Track your card: real-time credit card shipping updates

Duration

February 2022 – July 2023

Team

• 2 Experience Designers
• Content Designer
• A11Y Consultant
• UX Researcher
• Product Manager
• Front and backend engineers
•  QA testers

My role

• Led visual and interaction design across responsive web, iOS, and Android native platforms
• Co-facilitated a one-week design sprint
• Collaborated with stakeholders and subject matter experts, including business lines, risk, and accessibility teams
• Guided the team through stakeholder alignment, design reviews, accessibility audits, and risk assessments
• Delivered interactive prototypes and finalized visual designs for agile development

Problem

Customers waiting for new or replacement credit cards had limited visibility into shipment status. This uncertainty often led to frustration and unnecessary calls to support. After delivery, many customers delayed or forgot to activate their cards, creating gaps in early usage and engagement. The lack of transparency at this key moment reduced trust and increased friction in the onboarding or card replacement journey.

Goal

Design a clear and reassuring experience that keeps customers informed from shipment to activation. The solution needed to:

• Provide timely updates and clear next steps
• Offer simple self-service options if issues arise
• Enable a smoother onboarding flow and reduce moments of uncertainty
• Maintain consistency across all digital channels and card products

Discovery

We kicked off with a three-day design sprint, bringing together product, engineering, design, and subject matter experts both virtually and in person. This alignment helped clarify priorities and build momentum early.

During the sprint, we:

• Framed the problem with “How might we” questions
• Explored competitor approaches and mapped the current journey to uncover friction points
• Conducted value mapping exercises to identify what mattered most to users and the business
• Ran a Crazy 8’s ideation exercise to generate diverse ideas quickly
• Created storyboards to visualize flows
• Conducted an assumption reversal exercise to challenge existing beliefs and explore new possibilities

By the end of the sprint, we had a clearly defined problem, early concepts to test, and a shared vision for a multi-channel solution.

Design

I translated the concepts into a clickable Figma prototype, focusing on the key objectives identified during discovery. Moderated usability sessions with real credit card customers validated the flow and highlighted opportunities to improve clarity and guidance.

Iterations focused on:

• Refining language and entry points to make next steps actionable
• Ensuring the experience worked seamlessly across web, native apps, email, and push notifications
• Extending existing design system patterns to meet feature-specific needs
• Partnering with a content strategist, accessibility lead, and experience architect to address error handling, microcopy, and accessibility requirements

The result was a cohesive, multi-channel experience that helped customers track their cards, complete activation smoothly, and feel informed throughout the journey.

Conclusion

The Card Tracker launched in August 2023 and quickly proved valuable for customers and internal teams. Early engagement showed that users were completing activation steps more consistently, and support teams observed fewer calls related to delivery uncertainty.

During rollout, we identified that some card products did not require activation. Adjusting the design for these exceptions ensured all messaging and guidance remained accurate, maintaining user trust and confidence.

Feedback from both customers and internal partners indicated that the experience reduced confusion and helped users feel more confident in the delivery and activation process. The feature also established a foundation for expanding to additional card products.

Next steps

Following the initial launch, the team began planning to extend the Card Tracker experience to debit and ATM cards. This expansion supports a unified service model where customers receive consistent updates, regardless of product.

We are also exploring ways to deliver more personalized and proactive notifications. These enhancements aim to deepen engagement and further reduce uncertainty during key moments in the customer lifecycle. The project reinforced the value of transparency as a core principle and set a design standard for future card servicing experiences.

Would you like to learn more? Contact me and we can have a chat.