Lendu product design
We believe in better financing for SMEs in Australia and New Zealand
Lendu is a business financing marketplace for SMEs.
Challenge
How might we improve business financing for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)?
Objectives
Discover if there is an opportunity to improve financing for SMEs in Australia and New Zealand;
Use HCD methods to design a product concept and roadmap.
Role
UX/UI/Visual Design
Year
2020
Team
I was part of the core team along with a Venture Lead / PO, Graduate Designer, Technology Lead, and two Venture Architects.
We also had a UX Designer join for a short period to help with the discover and define stages, and a Service Designer provide mentorship in the final stages of creating the business case.
Approach
-
Research
We completed initial desk research into the business finance space to understand current options and decipher some finance jargon.Customer interviews
I worked with our grad designer to conduct 14 customer interviews with small and medium business owners to understand their finance experience and needs.Survey
We conducted a survey of 190 SMEs in Australia and New Zealand to understand key needs, painpoints and how they access finance.Competitor analysis
We mapped the current options for SMEs based on our learnings from the interviews and survey. We then deep dived into the experience of gaining funding and collated all our learnings to map current customer journeys. -
Synthesis
We synthesised the data from interviews and the survey.Archetypes
Creation of business archetypes understanding funding needs and pain points.Journey maps
Creation of current customer journey map for accessing finance.Hypotheses
Team workshops and individual ideation to create testable hypotheses. -
Prototype and test
Low fidelity prototype created and tested with SMEs.Pivot
Testing insights revealed a new audience segment to consider, so we completed 9 additional customer interviews.Brand workshop
Brand positioning workshop with the team to inform visual design for real world testing and as part of the business case for how the product would position in market.Brand blueprint
Creation of foundational brand identity and assets.EOI testing
Targeted EOI campaigns run on LinkedIn and Facebook to test value proposition and product feature ideas.Prototype and test
Medium fidelity prototype created and tested with all audience groups and validating key desirability hypotheses. -
Customer journeys
Three future customer journeys were created for our audience segments that included customer story, key touchpoint features, empathy map and persona needs summary.Brand blueprint
The brand blueprint was created to illustrate the product potential in market and have a beginning style and name to use for further investigation.High fidelity screens
UI screens created to illustrate the key product flows.Product roadmap
A product roadmap was created, including MVP launch product definition and scale opportunity timeline.
Outcomes
Brand blueprint
A foundation brand blueprint based off a competitor analysis and team workshop to define initial positioning and personality
UI prototype
Product concept UI prototype ready to be iterated and refined with further testing and product definition
Business case approval
The business case was presented to the board and approved for further funding and investigation.