ClearScore: Open Banking
View website
Role
Product Designer
Year
2024
Team
Obi Molokwu, PM.
Raul Brito, iOS.
Florian Emile, Backend.
Jessica Opara, Frontend.
Codie Westphall, EM.
Tldr: The problem and solution
Many users come to ClearScore looking for the best loan offers but without connecting their bank account through Open Banking in the product, they’re only seeing part of the picture. Lenders on the other hand, struggle to access real-time, reliable data, leading to slow loan approvals, increased costs, and potential fraud.
Before this project, users were getting recommendations based solely on their credit profile, meaning they could be missing out on better rates or more suitable options.
To change that, I designed the test for a simple idea:
What if we made it easier and more natural for users to connect their bank accounts during the loans application flow?
The result? Over 20,000 people connected their accounts in just one month—unlocking more tailored, data-rich offers that better reflected their real financial habits. In fact, we saw a 12.5% improvement in loan offer accuracy, giving users more competitive, relevant options.
Understanding the users
To validate our hypothesis, I ran a usability study with 8 participants using a high-fidelity Figma prototype on DScout. How users interacted was observed, paying close attention to their confidence levels, hesitations, and overall understanding of why linking their account mattered. Insights were documented from these interviews.
Users understood the value of linking their accounts when it was framed around getting something better.
Most understood they needed to link their accounts every 90 days.
They needed clearer cues about the security and benefits of Open Banking.
How might we design the loans user flow?
After conducting the user research, I started to think about the actions and process the users might take to link their bank accounts within loans. What was the best entry point and way to help the user carry out the action?
The existing entry point was primarily the home page and accounts panel, which wasn't converting enough. The additional entry point we decided to explore was through the questions flow, which then led to the credit product offers page. The prompt couldn't be on the offers page, as the main purpose of the page was to show users the products they could apply for.
Design explorations
During ideation, I focused on making the accounts authentication process streamlined to minimize user drop-offs. The connection experience was designed to be frictionless and familiar, ensuring visual consistency with ClearScore's design language. It also considers the WCAG standards for accessibility.
This project had one limitation - the implementation stack! As of the time we were scoping this work, the implementation stack was being updated from Dynamic Form Systems to Server-driven UI architecture. The prompt design had to be as minimal as possible for easy implementation.
I created different design variants which I reviewed with the software engineers during implementation mapping. Some options were not feasible for the timeline of the project, but we settled on one that would deliver results.
The final design solution
To address the low Open Banking adoption, I introduced a seamless entry point in form of a visually distinct card embedded within the loans questions flow. The card clearly explained the benefit of connecting bank accounts and a clear call-to-action.
On clicking the call-to-action, the users are taken to a page that explains the benefits and how Open Banking works. If they choose to proceed, they are shown their accounts which they can then select and connect through their respective bank.
The feature was deployed across Android, iOS and web platforms to ensure consistent user experience across devices.
It was deployed at first to 50% of the UK user base as an A/B test with a control and test group. The primary metric measured was Open Banking connection rate, with a secondary metric of loans offer improvement rate.
The feature successfully validated the hypothesis, driving meaningful results. From Amplitude data received over the first month of the experiment, the new loans flow drove 20,000+ successful account connections. Users who connected their bank accounts received more tailored loan offers, leading to a 12.5% improvement in offer relevance.
The integration had no negative impact on overall marketplace performance, confirming the solution enhanced the experience without introducing friction.
And we won the best delivery in the marketplace mission for Q3 of 2024! 🚀
Following the success of the first accounts connection experiment, we went on to implement an iteration for relinking accounts. Users that have connected their accounts to Open Banking need to relink and stay connected to keep seeing better offers.
I designed the relink product experience for users whose account connections will expire after 90 days. It was important to communicate clearly the benefit of relinking their accounts.
One recommendation I thought of and designed was a tag showing the exact days left for the accounts expiry. This addition helps users to know the days left for relinking their accounts.
• Placing the Open Banking prompts in the natural user journey increased adoption without disruption the overall flow. The messaging emphasised benefits, making Open Banking more compelling.
• Increased Open Banking adoption led to better-matched offers, enhancing both user satisfaction and marketplace performance.
• The feature demonstrated how UX experiments informed by data can significantly impact product performance and business outcomes. Maintaining access through timely re-auth prompts ensures consistent data quality.