People can get into debt and enter debt assistance programs for various reasons. This group is diverse: some are digitally savvy, others are not. A customer portal for citizens in debt must therefore be as user-friendly as possible. Kred'it, the specialist in debt assistance software, brought in WUA for UX research among this hard-to-reach target group.
Kred'it is the market leader in the software market for debt assistance. They develop solutions for municipalities, credit banks and organizations that help people with debt. Having debt causes worries and often unhealthy stress, explains Sietske Roozing, product owner at Kred'it. This makes keeping overview and processing information extra difficult for this target group. At the same time, there are also major differences in language skills and level. Software aimed at citizens must therefore comply with WCAG guidelines: designed and built to be accessible, usable and inclusive for everyone.
"We're not bol.com, it's not about commerce for us. With our software products for debt assistance, we want to help as many people as possible get out of debt. For that, accessibility is really essential: if a citizen doesn't understand what it says, then that entire function is gone. They will then email or call for small matters. That increases the workload for assistance providers and takes time away from more complex guidance." -- Sietske Roozing, Product owner
Kred'it is currently developing a customer portal for citizens. Communication, appointments and documents in one convenient place so that debt assistance becomes more efficient, faster and better. This brings a number of requirements:
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Provide complete insight into the debt situation
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Easily communicate with the debt counselor
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Clear explanations, texts and navigation
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Functions and autonomy tailored per resident
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Accessible for people with various limitations
All matters for which good user-friendliness and UX are indispensable. Kred'it went looking for a partner for usability expertise and quickly ended up with WUA. After speaking with four different parties, WUA gave the most confidence and insight into the process. Moreover, WUA understood how important it was to find the right people for the research.
'Getting the right people to speak'
Product development requires gathering feedback and finding out where exactly the value lies for users. But this is particularly difficult with the target group of people in debt: shame and stress often play a role. Debt assistance deals with sensitive matters, and asking a few product questions in that process can quickly become inappropriate. "It's a vulnerable target group," says Sietske. "But you do need feedback to be able to improve the software. You should never think you already understand the user!" WUA carefully aligned the selection criteria for the UX research with Kred'it. They found respondents who had been in debt or who had someone in their immediate environment with this background.
"WUA thought along very well with choosing test persons. You can't just publicly look for people with debt, for example. WUA still managed very well to find the right people. The test persons knew the processes of debt assistance and understood exactly with what feeling you use such a portal." -- Sietske Roozing, Product owner
Research without bias
Kred'it and WUA together determined the research questions, hypotheses, tasks and scenarios for the test persons. The research was conducted online, guided by WUA experts who observed the test persons with the think-aloud method. Sietske actively watched and listened: "You're a spectator of your own software. The interview is conducted by a neutral person who has nothing to do with our organization. It's not looked at from software or bias. You get very real feedback about whether something is frustrating or works nicely. You'll never receive that if you conduct this yourself."
Everyone has their own preference and opinion. By looking at the common threads, bottlenecks and improvement points become clear. Several points came sharply to the fore, such as the menu in the app version. The widely used hamburger menu consisting of three horizontal lines turned out not to be known to everyone. And a website page contained too much information, which discouraged further navigation. "An important button is the one with which users can request a payout from a savings pot," says Sietske. "We had called it 'pinning,' to make it as understandable as possible. That turned out not to be the most logical choice for the respondents, we had overdone it in applying B1 language use. 'Withdrawing money' is not B1 but is clearer."
"It was very nice to see how the WUA interviewers dealt with the test persons. It's very tempting to want to help someone with performing a task, but that's exactly what you shouldn't do. The interviewers had a good balance between patience and the conclusion that the task could not be completed and the test person could move on to the next task." -- Sietske Roozing, Product owner
From insight to impact
With all the insights gained, Kred'it could get to work immediately. A number of recommendations were implemented directly. For other points, it was chosen to shape those further with the first customers of the customer portal. "It's a completely new solution for us with a new target group. With these insights, we can ensure a better product with which people in debt can be better helped," concludes Sietske. "We're now also applying the learned principles to the rest of the software."
