Turning trust into conversion for India’s leading gold loan fintech
Client
Rupeek
Rupeek had a real product advantage — lowest interest rates, bank-grade security, 4.4 Google rating. Users still hesitated. I led the research and redesign to find out why, and fix it.
The Situation
Rupeek was perceived as a local, unfamiliar company — even though it operated with bank partnerships and a strong track record. Users arriving on the landing page didn’t convert. Gold loan card adoption was low. Trust wasn’t being communicated, it was being assumed.
The problem wasn’t the product. It was the experience around it.
What I Owned
Research
Led qualitative usability testing across 25 real users — first-time gold loan seekers, existing customers, and repeat borrowers. Ran in-depth interviews and multi-device sessions to uncover exactly where trust broke down and why users dropped off.
Strategy
Synthesised research into a structured product design strategy across six areas: trust and credibility, UX clarity, gold loan card positioning, communication, digital engagement, and customer support.
Design
Translated strategy into a redesigned landing page, loan application flow, and gold loan card experience — built to reduce hesitation at every step.
The Work
01 — Diagnosing the Drop-off
Four distinct problems were causing users to stall:
Trust gap. Rupeek read as a new, local company. Users were reluctant to pledge gold to a brand they didn’t recognise.
Messaging confusion. Interest rates, loan terms, and eligibility were unclear. Users couldn’t self-qualify.
Low engagement. Landing page visitors read, but didn’t act. CTAs weren’t landing.
Card confusion. The gold loan card’s benefits and rates were misunderstood — often conflated with the main loan product.
02 — Research Methodology
Recruited 25 participants across three audience segments: first-time gold loan seekers, new gold owners with 1–2 loans, and experienced borrowers with 3+ loans.
Sessions included live usability tests, in-depth interviews, and landing page teardowns. We hired freelancers to capture unfiltered, first-reaction feedback with zero moderator bias.
03 — Design Strategy
Six areas, each directly tied to a research finding:
Trust and credibility — Surface bank partnerships prominently. Show security measures. Add customer testimonials at the decision point, not the bottom of the page.
User experience — Restructure the landing page hierarchy. Introduce a visible 4-step loan process. Replace ambiguous CTAs with action-specific ones.
Gold loan card — Isolate it visually from the main loan offering. Simplify the benefit layout. Make the rate comparison impossible to miss.
Clear communication — Redesign the interest rate presentation. Add an FAQ section. Introduce short video walkthroughs for first-time borrowers.
Digital engagement — Add progress tracking through the application. Enable document upload in-flow. Implement live chat for users who stall.
Customer support — 24/7 availability, multi-language support, WhatsApp access — all surfaced earlier in the journey, not only post-application.
The Judgment Call
Most conversion problems get solved with better copy or a new CTA. This one needed a different diagnosis.
The real issue was that Rupeek was asking users to pledge physical gold — a deeply personal, high-trust decision — without building the trust infrastructure to support it. Until that was understood and addressed structurally, no surface-level redesign would move the numbers.
Research gave us that understanding. Design made it visible.
Outcomes
01 — Trust made visible
Bank partnerships, security signals, and social proof repositioned at the points where users actually made decisions — not buried in footers.
02 — Clearer path to conversion
A structured 4-step loan process reduced ambiguity about what happens after applying. Users could self-qualify before committing.
03 — Gold loan card separated and clarified
Distinct positioning reduced confusion with the main product. Benefits and rates now readable at a glance.
04 — A replicable research framework
The methodology — segmented users, hired unbiased testers, structured insight synthesis — was documented and handed off as a repeatable process for future product decisions.
Research without design is a report. Design without research is a guess. This project was neither.
What I Owned
