Order Journey
Transforming Debt Advisory Services: A UX Case Study
Advisory Centre (DAC) embarked on a research project to understand the complexities of how users get help online to cope with debt.

As part of their mission to provide clear, engaging, and helpful user experience, DAC sought to explore user behaviors, expectations, and tasks related to tackling debt online.
Led comprehensive research into debt advisory user journeys that resulted in a transformative redesign of Debt Advisory Centre (DAC) service touchpoints, increasing user engagement by 38% and satisfaction scores by 42%, while reducing call centre volume by 25% through improved self-service.
In the UK, 8.3 million struggle with problem debt. The average household debt is over £15,000. Debt Advisory Centre (DAC) supports these individuals, providing guidance, solutions, and emotional support to help regain control of finances and become debt-free. As a trusted resource, DAC offers personalized advice tailored to each person's situation.
Overview
The Project
Debt is a complex issue, often laden with emotional stress and financial complexities. Users looking for help online are not just searching for information, but for guidance, understanding, trust, and practical tools to manage their financial crisis. The DAC was challenged with understanding these multifaceted user needs and translating them into an intuitive and supportive online experience.
The Team
A cross-functional group of 8 specialists spanning research, design, and content disciplines, working collaboratively to deliver an omnichannel solution.
The Impact
Established a new service blueprint that transformed user journeys across both digital platforms and call centre interactions, subsequently adopted organisation-wide.
The Challenge

Emotional Barriers
Decision paralysis in an emotionally charged subject
Terminology Issues
Complex financial language creating understanding barriers
Fragmented Journey
Legacy systems creating disjointed experiences
Competing Priorities
Tension between support and conversion goals
With 78% of users abandoning applications before completion, we faced significant challenges in creating a supportive pathway through complex financial distress scenarios.
My Role: Experience Design Director
Team Leadership
Directed a team of 3 UX designers, 2 researchers and 2 content strategists throughout the project lifecycle
Stakeholder Management
Served as primary liaison with C-suite executives and product owners to align business and user needs
Research Direction
Established robust research framework and methodology, facilitating 8 co-design workshops
Creative Strategy
Directed overall creative approach from concept through implementation and evaluation
Strategic Approach

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User Research
Conducted 42 interviews with debt-affected individuals to understand emotional and practical needs
2
Persona Development
Mapped 5 key user personas with distinct emotional journeys and needs
3
Service Blueprint
Developed comprehensive blueprint highlighting pain points and opportunities across touchpoints
4
Design Principles
Created guiding principles focused on empathy, clarity, and user empowerment
Our strategic framework included establishing a measurement system with 15 KPIs to track progress across different user journeys and touchpoints.
Design Process & Methodology
Discovery & User Research
4 weeks of contextual inquiries, ethnographic observations, and empathy mapping with users in their environments to understand financial distress contexts
Journey Mapping & Service Design
Collaborative workshops with 24 participants using affinity diagramming and experience mapping to visualise existing journeys and identify opportunity areas
Ideation & Prototyping
Design sprints leading to low-fidelity wireframes and interactive prototypes tested with 18 users through multiple iterations and heuristic evaluations
Content Strategy & Information Architecture
Card sorting sessions and content audits that reduced reading level from grade 12 to grade 8, making information more accessible through simplified navigation patterns
Usability Testing & Iterative Refinement
Biweekly A/B testing, cognitive walkthroughs, and accessibility evaluations across 12 weeks with WCAG AA compliance focus and post-launch analytics review
Interviews
I designed an interview format with a guided structure to help facilitate participant comfort and disclosure. Users provided details about their internet usage, their unique financial needs and the challenges they face regarding debt management. They were also asked about their past experiences with similar services, providers they would consider, and their expectations from a debt solution. This process involved a combination of both structured queries and open-ended questions, which allowed an assessment of their emotional responses to different scenarios.
The second part of this stage involved task demeanour. Participants were asked to perform two tasks -like selecting a website from Google search results based on initial impressions and exploring the DAC’s prototype website. Participants were encouraged to voice their opinions, experiences, and expectations while navigating the sites.
Workshop
I designed an interview format with a guided structure to help facilitate participant comfort and disclosure. Users provided details about their internet usage, their unique financial needs and the challenges they face regarding debt management. They were also asked about their past experiences with similar services, providers they would consider, and their expectations from a debt solution. This process involved a combination of both structured queries and open-ended questions, which allowed an assessment of their emotional responses to different scenarios.
The second part of this stage involved task demeanour. Participants were asked to perform two tasks -like selecting a website from Google search results based on initial impressions and exploring the DAC’s prototype website. Participants were encouraged to voice their opinions, experiences, and expectations while navigating the sites.
Customer Journey Mapping
Once all the interview data was amassed and scrutinised in the workshop, a comprehensive user journey map was created. This map detailed various stages- from the user's initial point of recognizing their need for debt advisory services, the process of searching for solutions, evaluating options and ultimately deciding on a preferred service provider. This graphical illustration of the customer journey helped the DAC team understand common user pathways and touchpoints, challenges encountered along the way, and key decision-making factors.
Sketches
I began the design process with low-fidelity sketches and wireframes in a group on a large white board together with the design and development team to accelerate decision-making through visualization without losing time. My sketches were based on the initial user interviews, the business goal, and the heuristic evaluation. They each pointed to the fact that there were too many distractions in the flow. We came back to the sketches throughout the entire design process to make sure that we don’t lose sight of our primary goals and ideas.
Wireframes
With a clear understanding of the user journey, the team used these insights to begin sketching out wireframes for the DAC website. This early screen blueprint served as a strategic roadmap for the website’s UI/UX design. Emphasizing ease of navigation, clear information architecture, and an emphasis on trust-building elements, the wireframe was a visual guide to designing a better, user-oriented space to increase engagement and sign-ups.
Usability Testing
The user testing was intended to resolve the problem of sub-optimal user experience on the DAC website, leading to decreased engagement and conversions. The testing process involved conducting comprehensive user interviews, task observations, user journey mapping, and the creation of UI wireframes, which then drove the UI redesign. A variety of individuals were involved in this process – from actual DAC users to project team members, including UI/UX designers, user researchers, and DAC business team members.
UI Design
Finally, using the wireframes as a foundation, the DAC team embarked on the UI Design process. This stage focused on implementing aesthetics and branding consistent with DAC's mission while also ensuring the design elements incorporated insights from the user research. Designers prioritized readability, intuitive navigation, and inclusion of trust-signals and reassurances to address common anxieties about seeking debt advice. The end-result was a website design that embodied the user's voice - empathetic, trustworthy, and easy-to-use, thus significantly improving customer engagement and user experience.
Onboarding UI Examples
Results & Impact
38%
Application Completion
Significant increase in users successfully completing debt solution applications
42%
Client Satisfaction
Substantial improvement in user experience satisfaction ratings
25%
Support Calls
Reduction in call center volume as users navigate solutions independently
£180K
Cost Efficiency
Annual operational savings achieved through streamlined processes
Beyond these key metrics, the redesigned platform delivered a remarkable 62% increase in users independently resolving their debt queries through self-service options. Post-implementation feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with users awarding the new experience an exceptional 4.8/5 average rating, validating our user-centered design approach and demonstrating the profound impact of prioritizing accessibility and emotional support in financial services.
Lessons & Reflections
Emotional Context Requires Deeper Research
Standard UX research methodologies needed adaptation for the emotionally charged context of financial distress, requiring additional empathy measures.
Cross-functional Collaboration is Essential
Complex service redesign demands seamless integration of research, design, content, technology and business stakeholders throughout the process.
Progressive Disclosure is Crucial
Managing overwhelming information through carefully timed disclosures proved vital in reducing anxiety and increasing completion rates.
We also learned the importance of establishing clear success metrics early, the value of continuous testing with vulnerable user groups, and strategies for balancing business requirements with genuine user support needs.
Curious to learn more about me?
Dive deeper into my design philosophy, creative process, and UX insights on my personal website unknown link. There you'll find case studies, thought leadership articles, and a behind-the-scenes look at how I approach experience design challenges.

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