TSB Mobile App & Core Journeys
Redesigning trust, onboarding and everyday banking at scale (1.8 → 4.6 app rating)
Company
TSB Bank
Language
English
Date
2018–2023
Project Overview
TSB Mobile App
When I joined, the app experience felt fragmented and difficult to trust.
The App Store rating was 1.8, onboarding conversion was low, and customers frequently dropped off during identity verification and core journeys.
Different parts of the app had been designed independently, resulting in inconsistent experiences and a heavy reliance on support for even basic tasks.
At the same time, much of the design capability had to be built from the ground up. Customer research, testing, reusable design patterns, and customer-centred ways of working were not yet embedded in the organisation, so the work extended far beyond screen redesign.
Approach
Rather than redesigning everything at once, we focused first on the journeys with the biggest impact on customer trust, onboarding, and digital conversion.
Using behavioural data, customer research, and insight from branches and frontline teams, we identified where customers were struggling most and prioritised incremental improvements around those pain points.
Alongside redesigning the app, I helped build the internal design capability needed to support long-term change:
hiring and growing the design team
introducing research and testing tools such as UserZoom (now UserTesting)
helping establish the design system and reusable patterns
embedding more customer-centred ways of working across teams
shifting delivery towards continuous optimisation instead of large one-off releases
My service design background helped connect customer journeys, operational realities, servicing challenges, and product delivery into a more coherent experience.
Design
The redesign focused on making everyday banking feel simpler, clearer, and more predictable.
Complex flows were broken into manageable steps, unnecessary friction was removed, and clearer feedback helped customers understand what was happening and what to do next.
Particular attention was given to onboarding and identity verification, where reducing uncertainty and making progress visible directly impacted completion and trust.
At the same time, the design system created greater consistency across the app and enabled teams to deliver improvements faster and more collaboratively.
Impact and Outcome
App rating improved from 1.8 → 4.6
Onboarding conversion increased from 30% → 85%
+20% uplift in digital sales
Reduced drop-off in onboarding, especially in ID verification
Faster delivery through the design system and an iterative approach
The app evolved from a fragmented banking experience into a more coherent product customers could rely on, while the organisation developed stronger customer-centred design capabilities to support continuous improvement at scale.
