Project SAIV
Designer in a small product incubation team
2018 - 2019
Same mission, new customers. Project SAIV aimed to incubate new, differentiated products that address emerging mindsets about money and Visa’s mission to enable customers to thrive. After large amounts of research, persona-focused ideation, and product workshops, SAIV took shape as a group-based financial digital product for informal economies driven by community groups. The journey of incubation and hard work culminated to a successful executive pitch for go-to-market funding.
CHALLENGE
Driving towards our mission
With the belief that our products should fulfill and demonstrate the mission of our company, Project SAIV aimed to generate new products that fully embody Visa’s mission to resonate with future consumers. Observing general shifts in people’s mindsets about finances, we conducted 100+ research interviews with consumers, Visa’s clients, partners, and employees to unveil the universal forces that are transforming the way people manage their financial lives.
Personas embodying new, on-the-fringe attitudes; we eventually focused on emerging market families
PROCESS
Ideation and balance
Using in-depth personas, our team ideated product experiences that addressed the new needs and attitudes towards money. There was no shortage of ideas—start-a-business kits, charity pairing at each card swipe, wellness bands with lifestyle coaches, virtual small business advisors, and credit building household chores—we learned that balancing scope, time, and the right level of action was key. I created customer journeys and storyboards for our three top voted ideas, and we finalized on a group-based financial management concept for emerging market families for productization.
Storyboard snapshots about a Bangladeshi family building credit together
OUTCOME
SAIV takes shape
We validated our ideas by interviewing consumers in Manila, Kenya, and Mumbai, especially about the emotional effects and social dynamics of groups acting financially together. We also measured the potential demand through a landing page test in two markets to size the opportunity. With all the research data in hand, I designed and prototyped a user experience that would digitally facilitate savings, peer lending, payments, and splitting expenses for groups. Our team converged all our research findings, validation tests, business cases, and product experience into one mission-driven narrative pitch to C-level executives for our new product, SAIV.
REFLECTION
Advocacy and empathy
Successful incubation not only takes good ideas, but also doing things differently and advocating a new process. Just as we embraced our customers’ new attitudes towards money, we also had to push ourselves and other stakeholders to take a consumer-first mindset—such as trusting generative research to identify problems and using customer satisfaction as target for longer-term commercial value. This new culture starts with building empathy for our customers, for each other, and embracing our diverse perspectives towards a greater solution.