The jobs behind a credit-card sign-up, mapped to lift conversion

The challenge

M&S wanted to increase conversion on the credit-card site. To do that we needed to understand the real jobs customers hire the card to do: why they sign up, why they keep it, and what makes them hesitate.

Interviews, clustered and benchmarked

Nine qualitative Jobs To Be Done interviews, clustering customers' functional, emotional and social jobs through affinity mapping in Miro, and benchmarking the M&S journey against comparison sites and competitor cards including MSE, MoneySuperMarket, Tesco, Sainsbury's and John Lewis. Three weeks end to end.

What we found

People want to feel they've considered every option. Almost everyone routed through a comparison site or quiz before applying: "I did a little quiz, 5 to 6 questions, and it made me feel like I was making an informed decision, like the offer was for me."

Protecting a credit rating comes first. Applicants want an eligibility check before a hard application: "I'm wary to apply. I don't want to hurt my credit score." And the M&S brand and its customer service build trust: the in-store experience and a UK call centre materially raise confidence in the financial product.

The impact

Five prioritised user-need insights, each with high-priority UX recommendations to lift conversion: a comparison-style selection flow, an early no-impact eligibility check and social proofing, plus a recommended satisfaction-versus-importance survey to quantify the biggest opportunities.