Building the Team
The hackathon was in Q4 and by Q1 we had new OKRs. I saw an opportunity to use the marketplace project as a way to achieve OKR #3: Provide value for and derive value from a wider range of our signups. The metric for success was to increase incremental revenue per sign up from $45 to $70. For that reason it was decided that initial launch would be in the signed in experience. We could then take learnings and apply them to a signed out experience in the future. The marketplace would, for now, only show for borrowers that did not qualify for term loans, as this is our main business and we did not want to siphon off any revenue from that funnel.
My first step was to organize a recurring working group meeting of the marketplace team: design, PM, engineering, and business development (BD). We established roles and responsibilities and then got down to business to create the marketplace.
Our self selected metrics would focus on these aspects
Do no harm to existing conversion rates: in the current signed in experience credit card options are shown and we did not want to take away from their engagement and revenue rates. Additionally we wanted to make sure that the engagement and revenue rates for the new markets products currently spread through out the site would not be effected.
Since the OKR specifically used the language 'incremental revenue' our goal was to increase the overall page revenue and click through rate (CTR) and increase revenue generated.
Additional metrics we'd look at were the share of clicks across each vertical and how many clicks on each CTA per product card (ex: details, read full review, get started).
We then decided on using 5 verticals with 3 products per vertical. The BD team, who is in charge of new markets partners, would decide which products we would show. They were decided by best revenue per click (RPC) and best in class products.
Design
Thankfully I had gotten a head start with the designs for the hackathon, but these were merely conceptual and needed refinement. Working with BD and the content team we determined the criteria for each product category.
Design Considerations
Card Design
Each product card would need a logo, title, description, list of benefits, link to the blog, price (maybe discounted price), and pricing details.
Offers
Some products would have exclusive or special offers and needed to be called out visually. After review with the marketplace team and the design team in crit it was agreed that a horizontal banner with text within was the best approach.
Navigation
The marketplace would live in the signed in experience which itself was a dashboard with a preexisting side nav. After discussion with product managers and design we wanted to implement a horizontal sub-navigation for the marketplace section that had been originally conceived for the hackathon. Our hope was that as the marketplace grew this would be the best navigation to include additional verticals and products.
Page Placement
Borrowers who are not eligible for term loans may still be available for lines of credit or personal loans. Since this was still our core business it was decided to place the marketplace below these options on the page.
Mobile
The current design for the signed in experience is not mobile friendly. We wanted to lead by example and make sure the marketplace modules were mobile friendly and that their design could be implemented across the experience for the other product cards.
Figma Mock Up
Desktop Demo:
Mobile Demo:
Outcomes
The marketplace launched as a 50/50 test to users on 2.28.2020. As of writing this on 4.1.2020 the experiment group was experiencing a .5% higher conversion rate.
Next Steps
As a team we wanted to begin brainstorming a v2. While I thought it was good to have a next step in mind, in my opinion the working group was just throwing ideas out there with no real focus. My intent was to have a working session with design and product managers to align on a north star. This would give us a product vision of where we wanted the marketplace to be at the end of the year. It was out in the wild now, but needed direction. Plus as data came in on our 50'/50 test we could calibrate accordingly to align with the product vision.
Full Integration with Signed In Experience
In my mind, and where I wanted to get to with the product vision, was to bring all the products we have into the marketplace format. So essentially, The Marketplace would replace the signed in experience where users can see all the products we offer. If a user went down the loans funnel and was expecting to see loans, that is of course what they would see first, but all our product offerings would be accessible and presented cohesively.
Product Groupings
The more we know about our users the more we can give them a customized experience. If, during the sign up flow, you told us that you have only been in business for less than 6 months, the marketplace could offer you a bundle of products that any business that early on would need to succeed
Sorting
Besides the various verticals that we can introduce we could also add sorting capabilities by price, newest, your industry, etc.
In-house Purchasing
Currently a user needs to click off site to complete conversion. Is there ways that we could bring that process into the signed in experience? Could users fill out data on our site and not have to leave fundera.com?