Pepper: transforming a service

Transforming a service

Design as a business strategy in a growing and competitive environment.

Client
- Pepper
Industry
- Restoration
Skills
- Interaction design
- Research
- Visual design
Team
Date

Differentiating yourself in a complex market

Pepper and the financial context

Pepper is a specialist in consumer goods, automotive and equipment finance formulas operating in Asia, Australia and Europe.

The context for credit companies is complex. The dominant institutions tend to put up many barriers to financing projects for individuals who do not have large guarantees, so there is a new emerging market of individuals in need of microcredits in full expansion.

Design as a business strategy in a growing and competitive environment

Intermediary companies between finance companies and end customers have a wide variety of offerings, so being the first to respond and building brand affinity at the front end of the process is critical.
Pepper was aware that it had to invest heavily in technology and provide a good user experience to position itself at the forefront of consumer finance.

From research to drivers

How to translate interaction patterns into design assumptions

In the first workshop, we identified two pain points: the need to increase the inflow of transactions via the web from 5% to 50% and the need to simplify the contracting process, reducing it to under 20 minutes.

The aim was to create an application that would serve as a triple bridge between intermediaries, their clients and Pepper itself.

We concluded that the advantage in terms of speed, ease of use and visual finish was key to conversion. In the following days, we organised a series of interviews to gain in-depth knowledge of three defined profiles: users from the dental clinic sector, companies involved in the sale of electronic equipment and companies involved in direct sales. We understood that the main barriers to using the product were due to difficulties in data entry, data validation and the perceived speed of response. Finally, we accompanied the call-centre workers and observed their work processes, which allowed us to understand their routines and thus detect points for internal improvement.

The keys to design

We wanted to transform the very long and (usually) boring financing process into something entertaining and, above all, fast. We saw the need to give the product an entity of its own (which it didn't have so far), and created Chop. A cute mascot with an inimitable personality that would make the user experience unique, allowing Pepper to stand out from its competitors. We integrated Chop into the new webapp with a completely user-centric interface and approach, giving the user more control (allowing them to make queries about their transactions and subscriptions, resolve incidents, etc). We opted for simple and atomised elements, creating interaction and navigation flows by recurring actions.