Sustainable business assessment and advisory (SBAA)
Environmental Service
Rabobank is one of the main banks in the Netherlands and has the ambition to be the bank of green transition. In order to achieve this goal Rabobank needs to decarbonizing its indirect emissions, necessitating a review of the sustainable performance of its portfolio of clients (SME).
ROLE: UX/UI Designer
TEAM: 1 designers, 4 developers, 1 PM, 2 POs, 4 sustainability consultants
DURATION: 4 months (MVP delivery)
SUMMARY: I created a platform for Rabobank that connects their sustainability consultants with SME. The platform includes: an online assessment to calculate SME’s environmental footprint, an internal portal where SME can access their results and an internal portal where Rabobank consultants can track and manage the results. By following the Design Thinking approach, I conducted exploratory research, facilitated a workshop with key stakeholders to address challenges, developed different designs, and conducted user testing against usability metrics.
GOAL
To inform SME about their sustainability performance and support them into decreasing CO2 emissions.
Aligned with the EU's climate targets, Rabobank has set ambitious goals to curtail carbon emissions. By 2030, the bank aims to achieve a significant 55% reduction in carbon emissions, while striving for complete carbon neutrality by 2050.
PROBLEM
The way Rabobank is collecting data is labour intensive and not user friendly.
When it comes to how the process is handled, Rabobank kicks things off by directly reaching out to the SME. If a SME show interest in the initiative, they receive a link to a landing page where they can find more information, after that Rabobank consultants get in touch and hand them an Excel sheet loaded with questions about their business activities. The goal here is to gather data on how sustainable they are. But, truth be told, this process wasn't very user-friendly and leaned heavily on consultant support.
1- Reach out to SME
2- Send link to landing page
3- Contact SME to start the process
4- Collect data through excel sheets
5- Analyze data and propose solutions
PROCESS
The Design Thinking approach.
1.
Discovery
Organizing a workshop with relevant stakeholders to discover main issues in the process.
2.
Define
Identifying and prioritizing the main issues to work on first.
3.
Develop
Creating design proposals based on information collected during the workshop and following best practices.
4.
Delivery
FInalize the designs based on the users’ feedback.
DESIGN THINKING
1. Discovery phase
I tracked SME entire journey, starting from when the Rabobank consultants first reached out to them, all the way to when they receive their sustainability performance. After that, I organized a workshop and invited Rabobank’s consultants, project managers (PMs), and product owners (POs). The purpose of the workshop was to uncover problems in each stage of the journey and brainstorm snappy solutions that could be turned into features to test out.
DESIGN THINKING
2. Define phase
Me and the PM came to the agreement that the phase where SME check the results is a make-or-break moment. After dedicating much time in answering questions about their business, SME expects insightful results. This is the point where clients either stick around or bail out, so it's absolutely essential to nail the design for this part.
Challenge: the information presented should be enough to convince SME to take the next steps.
#Makemedream
During the workshop, stakeholders identified various opportunities, which were then organized into clusters and transformed into "How might we?" questions. These questions served as a foundation for generating ideas to address the design challenge. Through collaborative efforts, we categorized the ideas into seven macro groups:
Comparing with competitors
Interactive graphs
Interactive partners
Timeline & scenarios
Regulations
Extra links & information
Quick actions & small adjustments
DESIGN THINKING
3. Develop phase
I designed two distinct proposals for the result page, taking into account all the insights we gathered during the workshop. These designs were crafted with the specific needs of target audience in mind. The proto personas were created by collecting data from the conversations that Rabobank sustainability consultant had with the SME.
Proud Paul, CEO
• Proud of his company and of course himself
• He has little time to dedicate to sustainability
• Reactively involved in sustainability because customers or regulations demand it
• Overwhelmed by the complexity of sustainability
Involved Ingrid, Sustainability Advisor
• The first sustainability employee at Paul’s company
• Advodate of sustainability
• Able to link sustainability to business
• Very analytical and into the details
Option 1
Option 2
USER TESTING
Testing two variants to measure best conversion.
To assess the effectiveness of the two options, I conducted split user testing to determine which one would lead to higher conversion rates and facilitate SME in taking the next steps. Using a qualitative approach, I gathered feedback from a total of 16 end users to gain valuable insights into their preferences and behaviors.
6 Sustainability consultant
Tested option 1
6 CEO
Tested option 2
2 Sustainability consultant
Tested option 2
2 CEO
Tested option 1
“ There is too much text, I don’t have the time to read all of it, just give the highlights and the option to read more “ - Proud Paul (CEO)
“ What does this timeline indicate? I clicked on it but nothing happened “ - Proud Paul (CEO)
“ I don’t understand this pie chart, isn’t the goal to reach 55% sustainable energy by 2030? This pie chart seems to be saying we gotta go all the way to 100% sustainable. “ - Involved Ingrid (Sustainability consultant)
“ The colors used in the pie chart are misleading. I see blue and orange are used for different topics “ - Involved Ingrid (Sustainability consultant)
USER TESTING
Option 2 emerged as the most effective alternative.
After analyzing the results, Option 2 emerged as the most effective alternative. The success of this option was measured by the number of SME who expressed their willingness to schedule an appointment with a Rabobank sustainability consultant, signifying their intention to proceed further.
Option 1
Conversion 25%
Cons:
• The excessive amount of text hinders users from easily understanding the information.
• Design problems hinder the correct interpretation of the chart.
• The color scheme needs to be reassessed.
• Policies and regulations are perceived as less significant compared to other elements.
Pros:
• Users can directly witness the impact of their actions on the 2030 goal.
• The inclusion of a link to the supplier's page proves helpful in accessing additional information.
Option 2
Conversion 50%
Cons:
• Design problems hinder the correct interpretation of the chart.
• Policies and regulations are perceived as less significant compared to other elements.
• The functionality and operation of the timeline are unclear to users.
• The color scheme requires a review and potential improvement.
Pros:
• The text has been made more concise, enabling users to easily understand and process information.
• The interactive pie charts enhance user engagement and provide more comprehensive information.
SECOND USER TESTING
Option 3 has the best conversion rate.
I implemented all the feedback and created a new variant, called Option 3. To ensure its effectiveness, I conducted a comparison test with Option 2, measuring their respective conversion rates.
Option 2
Option 3
“ I would like to see what is the ROI for each of these actions. “ - Proud Paul (CEO)
“ I want to know more about the financial investment so I think I would like to schedule a call with a consultant. “ - Proud Paul (CEO)
“ I really like this pie chart, it gives me a clear picture of the investment amount, the sustainability impact, and the timeline involved. “ - Involved Ingrid (Sustainability consultant)
“ Would it be possible to make a comparison with other suppliers to pick the best one? “ - Involved Ingrid (Sustainability consultant)
Option 2
Conversion 50%
Cons:
• Design problems hinder the correct interpretation of the chart.
• Policies and regulations are perceived as less significant compared to other elements.
• The functionality and operation of the timeline are unclear to users.
• The color scheme requires a review and potential improvement.
Pros:
• The text has been made more concise, enabling users to easily understand and process information.
• The interactive pie charts enhance user engagement and provide more comprehensive information.
Option 3
Conversion 63%
Cons:
• Users are not able to compare costs and benefits across multiple suppliers.
• The rate of investment is not available.
• Additional financial details are required to improve the conversion rate.
Pros:
• The color scheme is clear and visually appealing.
• Users can easily interpret important information such as the investment timeline and associated costs.
• The call to action placed under financial information contributes to higher conversion rates.
DESIGN THINKING
4. Delivery phase
I took the feedback from the end users and made revisions accordingly, merging the two designs into a single one. Finally, I created design components and delivered them to the developers, who implemented them under my design supervision.
Current scenario
The graphs present the user's current sustainable performance, based on data collected from a questionnaire previously filled in.
Industry standards comparison
The users are able to compare their sustainability performance with the sustainability standards of the industry they belong to.
Future situation
This section highlights actionable steps to reduce the business's environmental impact and its impact on achieving the goal of a 55% CO2 reduction by 2030.
Policies and regulations
Here, the users can check which sustainability policies or regulations will have a direct impact or their business in the short and long term.
End of the funnel
At the end of the report, users can either contact a consultant or take another assessment.
CONCLUSIONS
Learnings
1 - Copy: The consultants tended to use excessive text, which made the content challenging to digest. To address this issue, we implemented character limitations and collaborated with a Product Owner to supervise the copy content. This approach significantly improved the quality of the copy by making it more concise and user-friendly.
2 - Product roadmap: Injecting user needs into the product roadmap early in the product development process is crucial to avoid a feature-focused product. To promote a user-centric approach, I advocated for the inclusion of user needs in the product roadmap. This made it more tangible and clear to understand how specific features satisfy the identified user needs. By aligning the roadmap with user-centricity, we ensured a more targeted and meaningful product development journey.
