ROI Modification | SharadBhasin.com

2024

INDIAGOLD GOLD LOANS

Streamlining Loan Interest Rate Reductions

About the product

indiagold is a gold loan B2C platform

My Role

UX Lead

Platform

Desktop web, Mobile App (ios, Android)

Main Project Goal

Enhancing Collaboration for Customer Support Teams, Credit Managers, and Lenders

THE PRODUCT

Indiagold offers a fast and convenient solution for obtaining loans against gold assets, featuring instant disbursement with minimal documentation and hassle-free processing. With flexible repayment options, the platform ensures secure storage of pledged gold until the loan is repaid, making it an efficient choice for immediate financial needs.

Indiagold has around 23,500 customers using their services.

Discovery

Background

In managing loans, retaining customers became increasingly challenging due to competitive interest rates offered by rival lenders. Missed installments led to an increase in the ROI as rebates were revoked, creating dissatisfaction among customers. Competitors capitalized on this by offering lower ROIs, prompting customers to consider loan transfers. Without regulatory restrictions on switching providers, the company needed to offer competitive interest rates to retain its customer base. Previously, interest rate modifications were handled manually via phone or email discussions with lenders, leading to delays in approvals and a negative customer experience. This lack of efficiency highlighted the need for a streamlined and collaborative solution.

Challenge

The existing process for adjusting interest rates was time-consuming and inefficient, causing delays that often led to customer churn.

Key challenges included:

Handling interest rate negotiations and approvals manually over phone or email.
An inability to respond quickly to competitor offers.
Limited visibility and communication between customer support, credit managers, and lenders.

Goals and Objectives

Create a seamless system for managing interest rate modifications collaboratively across teams.
Reduce approval times for interest rate adjustments, enabling faster customer retention efforts.
Eliminate dependency on phone or email communication with lenders.
Ensure a user-friendly experience for customer support teams and credit managers, minimizing delays and improving customer satisfaction.

Problem Definition

Research Insights

Customer Feedback:

Limited loan manager availability caused delays in document signing and ROI implementation.
Missed instalments led to rebate revocations and sudden ROI increases, prompting loan shifting.
The loan closure process for a lower ROI was cumbersome, requiring closing one loan and booking another.
Customer support delays due to high call volumes and dependencies frustrated users.

Stakeholder Discussion:

Through workshops with the Retention Team, Credit Managers, Loan Managers, and Lenders, we identified inefficiencies in the interest rate modification process, including manual approvals, redundant steps, and resource-intensive workflows.

To understand the challenges in offering lower interest rates and retaining customers, we explored the needs, goals, and pain points of all stakeholders involved in the process. These stakeholders include Loan Customers, the Retention Team, Credit Managers, Loan Managers, and Lenders.

Due to business constraints, direct feedback from loan customers wasn’t possible as interest rate modifications were not actively promoted within the app. Instead, we referenced reviews from the Google Play Store and App Store to extract user sentiments.

Pain Points

Loan Closure Dependency

Customers needed to close existing loans, paying principal and processing fees, to avail lower interest rates.

Time-Consuming Negotiations

Bargaining for lower interest rates caused back-and-forth discussions with no guaranteed outcome, consuming significant time and resources.

Physical Document Signing

Loan managers had to visit customers for physical signatures, causing further delays.

Multi-Stakeholder Dependencies

The process required coordination across customer support, credit managers, loan managers, and lenders, leading to inefficiencies and increased man-hours.

Scoping

Based on these insights, we defined the scope for the new solution:

Simplify and digitize the interest rate modification process.
Eliminate the need for loan closure and physical document signing.
Reduce negotiation loops by offering pre-approved interest rate reductions.
Minimize dependencies on multiple stakeholders for faster approvals and improved customer satisfaction.

This streamlined approach aims to enhance the overall experience for customers and internal teams while retaining users effectively.

Solution Design

Brain storming outcomes with team

After analyzing all the pain points, the team collectively brainstormed and identified key solutions to streamline the loan interest rate modification process:

Reduce Customer Support Interaction
- Overloading the support team leads to delays for both existing customers and new loan leads.
- Idea: Automate key processes and enable self-service options within the app to minimize dependency on customer support.
Eliminate Bargaining Loops
- Prolonged negotiations often waste time and resources without guaranteed results.
- Idea: Implement a system where Credit Managers can send pre-approved, final offers based on predefined parameters to streamline the decision-making process.
Avoid Loan Closure for ROI Updates
- Closing one loan and booking a new one for an interest rate change causes unnecessary friction and delays.
- Idea: Design a system to update ROI directly within the existing loan structure, avoiding redundant workflows.
Remove the Need for Physical Document Signing
- Physical visits by loan managers for signatures result in delays and inconvenience.
- Idea: Integrate a digital document signing solution to eliminate the need for in-person interactions and accelerate the process.

By addressing these points, the team focused on creating a seamless, efficient flow that benefits both users and internal stakeholders

User flow

We revised the user flows to incorporate the suggested improvements effectively.

Old Flow

New Flow

Final Design

Presenting a key screen here, highlighting the essential sections we’ve identified that have contributed to process improvements.

Conclusion

We streamline the ROI updating process by offering the best rate initially, leveraging a fully digitalised system for effective communication among stakeholders. The outcome is successful customer retention, encouraging continued loan engagement with us!