligible Sellers
45,000
Linking Conversion
