Cinch

Giving car buyers financial confidence

A large proportion of cinch customers were declined or rejected amended finance offers, leading to poor experiences and lost revenue.

I designed a soft credit check tool to give customers early eligibility insights and personalised quotes, helping them make informed finance decisions before applying.

My role

  • —Lead Product Designer
  • —End-to-end ownership — discovery through delivery
  • —Collaboration with Product, Data, Content, Engineering
  • —Feb – Jun 2022

The problem

Customers could only check finance eligibility by submitting a full application.

  • —Required up to three hard credit checks
  • —High decline rates
  • —Unsatisfactory offers for medium-risk customers
  • —Low acceptance and take-up
  • —High-friction, high-commitment process

Insight

Customers lacked visibility into affordability, leading to low confidence and poor decision-making.

Opportunity

Provide upfront clarity and build confidence before application.

  • —Show eligibility early
  • —Set realistic expectations on cost
  • —Reduce unnecessary applications
  • —Improve acceptance and take-up

Approach

  • —Survey at point of offer to understand dissatisfaction
  • —A/B test introducing estimated credit score in calculator
  • —Iterative prototyping and usability testing across user segments

Insight

50% of users were unhappy due to higher-than-expected costs.

Explorations

Explored multiple ways to introduce eligibility and improve trust—testing entry points, interaction patterns, and data visualisation.

Early testing showed users resisted entering personal data too early. Moving the experience to the product detail page aligned with purchase intent and improved engagement.

Iteration also revealed that visual cues heavily influenced perception—leading to a shift toward neutral, trust-building data presentation.

Entry points

Colour visualisation

Simple brand visualisation

Solution

Entry pointProduct detail page (high intent, higher trust)
FlowFull-screen experience to reduce distraction
ClarityNeutral, simplified data visualisation
ConfidenceSoft credit check with personalised quotes

Impact

+6.9%
Acceptance rate
+15.4%
Take-up rate
+£8m
Revenue uplift
  • —Increased customer confidence
  • —More informed finance decisions
  • —Reduced unnecessary applications

Key learning

Involve compliance early.

Early designs didn't account for compliance constraints, leading to rework.

  • —Established regular reviews with compliance
  • —Built strong working relationship
  • —Improved speed and alignment

Result

Fewer blockers and more efficient delivery