The Debt Monster How Four Credit Counseling Agencies Used Human-Centered Design to Reach Consumers with Sustained Balances
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The Debt Monster How Four Credit Counseling Agencies Used Human-Centered Design to Reach Consumers with Sustained Balances The Debt Monster How Four Credit Counseling Agencies Used Human-Centered Design to Reach Consumers with Sustained Balances AUTHORS: Ivan Avila, Stephanie Landry, Spectra Myers Acknowledgements We give thanks to the team of people who made this report possible. We are especially grateful to our partners at the Credit Counseling of Arkansas, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Rochester, Consumer Credit Counseling Services of the Savannah Area, Inc. and OnTrack WNC Financial Education & Counseling for their engagement and support through all project components. Our colleagues at Prosperity Now, Pamela Chan, Emma Polson, Kasey Wiedrich and Guillermo Cantor, provided helpful feedback and guidance. Applied Research intern Jordan Beeker supported pilot data collection. We would also like to thank Sandiel Thornton, Lauren Treadwell and Ursula Cisneros for support in graphic design and campaign development. Sawyer Blur provided volunteer media planning support. Lastly, we’d like to extend our gratitude to MIQ for paid marketing support and Cornershop Creative for website design. This report was made possible with the generous support of Capital One. About Prosperity Now Prosperity Now believes that everyone deserves a chance to prosper. Since 1979, we have helped millions of people, especially people of color and those of limited incomes, to achieve financial security, stability and, ultimately, prosperity. We offer a unique combination of practical solutions, in-depth research and proven strategies, all aimed at building wealth for those who need it most. We recognize the devastating impact of the racial wealth divide on people and our economy, and we strive to equip organizations of color and others with the capacity, tools and cultural competency necessary to address structural and systemic barriers facing families of color. Gary Cunningham is our President and CEO. About Capital One Capital One Financial Corporation is headquartered in McLean, Virginia. Its subsidiaries, Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. We apply the same principles of innovation, collaboration and empowerment in our commitment to our communities across the country that we do in our business. We recognize that helping to build strong and healthy communities – good places to work, good places to do business and good places to raise families – benefits us all and we are proud to support this and other community initiatives. https://www.capitalone.com/about/ 2 Contents Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................... 5 What this Project Accomplished .............................................................................................................................. 6 Key Findings and Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 6 The Smart Growth Innovation Program ...................................................................................................................... 7 The Agency Partners ....................................................................................................................................................... 7 The Process ........................................................................................................................................................................ 9 Discover ............................................................................................................................................................................. 10 The Design Challenge .............................................................................................................................................. 10 The Target Audience ................................................................................................................................................ 12 Design ................................................................................................................................................................................ 15 Website ......................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Marketing and Outreach .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Potential Sustainability Strategy ............................................................................................................................. 16 Test ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Concept and User Test Findings ........................................................................................................................... 18 Mini-Pilot Design ........................................................................................................................................................ 20 Mini-Pilot Findings ...................................................................................................................................................... 21 Potential Limitations ................................................................................................................................................. 23 Implications and Recommendations......................................................................................................................... 23 Reflections from Cohort on Human Insights Approaches.............................................................................. 24 Appendices ...................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Appendix A: Debt Slope .......................................................................................................................................... 25 Appendix B: Persona Development ..................................................................................................................... 26 Appendix C: Web-based Diagnostic Quiz .......................................................................................................... 27 3 Executive Summary Debt is a significant challenge in the lives of many American families. In fact, household debt reached $14.25 trillion at the end of 2019.i The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this challenge, with many families turning to credit products to manage financially.ii Although the work discussed here took place before this crisis, the findings are even more relevant because of the current context. Reputable nonprofit credit counseling agencies are available around the country to help consumers who are worried about unsecured debt. Unfortunately, the nonprofit credit counseling industry is under pressure from regulatory changes, reduced consumer demand and increased market competition. Experts recognize that the nonprofit credit counseling industry is in a difficult period and must find ways to innovate in order to sustain itself and grow in the future.iii To explore and attempt to address these challenges, Prosperity Now, with support from Capital One, convened the Smart Growth Innovation Program. The program supports credit counseling agencies to respond to consumer challenges while learning human-centered design and researching approaches to innovation. The most recent group of agencies drew on Prosperity Now’s human insights approach as a framework to iteratively discover, design and test interventions.iv The cohort identified an opportunity to raise consumer awareness about the dangers of sustained debt balances and explored a design challenge around how to market to consumers and support them in contacting credit counseling agencies in the early stages of their debt cycle. All four participating agencies built their skills in using human insights processes and tools. Through the human insights process, the cohort: • Affirmed that most credit counseling clients are reaching out later than ideal and pinpointed sustained balances as a recognizable cue to emphasize. • Designed and tested an online diagnostic tool and agency locator with a supporting marketing campaign. • Subjected their work to rigorous testing and shared transparently their process and findings with the field so that others might learn from their experiences. While every test has limitations, the cohort did not see evidence that the marketing campaign drove a sufficient number of people to the diagnostic tool. Several opportunities for future research emerged through this work, including: • To reach consumers with sustained balances, Prosperity Now recommends that future interventions consider placing the onus of action on institutions rather than on individuals who are often facing personal upheaval.