Personal Loan Selector Evaluation
Context
This project focused on improving the loan term selection within the Discover Personal Loan application. The loan term selector is a key decision point where users choose how long they want to repay their loan. The goal of the team was to make this step more intuitive and informative, helping users understand how different term lengths affect their monthly payments.
To achieve this, the DPL design team explored two layout options—horizontal and vertical—to determine which format better supports user comprehension and decision-making.
The objective of this study was to evaluate which design reduces cognitive load, shortens task completion time, and improves ease of use—ultimately driving higher submission rates on the personal loan application.
Tools: UserZoom
Method Used: Click Test
Participants: 200 participants
Timeline: 1.5 weeks
Vertical
Horizontal
Results
Vertical
Horizontal
2 click tests were administered with 100 participants seeing the Vertical Condition and 100 participants seeing the Horizontal Condition. Upon viewing the design, participants were asked to choose the loan term that best suits their needs:
Most participants were able to complete the task of selecting a loan offer correctly in both conditions (77% and 80%), with no significant differences across conditions
Key Takeaways
UI Layout
Finding: Participants in the Horizontal Condition appeared to show more variety in their loan term choices than those in the Vertical Condition.
Why it Happened: The layout of the loan term options influence decision-making behavior, with the Horizontal Condition encouraging more deliberate evaluation across all choices, while the Vertical Condition may prompt top-heavy selections.
Time on Task
Finding: Participants, on average, completed the task over 4 seconds quicker in the Horizontal Condition than in the Vertical Condition.
Why it Happened: Participants were able to more quickly evaluate and decide on a loan option due to the concise nature of the horizontal design.
Consumer Preference
Finding: Participants were more likely to select the Horizontal Loan Selector as the design they thought would provide them with the best experience.
Why it Happened: Participants who preferred the Horizontal Selector appreciated the side-by-side design, the lack of scrolling necessary, and the intuitiveness of the horizontal design.
