Project Description

A financial institution wanted to create a new 100% digital financial product for small business owners that would cater to their special needs. The team had already conceptualized two digital platform options for this purpose, however leadership was not confident about the product-market fit of these solutions since they hadn't catered to this specific population segment before. The segment was composed of hotel, restaurant, catering business and bodega owners (Usually addressed as "HORECA-BO" segment) whose needs revolved around a small margin business operation and whose degree of informality was very high. We conducted a user centered discovery process that involved two main stages: A very fast discovery stage, where we gathered insights about client's needs and context, and a second value proposition testing stage where we extracted a Value Proposition from the already designed solution and converted it into a business product concept (a marketing flyer and storyboard) and gathered feedback from the business owners.

Part of the projects' conclusions revolved around how using digital-only solutions for populations with a low level of digitalization could be very ineffective, and that digital could be included if *strategically mixed* with more a traditional sales approach (like door-to-door visitation techniques). Of course, one of the financial institution concerns included how to scale the sales channel without incurring in heavy sales costs to the operation, however, this concern had to be confronted with the harsh reality in which these business owners lived and how competitors relied on personal connections to sell loans and products.

Project Contribution

I co-led all aspects of the research and value proposition testing stages, working alongside another senior strategic designer. Conducted and documented in-depth interviews, manufactured both value proposition prototypes and worked side-by-side with the other designer in extracting research insights and finalizing a set of and recommendations.