ThinkBank (BMO) new customer onboarding

Empowering international students starting their financial journey in Canada with ThinkBank

Design Challenge: Assist International students navigate Canadian banking while driving sales by opening chequing accounts with ThinkBank

Industry: Finance, Banking

Platform: Responsive Web

Project duration: 4 Days (Design Sprint)

Project Overview

In collaboration with BMO x Brainstation, our team was assigned a 4 day sprint to design a microsite for international students to Canada opening chequing accounts with ThinkBank. 

Main Goal: Introduce newcomers to Think Banks financial products to drive increase in online sales. 

Sprint process:

  • Day 1: Map the problem

  • Day 2: Sketch & Decide

  • Day 3: Prototype

  • Day 4: Test

  • Day 5: Present

Day 1: Empathizing with Students Coming to Canada

We first began with what we believe students would even want to look for when coming to Canada and what deciding factors would guide a students decision making when choosing their bank. 

Secondary Research: 

  • According to research conducted by LivePerson, Gen Z, the younger generation is spending more time communicating through digital communication platform - more than their offline interactions.

  • Gen Z are also expecting a more immediate answer via an online self-service app, as opposed to a personalized one-on-one customer service. 

Primary Research :

To best understand a student's journey we also conducted primary research with  5 previous international students on their experiences choosing their bank.

Overlapping Interview insights:

  • Convenience within their day to day life. 

  • Language barriers

  • Learning Canada's banking system is different from their home country banking system, and how to navigate and understand it

  • Finding support from financial advisers

Design Exploration

Persona / Journey Map & Story boarding:

We then created the persona Hatsu to guide our design decisions, and which areas would aid in his decision making, when choosing a bank.

Which brought us how might we provide more effective assistance to international students trying to open a Canadian bank account?

Day 2: Sketch + Decide

Our chosen solution:

Our ideation led to a responsive microsite powered by a virtual assistant, Luna, to solve for the steep learning curve of Canadian banking.

  • The Insight: Banking "mental models" vary globally (e.g., no monthly fees in India; no credit scores in Japan).

  • The Solution: We chose a VA over static text to mitigate language barriers and "information overload," providing real-time translation of complex financial lingo into actionable steps.

Day 3: Prototyping

Keeping international students like Hatsu in mind, we based our design decisions around his motivations and needs to make Canadian banking easier.

Immediate Assistance via Luna

  • Always-On Support: A persistent UI entry point for real-time guidance.

  • Contextual Education: Simplifies complex topics (e.g., the value of local branches/ATMs) via interactive FAQs.

  • User Sentiment: Bridges the gap between foreign banking "mental models" and Canadian reality through a conversational, welcoming interface.

Removing Barriers through Language Customization

  • The Challenge: Technical banking terminology is often inaccessible to non-native speakers.

  • The Solution: A localized, responsive experience that allows users like Hatsu to toggle to their primary language, ensuring full comprehension and confidence during onboarding.

Proximity-Based Discovery

  • The Insight: Convenience is the #1 acquisition lever for students.

  • The Solution: A school-indexed location finder.

  • The Result: Users like Hatsu can instantly verify physical accessibility, reducing the friction of choosing a bank that fits their commute and campus life.

Benefit-Driven Conversion

  • The Goal: Clearly communicate why ThinkBank is the right choice for international students.

  • The Solution: A benefit-first UI that anchors ThinkBank’s value (convenience and accessibility) to a direct path for product exploration

  • The Result: Users can move from "Viewing Locations" to "Product Details" in a single, informed tap.

Mobile-First Document Capture

  • The Challenge: Traditional banking requires physical paperwork and branch visits, which are daunting for new arrivals.

  • The Solution: An integrated document upload flow with real-time guidance.

  • The Result: Users like Hatsu can securely submit IDs from their phone, accelerating the time-to-account-opening.

Day 4: User Testing & Findings

Due to the time crunch of Sprints we managed to conduct 5 user tests for the microsite, and the feedback was as followed:


Immediate Assistance

User Testing: We found our users enjoyed having a friendly avatar act as a guide throughout their journey. The illustration felt familiar, and it made opening an account feel casual and less tedious as it normally would be when visiting a branch. 

Multilingual

User Testing :  We found that our users really enjoyed the multilingual microsite to cater to their language needs. Users felt welcomed and accepted.

Next Steps:

  • In order to increase the level of security for our users, we would like to work with a 3rd party company, Jumio, that focuses on validating ID and documents. 

  • Be part of a 3rd party where we can increase security measurements 

  • Integration with banks from home country  

  • Expanding guidance in other financial areas such as: Building credit, mortgages, loans, etc.

Bonus: Meet the team!