As we entered 2020, I felt that we were on the cusp of an interesting phase in the evolution of digital experiences within the mortgage sector.

The new breed of digital-first propositions (brokers and lenders) had started to mature and show signs of growth, so incumbents were reassessing how they needed to adapt with some already on their way with others making steps to do so.

Despite the year not turning out quite as anyone could foresee, but with the dust now starting to settle (hopefully), the importance of digital channels has never been clearer, especially with the experiences and knock-on effects during the pandemic likely to shape how we all work and interact digitally going forward.

Coping during the crisis

One factor we are seeing time and time again is peaks and troughs of demand (payment holidays, new mortgage applications etc.).

This is difficult to manage at the best of times, but with staff needed in other areas still furloughed or – due to cost pressures – no longer in the business, there is a degree of a perfect storm currently.

At Dock9, we have been monitoring how businesses have coped during the crisis and it’s clear that those who invested in slick, automated experiences pre-Covid have broadly managed – at times of unprecedented demand – well. They have been able to switch focus quickly to cope with immediate pressures.

However, many, at the same time, have struggled with their digital and offline channels being swamped leaving customers with an unsatisfactory experience when they most needed assurance and support.

Usability test

With the lessons learned still fresh, now is the perfect time to give your digital channels a health check, test your end to end customer experience with real users, and identify the changes required to serve your customers better than ever before.

The initial step I recommend for all organisations looking to improve their digital user experiences is to run a usability test with actual customers.

In the old world of website design and IT project delivery the process was fundamentally focused on the opinions of people within a business, and their understanding of the requirements.

Similarly, designs and prototypes would be tested within the team (and sometimes with friends and family, for a second opinion). This enabled personal biases and assumptions to drive digital project delivery.

Running a usability test in a controlled environment, with actual users, can often blow those assumptions out of the water and be a real eye-opener.

Performing the test

There are a number of different methods for performing usability testing, the most common method of which is to set up a one-day, lab-based usability test.

Lab-based ‘user testing’ is a qualitative research method, used to gauge how easy and intuitive a product is to use and to determine what your users actually do, rather than what they say they do.

Typically six users are invited in for a one hour slot each (for which they are normally paid a cash incentive to take part).

They are set a number of tasks on the website that you define for the facilitator in advance. The facilitator communicates the task to the user and then stays quiet and watches the user attempt to complete the task.

Lab hire, facilitation and user incentives typically cost around £2,500 and it can be done remotely too.

Although some aspects are better and more insightful within a full lab environment, we’ve been successfully running exclusively remote user tests during the last few months as testing requirements have ramped up given the renewed focus on digital services for many companies.

Valuable insights

If a user gets stuck on a task the facilitator asks why, and it is often at these moments that critical pieces of information are found. Through this process an experienced facilitator can help tease out valuable insights from your users, which can often be an eye opener.

In addition to being able to view the sessions live in an adjacent room or online, these sessions are recorded (both the screen, webcam and audio).

Clips of the key moments can be shared in internal meetings with other project stakeholders and can be really useful at cutting through the politics and personal views within a project.

This process can be even more powerful when applied to the design and prototyping stages of a new project, enabling you to get feedback from real users before anything is actually built.

In the coming weeks, I will outline the further areas that should be considered within a digital Health Check, so stay tuned.

Mark Lusted is the managing director of Dock9