Car refinance
The business wanted to enter the relatively untapped market of car refinance in the UK. We produced a service blueprint for an MVP rollout.
Team
1 x PM, 1 x PD (me), 1 x SD (service designer)
My role
Research, testing, UI+UX
2023
Landing page
This is what a potential customer is directed to after tapping our quote on a price comparison app.
Focus on sensitive customer needs:
- Build trust
- Highlight convenience
- Reinforce savings
Condition of the car
The user has to tell us about the current condition of their vehicle.
Making it easy:
- Minimal questions
- One/two-tap answers
- Tooltips for more info
Tailoring the quote
Customers can further customise their quote to make sure it’s the best deal for them.
Value & clarity:
- Feel in control
- Easy to adjust
- Dynamic quote updates
- Clear and informative
Starting point
Zopa was already offering Hire Purchase (HP) and Personal Contract Purchase car finance, so were well positioned to extend the offering to refinancing.
Challenge
We were granted a two month sprint to research, understand the technical and legal requirements, and ultimately produce a service blueprint for an MVP product.
Desk research & interviews
Refinance is currently a small market in the UK, so we were limited by what we could obtain through desk research. We gathered a report by Experian and a handful of websites.
We also identified that the refinance market was more mature in the US and this served as an important reference for us.
We knew speaking to people would be crucial, so we identified three groups to interview:
Key learnings
- Awareness and understanding of car refinance is extremely limited
- People find barriers to not refinance, such as having to deal with the car dealership, perceiving a long process and that they won’t get a better deal.
- Most people would want to see a 10% saving to encourage them to do it, but some are receptive to any saving (“it all add’s up”).
Opportunities
- Strongly promote car refinance to raise awareness
- Demonstrate an easy process to break initial inertia
- Digitise the experience wherever possible
- Minimise jargon to overcome uncertainty
- Highlight savings to drive home value
Landing page
This is what a potential customer is directed to after tapping our quote on a price comparison app.
Focus on sensitive customer needs:
- Build trust
- Highlight convenience
- Reinforce savings
Condition of the car
The user has to tell us about the current condition of their vehicle.
Making it easy:
- Minimal questions
- One/two-tap answers
- Tooltips for more info
Tailoring the quote
Customers can further customise their quote to make sure it’s the best deal for them.
Value & clarity:
- Feel in control
- Easy to adjust
- Dynamic quote updates
- Clear and informative
Outcome & reflections
This was a successful sprint in that we collectively produced a well-informed service blueprint, including a refined UX/UI customer journey all within the allotted time.
The project was put on hold whilst the car finance squad reassessed their strategy, but has been picked back up in 2025.
Research is key when entering a new market
- Be very clear on what you need to learn and structure accordingly.
- Dig deep on mental barriers to understand the “why’s”.
- Be prepared the look far and wide (US market).
Service blueprinting is valuable
- It’s enforces a structured approach, which keeps you organised and thorough.
- It’s a great tool for stakeholder management.
Starting point
Zopa was already offering Hire Purchase (HP) and Personal Contract Purchase car finance, so were well positioned to extend the offering to refinancing.
Challenge
We were granted a two month sprint to research, understand the technical and legal requirements, and ultimately produce a service blueprint for an MVP product.
Desk research & interviews
Refinance is currently a small market in the UK, so we were limited by what we could obtain through desk research. We gathered a report by Experian and a handful of websites.
We also identified that the refinance market was more mature in the US and this served as an important reference for us.
We knew speaking to people would be crucial, so we identified three groups to interview:
Key learnings
- Awareness and understanding of car refinance is extremely limited
- People find barriers to not refinance, such as having to deal with the car dealership, perceiving a long process and that they won’t get a better deal.
- Most people would want to see a 10% saving to encourage them to do it, but some are receptive to any saving (“it all add’s up”).
Opportunities
- Strongly promote car refinance to raise awareness
- Demonstrate an easy process to break initial inertia
- Digitise the experience wherever possible
- Minimise jargon to overcome uncertainty
- Highlight savings to drive home value
Landing page
This is what a potential customer is directed to after tapping our quote on a price comparison app.
Focus on sensitive customer needs:
- Build trust
- Highlight convenience
- Reinforce savings
Condition of the car
The user has to tell us about the current condition of their vehicle.
Making it easy:
- Minimal questions
- One/two-tap answers
- Tooltips for more info
Tailoring the quote
Customers can further customise their quote to make sure it’s the best deal for them.
Value & clarity:
- Feel in control
- Easy to adjust
- Dynamic quote updates
- Clear and informative
Outcome & reflections
This was a successful sprint in that we collectively produced a well-informed service blueprint, including a refined UX/UI customer journey all within the allotted time.
The project was put on hold whilst the car finance squad reassessed their strategy, but has been picked back up in 2025.
Research is key when entering a new market
- Be very clear on what you need to learn and structure accordingly.
- Dig deep on mental barriers to understand the “why’s”.
- Be prepared the look far and wide (US market).
Service blueprinting is valuable
- It’s enforces a structured approach, which keeps you organised and thorough.
- It’s a great tool for stakeholder management.