Visa Energize

As part of the Product Incubation Team, we sought to identifying new use cases to solve existing gaps in the market. Through many rounds of market, stakeholder, and user research, what started as an exploration of embedded finance narrowed to a focus on embedded lending in the sustainability space.

We found that when it came to larger sustainable home purchases (primarily solar panels), users struggled with a lack of clarity around government incentives relating to electrification, as well as affording the hefty upfront costs to purchase and install items such as solar panels.

My team consisted of two product managers and myself, as the lead designer. We all contributed to research efforts since much of our early work was based in discovery.

We made plans to create a new lending card with a focus on sustainable purchases. The card would ideally be paired with an app to assist user understanding during processes such as acquiring home solar panels, since these processes are historically cumbersome and confusing.

We conducted rounds of end user desirability testing while speaking with SMEs and stakeholders within Visa as well as professionals within the solar industry.

Desirability testing produced great results, with many solar panel owners wishing that they had had such a product when they were going through their acquisition and setup.

Visa’s card business thought it feasible, and overall, the product was gaining traction; we created a pitch deck (view below or click this link) to continue socialization.

Ultimately, our team ended before we could carry the product forward, but the project was handed off to Visa’s Europe Sustainability team, so it may yet continue on.