Simon Heather

Scotiabank // Designing and operationalizing a new retail banking experience.

My Role: Design Lead

Challenge

To design a new branch experience in Latin America and Canada, as part of an effort to transform Scotiabank’s branch network to be more relevant and differentiated in an environment where all bank branches essentially looked and operated in the same fashion.

Approach

I lead a cross functional team through immersive user research in 4 latin american markets, probing attitudes and behaviors as regards their finances, their relationships with their banks, and their daily habits, before developing a number of concepts and later prototyping these in Mexico. Scotiabank’s original intention had to optimize the banking experience through improving the queuing experience, but we saw an opportunity to create a new kind of branch experience, shifting the emphasis from transactions to education, dialogue and connections based around customer need, thereby winning trust back with consumers.

Outcome

Our proposition posited the branch as a place of learning and connection, quite different from any competitors,  with design interventions across the branch space, literature, tools, and service. Key features were to develop the branch as a social space, with heavy event programming in financial eduction and introducing new roles such as a greeting concierge. 

The branch vision was piloted successfully in Mexico City, where Scotiabank launched the first four pilot branches of the new design, sales have increased significantly (35% median growth); teller transactions have decreased, and net promoter scores are similar or considerably above the branch network benchmark of 43%. Roll-out has began across the branch network across Latin America. In subsequent phases of work, I worked with senior managers to develop a transition strategy across other branches in their network.

https://designawards.core77.com/Service-Design/64660/Reimagining-the-Branch-Experience