Business Credit Card Application

I designed and launched BMO's first online credit card application.

My role

Product designer

Duration

2020-2021

Platform

Web

Team

Product, engineering, business analysts, research, content, legal, marketing

Project goals

Create a consumer-facing application using the in-branch application's backend system

Design an application that can be completed in five minutes or less

Create a dynamic application that can be used across products

The challenge

In 2020 I designed and launched an internal small business lending platform for BMO bankers called Business Banking Express (BBX). This platform enabled bankers to apply for small business loans and lines of credit for their customers in about 30 minutes.

The next step was to create customer-facing versions of the lending and deposit applications so customers can skip the branch entirely and apply online.

BMO only had branches in nine states at the time so launching online applications was an important step in growing their US footprint.

The next step was to create customer-facing versions of the lending and deposit applications.

BMO only had branches in nine states at the time so launching online applications was an important step in growing their US footprint.

Who were we targeting?

👤

Small business owners

🇺🇸

US citizens, 18+ years old

📑

Corporation (S or C), sole prop, or LLC

📈

Revenue cannot exceed $10 million per year

How might we design a seamless application experience that customers can complete in five minutes or less?

Building the happy path flow

The in-branch BBX credit card application flow

Credit card happy path flow

Updates after reviewing with product

Wireframes

A one page application

During a competitive audit I noticed most of BMO's competitors have one page business credit card applications. I thought a one page application could give the customers a better idea of what to expect, but wasn't sure how well it would work with dynamic questions and error handling.

I put business info before personal info here—clearly I wasn't convinced of my own choice 🤣

Challenges emerge

As I was designing the main screens of the flow I noticed the landing page and approval page kept accumulating content and requirements as the days and meetings went on. I thought the legal info and rates and fees attestation made it seem like we were asking a lot of the customer for only providing their email address to get started.

The approval page kept accumulating steps and I assumed most customers would drop off as soon as they knew they were approved. I started to think about moving these steps to pre-approval, but usability testing was scheduled and I didn't have time to make updates.

Usability testing

I worked with a UX researcher to test the happy path with five small business owners. Tests were remote and moderated. I attended all sessions and took notes.

Goal:

Explore small business owner expectations for a business credit card application and solicit feedback on the flow.