Wizard

Image of Wizard Home Loans web site home page

Wizard Home page

Our challenge was to redesign the Wizard Home Loans site to double the number of high-quality leads generated, help direct more business to Wizard franchises (branches), and provide those franchises with a site that can transact business.

The new site also had to provide a more scalable navigation system, able to handle additional products, and yet retain the distinctive Wizard branding and consumer (non-bank) feel of the previous-generation site.

Uncovering customers' emotional hot buttons

Exploratory usability testing of the old site helped us identify problems and customer needs. We found that borrowers felt very differently about a non-bank lender like Wizard than they did about the "big four" banks.

For example, they were concerned about how they might be treated by Wizard – many had had poor experiences when dealing with banks.

We made sure we included structures and mechanisms in our redesign to specifically address their worries. We validated these through:

  • Paper prototyping of early design concepts, with progressive design refinements based on customer feedback in participatory design sessions
  • Exploration of visual design concepts to overlay the information & interaction design for the site, including evaluation with customers

...and then again with further usability testing after launch of the new site.

Wizard Compare and save mechanism

The comparison calculator mechanism was one of the ways we helped customers feel more comfortable. This mechanism puts people in the driver's seat, by enabling them to immediately compare what Wizard is offering with what the competition offers. Customers loved the convenience of this, and the openness that it demonstrates on the part of Wizard.



 

Result: double online loan applications

Hiser’s interaction design focused on meeting customers’ needs: answering their questions, providing the information they need in ways that work for them, and building their confidence in the site and in Wizard as a mortgage provider.

The redesign was completed in mid-2001, and the site continues successfully today in almost identical form.