THE CHALLENGE

Digital River provides global ecommerce and payment solutions. When the United Kingdom approved financing as an available payment method during a checkout flow, HTC’s VIVE virtual reality system product owners requested that this option be added to their ecommerce site.

UK financial services regulations include strict parameters regarding the marketing of financing options. The project team needed to adhere to these guidelines wherever the financing offer appeared on the VIVE website.

MY ROLE

UX architect

THE SOLUTION

Digital River partnered with Divido, a British financial services technology company, to facilitate financing as a payment option for purchases made through HTC’s VIVE website.

I designed and prototyped a responsive web experience for selecting the financing option during checkout, applying for credit, and accepting terms and conditions of the financing agreement.

The financing option on the VIVE website was introduced in the cart and included a link to view terms and additional details as required by UK financial services regulations, which are rather conservative regarding copy and type treatment.

For example, type size for the financing offer (the “9.9% APR for £32.55/month” above the checkout button in the screenshot below) can be no larger than the type size for an item or total price. (Please note that I’ve truncated irrelevant portions of some mobile screens to highlight the financing elements.)

The financing option required changes to checkout screens, such as the regulation that billing and shipping addresses be the same. Access to financing details (“More info” links) was still required at this point in the purchase flow.

The Verify Order step reflected that the user had selected the financing option by presenting a “Proceed to Credit Application” button (rather than “Place Order”).

Divido’s credit application initially comprised four separate screens. I simplified the layout to accommodate the entire credit application on one screen and prevent a user from using their device’s “back” buttons to review or change information.

Once financing was approved (typically within minutes), the user reviewed and accepted the financing terms and conditions and was then presented with their order confirmation.

THE RESULTS

Once the UK solution was implemented (three months after my contract was completed), I was informed that HTC US introduced the experience I designed for financing a phone purchase. Financing options were presented on product pages and if selected there, persisted when the user began the checkout flow.