Creating the UK’s first dual-language online mortgage application that’s easy to use.

Wales’ largest building society Principality wanted to extend their Mortgage products and services beyond traditional branch network by offering customers to find and apply online. The existing in-branch application was incredibly complex and required dedicated training by staff. Initial attempts to bring this to end-customers via the web proved too complex.

User centred design and integration

Taking over from their previous agency, we were given the task to design and develop a mortgage application that end-customers will find easy to apply.

Through analysis of the existing mortgage process and back-office systems, and research into how Principality’s customers apply for a mortgage, we simplified a 20-page paper application form into a four-step web-usable form which can be fully content managed.

Results

Due to a streamlined user experience, the application process could be completed in less than 20 minutes. The site was also developed to web standards and complies with W3C accessibility guidelines and stringent FSA regulations.

We developed the UK’s first dual-language online application system and mortgage product wizard, amid national press coverage. Principality achieved 200% of their anticipated online targets.

  • User-centred Design

  • Systems Integration

Customer

Principality Building Society

Objectives

Design and develop a user-centric mortgage application system in English and Welsh that consumers could easily understand and complete.

Tools and methods

Extensive systems analysis of back-office systems and the existing in-branch application system was analysed and converted to a simpler, consumer facing application. After working closely with the sales, IT and business teams, a customer journey and wireframes were developed to illustrate the user-centric approach to the application, and a full technical specification was developed on how it would integrate with back-office systems.

Results

The UK’s first dual-language mortgage application achieved 200% of their anticipated online targets.