Discovery

Customers fell into two primary categories:

• 20 to 30. Low-income demographic, predominantly students, with minimal financial experience

• 30 to 40. Early-to-mid career professionals raising young families while navigating housing costs

Insight

Both groups were often either unaware of what was possible/available to them or were experiencing a type of decision-paralysis, based on the belief that looking after money meant investing in high-risk products or cutting back on expenditure, something they felt they couldn’t do. Ultimately, most people felt uninformed and not in control of their financial futures.

Exploration

I began by exploring how to categorise key life stages according to people's ages and discovered several similarities across different groups. Rather than creating a cold, unemotional questionnaire, the typical approach to information gathering, I recognised that major life transitions deserve a more empathetic response. The question became: How could Lloyds demonstrate genuine understanding and provide solutions beyond conventional marketing and/or form-based information gathering?

This led me to realise that authentic conversations are essential to creating the right environment for knowledge sharing. I identified storytelling as a powerful mechanism that could showcase how Lloyds supports customers regardless of their age or life stage, creating meaningful connections through shared human experiences rather than generic financial messaging.