Toyota Financial Service Bank
Digital Experience Transformation
Toyota Financial Services Bank (Toyota Bank) embarked on a digital transformation journey to enhance their online experience.
Role: UX ManagerAgency: iCrossingDuration: Mar 2022 - Sep 2022
Project Overview
Toyota Financial Services Bank (TFSB) underwent a comprehensive digital transformation to enhance user experience, streamline operations, and modernize its digital identity. The project targeted three key user groups—Toyota Dealer-Owners, Dealer-Employees, and Toyota Team Members.
What we know
Toyota Financial Savings Bank (Toyota Bank) provides private banking products and services to eligible Toyota and Lexus Dealer employees, their eligible family members, and Toyota and Lexus Team Members in the United States.
Toyota Bank offered a portfolio of banking and lending services exclusively for Toyota Dealers. Dealers are assigned a dedicated regional Personal Banker that support their personal and professional financial needs.
Highlights:
FDIC-insured Toyota Bank offers FDIC-insured products, such as savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and money market deposit accounts.
Lending products Toyota Bank offers mortgage and home equity loans, as well as commercial loans for dealers.
Target Audiences
This persona is either the Owner, Principle or GM of their dealership. They love working with Toyota because Toyota allows flexibility in their business operations.
Dealer-Owners
This persona is either the GM, VP or Director of a Toyota dealership. They are successful business people trying to make their way up within the dealership.
Toyota Team Members
The Toyota Team Member works for Toyota Motor Corporation, not at a dealership. Their lifestyle and concerns are fairly different than a dealer as they aren't running or managing a business.
Toyota Employee
Conducting User Interview
Understand the pain points, expectations, and workflows of key stakeholders—Toyota Dealer-Owners, Dealer-Employees, and Toyota Team Members—regarding their interaction with TFSB's digital services.
Methodology
We conducted in-depth interviews with Dealer-Owners, Dealer-Employees, Toyota Team Members, and the President & CEO of Toyota Bank. This allowed us to identify key features they value in a financial services platform, as well as areas of frustration in the current system.
Research Goal
We aim to gain insights into day-to-day operations and understanding how employees interact with TFSB's digital platform, with a particular focus on time-consuming tasks and gaps in service offerings.
Synthesizing Research Findings Into Action Items
Our user interview provided an end-to-end understanding of how each group experienced the Toyota Bank’s digital experience. This synthesis of user findings allowed us to better understand key points of user interaction, how users felt about Toyota, and what drove their financial decisions. We translated these learnings into actionable design improvements, focusing on opportunities
Customer Journey Map
Consolidate qualitative research into a story across the customer lifecycle
Help empathize with the customer at each stage of their journey with the brand
Identify the right problems and opportunities to have the most business and customer impact
Advance our CX Strategy and feed into the Roadmap
Painpoint
Time - They are busy, so speed of service is important
Poor website account experience
Can't find information on the website
Goal
Get great, personal customer service, quickly
They have very high expectations Expect Reps to be there when they need them
Painpoint
Time - They are busy, so speed of service is important
Poor account experience on the website
Can't find documents on the website
Goal
Want good rates from a brand they trust
Get a competitive home loan
Get great, personal customer service, quickly
Expect frequent communication and help
Dealer-Owners
Painpoint
Time - They are busy, so speed of service is important
Poor account experience on the website
Not having correct and timely information to make decisions or confirm
Goal
Get great, personal customer service, quickly
They have very high expectations Expect Reps to be there when they need them.
Put money away (changing priorities, 58 years old)
Need support to grow their business
Expect frequeent communication and help
Have extra cash and need a place to park it
Set up my family [financially]
Toyota Team Memebers
Toyota Employee
For Phase 1 of the transformation, we focused on high redesigning the www.toyotabank.com (formerly www.toyotafinancial.com/us/en.html). The .COM touchpoint was critical in conversion, demonstrated high traffic and all personas expressed pain points using this site.
*Toyota identity rebrand was done by a partner agency. Digital brand identity and component design library was done by iCrossing.
CX Roadmap
Conducted by strategy team
The redesign of Toyota Financial Service Bank prioritized enhancing Customer Experience (CX) by addressing gaps across key touch points and identifying opportunities. A roadmap was created for missing touch points, service design and redesign across digital experience (user portals, digital banking experience) to be implemented across the next 2-5 years.
Transformation Phase 1: Website Redesign & Rebranding*
The transformation went through several strategic phases. The www.toyotabank.com transformation Phase 1 action items:
Customer Experience
User Experience
Digital brand identity
UI design
User Experience Redesign
Reimagined Sitemap
We created an updated sitemap that categorized translate the user research findings into a digital architecture that effectively meets the diverse needs of users.
Legacy Sitemap (Pre-redesign)
Wireframe Development
Low-fidelity wireframes were developed for all pages. Wireframes focused on workflow efficiency, task completion ease, and access to frequently used pages.
Homepage
Existing site
❌
This high-traffic page page leans on user self-selection between offering
✅
The homepage redesign highlights frequent actions and high value information such a access to account login portal, popular banking products, and easy navigation to product categories
✅
Global menu now holds high value pages for efficient site navigation
Product and About page
❌
❌
Navigation to crucial pages such as Deposit Products, Loans Products, and Commercial Products are hidden under “About” page.
✅
Products pages expanded out into 3 key tiers: product category, product details page, and product sign up page. This allows users in different stages of conversion funnel to attain the information they need
✅
About page is separated into its own section including key pages as Personal Banker, Contact Us, and FAQ. Updated page level copy leverage SEO forward keywords for site discoverability
Existing site
Redesign
Accessing Personal Banker
❌
Users need to find their personal banker by using the static image. To continue on the journey, user selects their state in the dropdown, which takes them to another static PDF
This page is hidden on the website. The easiest way to land on this page is through Google search
Redesign
✅
“Find My Banker” CTA lives in the global nav for site wide access
Existing site
Redesign
✅
Allows for text input instead of dropdown
✅
When user enters their ZIP code, the interface populates personal banker’s information, CTA to contact your banker, and navigation to personal banker’s full bio page
✅
Post ZIP code entry, the display highlight the main state as well as the other states their personal banker covers. This is helpful for Dealers who owns dealerships in multiple states
High-Fidelity Prototyping
Drawing inspiration from tatami (畳)—the traditional Japanese grid system—we crafted a design system that became a versatile and efficient framework for both the Toyota and Lexus brands. With thoughtfully selected photography and copy, we ensured the design resonated with each brand’s target audience.
Access to Personal Banker
Product Category page, Product Details page, and Product Sign-Up page
Accessing Personal Banker
About Us
Usability Testing
Validate the high-fidelity designs with real users to ensure functionality, ease of use, and alignment with user needs.
Testing Methodology
User Testing Sessions: Conducted remote 30 minutes usability testing with participants
Key Tasks: Participants were asked to complete specific tasks, such as navigating dashboards, processing payments, and reviewing financial summaries, while providing feedback on their experiences.
Design Updates
Copy Updates: Based on user feedback, we simplified technical jargon and reworded labels to be more intuitive.
Final Design Iteration: A final round of feedback was collected after updates, with minor tweaks and adjusted layouts to streamline navigation and reduce task completion times.
Outcome
The digital transformation of Toyota Financial Services Bank resulted in a streamlined, user-friendly platform that met the needs of key stakeholders. By prioritizing user research, maintaining consistency in branding, and incorporating feedback from usability testing, the project successfully modernized TFSB’s digital presence while improving operational efficiency and user satisfaction across the board.
This project set a new standard for TFSB’s digital identity, establishing a scalable and adaptable platform for future enhancements.
Impact