RBC → Help Centre
The new RBC help centre page that includes a chat feature supporting roughly 8 million digitally active RBC customers by allowing them to self serve and connect with a banking associate.
Dates
December 2022 - May 2023
Role
Design Lead
Team
Franz T, Lara S, Kellie M, Jenica V, Jonathan G
Problem Statement
Today, the Customer service page is not easy to access and does not fulfil the needs of RBC clients. HMW support our clients and enable them to self-serve to complete/answer their banking needs, without having to visit a branch, or call the Advice Centre?
Deliverable
The new customer service page will allow users the capability to self serve.
Competitor Research
It was essential to look at other financial institution resource centres to see and analyze how they were providing services to clients. I conducted a swot analysis to evaluate the key features, better understand issues, set goals & create an action plan.
Unmoderated User Testing
Goals
I wanted to also understand how users were interacting with the current customer service page, map the current navigation and to also understand mental models around chat and search features to create empathy and inform current work.
Methodology
User interviews
20 Participants were recruited through the UserTesting Panel for unmoderated interviews.
Criteria - age between 30-50 (based on live data from the Advice Centre), primary online banking channel is web, active on the website.
Based on conversations we learned about the wide range of products this clientele has with RBC.
Findings
Search
Positive
Can help with FAQs/Generic questions (e.g. see balance, reset password, simple how-to questions)
For some people, this option is faster than using an automated chatbot
Negative
Irrelevant results
Long lists of deep links that require customers to manually look through every one of them
Not good for “specific” and “complex” questions
Chat
Positive
Can help with FAQs/Generic questions (e.g. see balance, reset password, simple how-to questions)
For some people, this option is faster than using the search bar
Chatbot can “handle” things for you and point you in the right direction if you don’t know what you’re looking for (reframe questions)
Good option for customers who want things in writing
Better option than the phone for customers with social anxiety / language barrier / hearing issues
Perceived as more secure than calling while on-the go (no need to say PIN out loud in public)
Negative
For some customers, chatbots slow down the process
Not good for specific and “complex” questions
Some customers feel better understood over the phone
general
Entry point: Bottom right (1st option), Customer Service Page (2nd choice), near the search bar - based on experience on other websites
The expectation is to be redirected to a live agent immediately if the chatbot can’t handle one’s questions (e.g. specific/complex questions)
People like live chats because they are annoyed with our wait times on the phone
Customer Service vs Contact Us - Confusion about the page’s name
Hypothesis
If we redesign the customer service page then we need to build a seamless and accessible experience for our clients and provide online support because clients cannot find what they are looking for.
Next Steps
HMW design a solution that caters to our customers’ triggers?
HMW make the entry point to the chat more accessible by reframing the Customer Page’s purpose?
HMW enable chat to be a strong avenue of support for our clients?
HMW enable our clients to complete their banking needs without having to visit the branch or call customer support?
Heuristic evaluation
Using Nielsen’s usability heuristics I evaluated the customer service page as a whole seeing what worked and what didn't keeping the user feedback in mind.
Design Limitations
Cannot remove important links
Still need to make sure clients try to self serve first before chatting/calling/booking an appointment
Limited capacity for advisors
Follow a similar structure as mobile
North Star Design Thinking
Once I had all the user feedback, and data from all the research initiatives it was time to put the design thinking hat on. I organized jam sessions with other team members so we could organize our thoughts, ideate, discuss and proceed with the design phase.
Renaming Workshop
Because users did not resonate with the customer service page and were using google search extensively to look for rbc queries, it was crucial to give the page a new identity. I compiled a list of terms associated with customer service and had the group vote on the naming convention and why. Help Centre got the most positive votes.
Wireframes Lo-Fi
Now for the fun part. My teammates and I started brainstorming and putting together different versions of the Help Centre using common design elements. We tried a few different layouts and played around with the hierarchy of the page.
MVP Lo-fi
After much deliberation we finalized the structure and look and feel of how the new Help Centre should look.
MVP Hi-fidelity
Search was the most used feature of the page so I decided it was important to highlight it. I looked at the RBC illustration library and found a lighthouse illustration that best depicted search.
We also omitted the least used sections of the old customer service page and brought forth the most popular searches, categories, and useful links so clients can look for information very quickly. This was also influenced by the metrics we received from the advice centre.
Usability Testing
Goals
The next step was to test the newly designed page to:
(1) Expose major usability issues
(2) Understand if we need to add anything new to the page
Methodology
9 Participants were recruited through the UserTesting Panel for moderated tests.
Criteria - Customers whose primary online banking channel is web, active on the website.
Usability Testing Results: How was the Help Centre page perceived?
Positive
Customers understand the purpose of the page and think the name reflects it
Customers were happy to see the “Contact Us” section
Customers mentioned that the search functionality is very important to them
The flow and the iconography were mentioned as positive things
Key Insights
Customers understand the page’s main two purposes: To be a self-serve tool and a means to find RBC’s contact details
The search bar and the “Contact Us” sections were seen as the most important ones by most customers. There perception of the middle section is a bit more subjective
There was a willingness to see different levels of personalization on the page (e.g. customer’s name, personalized links, etc.)
There wasn’t a lot mentioned about the chat’s entry point. Potentially because it’s where customers expected it
Asynchronous Chat
The next phase was to implement the Async Chat functionality which would provide RBC clients the ability to fulfill financial needs by speaking with an advisor while logged into their account.
From our research we knew that a chatbot can assist users quickly without having to rely on calling the advice centre and as call volumes are high the waiting time is longer.
I mapped out the the user’s interaction with the async chat feature.
Following RBC’s brand guide and referencing the different business use cases, my teammates and I started experimenting with the look and feel of the chatbot feature.
Asynchronous Chat MVP
The final version of the async chat. Clients have the option of choosing from a list of topics that could assist them with their banking needs.
Clients also have the ability to type “speak to an agent” if they wish to chat with a human directly rather than interacting with a bot.
Final Designs
The Help Centre & Async chat feature was finally ready to be shared with the development team.
Mobile breakpoint