TD Bank

Small Business Loan Application

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Problem Statement

The existing digital app for small business loans lacks user-friendliness and efficiency, resulting in low customer satisfaction and incomplete loan applications. Users struggle with navigating the application process, leading to drop-offs and lost business opportunities.

HCD Problem Statement

Our digital group’s lack of collaboration with the small business team hinders understanding of their unique needs, impeding the integration of human-centered design. This limits our ability to deliver tailored solutions. By showcasing the value of human-centered design, we aim to build enduring relationships and ensure its application across all small business products.

When I was assigned to lead this workstream, I immediately noticed significant issues with how the app handled messaging. Looking at my own personal version of the app, I thought, "This is incredibly frustrating, and lacks clarity".

The messages were:

Constantly interrupting my flow as I tried to check my balance
Practically impossible to dismiss without several taps
Dominating valuable screen real estate I needed for banking tasks
Making me feel like I was being marketed to rather than helped

I still recall watching a user test where a frustrated customer sighed and said, "I just want to see if my paycheck arrived, but I have a never ending stack of irrelevant messages to scroll through just to see what I want to see, not to mention the actual information the page is supposed to be providing." That moment really crystallized our challenge.

My Role

As the Senior Strategist and Lead for this project, I was given a unique experience along with the typical responsibilities: to build a relationship with our Small Business teams that had not been present prior to this engagement. The goal was to show the LOBs the value of our HCD team and how we can collaborate to amplify the business objectives while also meeting the customers’ unmet needs.

In my role as Strategist:

I delved into comprehending business goals, target demographics, and market dynamics.
Conducted thorough user research to uncover pain points, unmet needs, and preferences among small business loan seekers, alongside competitive analysis.
Developed a strategic approach to modernize existing content in alignment with our brand and voice.
Devised a comprehensive plan for a full redesign, distinct from our native experience, on a platform such as Salesforce.

As Lead:

Managed the UX team, nurturing their growth and ensuring high performance.
Oversaw project execution, maintaining a focus on quality and adherence to timelines.
Fostered collaboration among stakeholders to champion user-centered design principles.
Led user research initiatives, utilizing insights to drive informed design decisions.
Established and upheld UX design standards to ensure consistency across platforms.
Managed prototyping, testing procedures, and ensured accessibility compliance.
Continuously drove improvement by monitoring industry trends and soliciting feedback.

In my role as Strategist:

I delved into comprehending business goals, target demographics, and market dynamics.
Conducted thorough user research to uncover pain points, unmet needs, and preferences among small business loan seekers, alongside competitive analysis.
Developed a strategic approach to modernize existing content in alignment with our brand and voice.
Devised a comprehensive plan for a full redesign, distinct from our native experience, on a platform such as Salesforce.

As Lead:

Managed the UX team, nurturing their growth and ensuring high performance.
Oversaw project execution, maintaining a focus on quality and adherence to timelines.
Fostered collaboration among stakeholders to champion user-centered design principles.
Led user research initiatives, utilizing insights to drive informed design decisions.
Established and upheld UX design standards to ensure consistency across platforms.
Managed prototyping, testing procedures, and ensured accessibility compliance.
Continuously drove improvement by monitoring industry trends and soliciting feedback.

In my role as Strategist:

I delved into comprehending business goals, target demographics, and market dynamics.
Conducted thorough user research to uncover pain points, unmet needs, and preferences among small business loan seekers, alongside competitive analysis.
Developed a strategic approach to modernize existing content in alignment with our brand and voice.
Devised a comprehensive plan for a full redesign, distinct from our native experience, on a platform such as Salesforce.

As Lead:

Managed the UX team, nurturing their growth and ensuring high performance.
Oversaw project execution, maintaining a focus on quality and adherence to timelines.
Fostered collaboration among stakeholders to champion user-centered design principles.
Led user research initiatives, utilizing insights to drive informed design decisions.
Established and upheld UX design standards to ensure consistency across platforms.
Managed prototyping, testing procedures, and ensured accessibility compliance.
Continuously drove improvement by monitoring industry trends and soliciting feedback.

Product Summary

Our Small Business Loan End-to-End Experience revolutionizes the lending process with a modern, human-centered design approach. We understand the challenges small business owners face when seeking financing, and our platform aims to simplify every step, from application to approval.

Key Features:

Intuitive Interface: Designed with small business owners in mind, our interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, ensuring a seamless user experience.
Personalized Guidance: Through smart algorithms and user data analysis, we provide personalized guidance and recommendations tailored to each business’s unique needs.
Streamlined Application: Our application process is streamlined and straightforward, guiding users through each stage with clarity and simplicity.
Efficient Document Management: Say goodbye to paperwork. Our platform allows for easy uploading and management of documents, eliminating the hassle and saving time.
Transparency: We believe in transparency throughout the lending process. Users are kept informed of their application status at every stage, receiving updates in real-time.

Benefits:

Simplicity: By leveraging a human-centered design approach, we simplify the loan experience, making it accessible and stress-free for small business owners.
Efficiency: Our streamlined process saves time and effort, allowing users to focus on running their businesses rather than navigating complex loan applications.

Our Small Business Loan End-to-End Experience is dedicated to simplifying the financing process and supporting the growth of our customers’ business.

Desirability · Feasibility · Viability

Discover: Stakeholder workshops, interviews, surveys, competitive scan, journey maps.
Define: Surface friction (buried nav, unclear progress, complex redemption); prioritize by value + tech constraints.
Design: New IA, visual rewards dashboard, prototyped flows; iterative usability testing.
Deliver: Paired with dev/Epsilon; shipped pixel-perfect UI + annotated specs.

I immersed myself in human-centered design principles throughout this project. My journey began with:

Conducting extensive discovery sessions where I analyzed customer feedback, NPS scores, surveys, and app store reviews. I remember one particularly eye-opening review that said, "I feel like I'm fighting with my banking app just to check my balance!"
Recruiting and testing with over 2,000 employees and customers in alpha and beta phases. One afternoon, I watched a customer struggle to dismiss a marketing message six times before giving up in frustration – that moment fundamentally changed our approach.
Creating clean wireframes that helped focus stakeholder conversations on user flows rather than visual details. This was crucial when presenting to senior leadership who initially wanted more promotional messaging.
Designing a new system of dismissible, contextual messaging that appeared naturally within relevant account and product areas. This represented a complete paradigm shift from the previous interruptive approach.
Through it all, I ensured our solutions were not only desirable to users but also technically feasible for our development team and viable for business stakeholders. Always keeping in mind desirability, feasibility, and viability

Product Execution for Phase One

In response to the problem statement, we executed several strategic approaches to achieve effective solutions:

We adopted a lean methodology, prioritizing essential features and functionalities to maximize value while minimizing time and resources.
Through an iterative design process, we rapidly prototyped and tested ideas, incorporating user feedback to continuously refine the solution.
Leveraging existing design elements and resources expedited the development process, reducing costs and streamlining implementation.
Embracing agile principles enabled us to break down the project into manageable tasks, fostering flexibility and collaboration among team members.
Conducting A/B research provided valuable insights into user preferences and behaviors, informing design decisions and optimizing the user experience.

These efforts culminated in the successful delivery of a solution for the digital application for small business loans, meeting user needs, aligning with business objectives, and optimizing resources effectively.

Small and Big Wins for HCD

Customer Experience

March saw a remarkable surge in submissions, reaching an all-time high of 1,240, demonstrating unprecedented engagement.
There was a significant achievement of a 2% reduction in drop-off rates within the same timeframe, indicating improved user retention and interaction.

Outcome of relationship building with the Small Business Team

The collaboration between the Human Centered Design (HCD) team and the Small Business Loan team has facilitated HCD’s expanded influence within the organization. Partnering closely with the Executive Heads of Commercial Digital Platform for Small Business, HCD now actively contributes to analyzing current roadmap items using a human-centered approach to prioritize initiatives aligned with overarching business goals. This milestone underscores the robust and trusting relationship cultivated with the Small Business Executive Team, highlighting their confidence in HCD’s methodologies and the value of human-centered design principles in driving business success and fostering customer-centric innovation.

Since Then: Full Product Release

Since this phase of the case study wrapped, we have released the full product and end-to-end flow. The complete Small Business Loan experience is now live, carrying the human-centered design foundation from this work into the final shipped product.

Screenshots of the final product and full flow are coming soon — I no longer have direct access to all of the release materials, so this section will be updated as I gather them.