Low Lay Hiang
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Regional Premier Account Onboarding

Joining Premier usually starts with an invitation, and today a Relationship Manager (RM) guides customers through it in person. We designed for two kinds of customer:

  1. New to the bank: customers the bank doesn’t know yet.
  2. Upgrading to Premier: existing customers the bank already knows.

Whichever door they come through, we wanted joining to feel simple and well supported, with or without an RM beside them. For the bank, this means capturing wealth customers early.

Role
Service Design Lead
Countries
Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong
Recognition
3 Awards
Premier onboarding screens: the confirmation that details were received, the Premier welcome page and the Premier app home, beside a man in a suit holding his phone

Reframe the problem

Initially, the two journeys came to us as separate projects. I took the lead in connecting the dots, so we reframed them and used the research to meet the needs of both projects:

  • Why customers want Premier in the first place
  • What the criteria are to join the programme
  • How customers become aware of Premier and find out about it
  • How easy it is to apply to Premier

Understand the current state

RMs are the people who interact with customers first-hand, so I spoke to three of them to understand:

  • Why customers join Premier
  • How RMs welcome customers today
  • How a self-service experience would change RMs’ work, and what worries them
How the RM sessions ran: inviting RMs to the research lab, walking them through the self-upgrade prototype, then consolidating their feedback on a board Why customers join Premier: what new-to-Premier customers value most, and what motivates existing customers to upgrade

We learnt from Relationship Managers

  1. RMs are not confident that customers can complete the information to standard, and expect to make a follow-up call to support them.
  2. Evaluating net worth requires trained judgement, and customers may not fully disclose their finances, which complicates due diligence.
  3. RMs are unsure who is responsible for the customer due diligence (CDD) write-up, and revisiting the conversation could feel unpleasant for customers.
  4. Because of the lack of reviews and checks, RMs are uncertain whether customers can be upgraded or onboarded to Premier instantly.
How self-service would change the RM workflow: today’s multi-step process with RM judgement and manager approval, against instant approval in the self-upgrade journey

We know these learnings must be addressed in the screen designs and in the operations and processes behind them.

Validate ideas early, learn and iterate

I asked eight overseas customers to complete a task from start to finish: finding out about Premier services on the website, applying to join Premier on the app, then sharing their expectations after applying.

We learnt from customers

Website

  1. Customers needed clearer steps before joining the Premier programme:
    • Steps to open the account
    • Eligibility
    • Benefits for overseas customers
    • Higher-interest products
    • How to transfer money into the account, and the transfer fee

Mobile

  1. Customers were more willing to self-serve through the app because it is convenient and allows application tracking.
  2. Customers missed that it was a two-step application process, with a verification call from an RM later.
  3. Customers were reluctant to declare their source of income and wealth without assistance.

Verification from the Bank

  1. On verification, customers expected prior notice before receiving a call from the bank.
Findings from testing the website, app and verification steps, with customer quotes and suggested changes

These learnings were then shared with the upgrade journey, to further streamline its steps.

The Upgrading-to-Premier app screens, from the value proposition through employment, tax residency, card and terms to the welcome and home screens

Launch and measure

Before launch, we sat down with the teams who touch Premier customers: marketing, sales acquisition, the contact centre and channel owners. We walked through how things really work behind the scenes: the processes, where systems hand over, and what customers face and interact with.

We encouraged everyone to ask questions openly, so the ambiguity surfaced early instead of after launch. Settling those questions together means customers don’t get a patchy journey, and teams can prepare for launch.

Service blueprint from the multi-channel workshop for the Premier upgrade, mapping each channel across the customer journey

Recognition