Unified Payment Flow

Designing a seamless, secure payment experience across five distinct channels—Guest, Member, SalesConnect, FHCP, and FFM—creating consistency while respecting unique user contexts and operational requirements.

Duration

6 Months

My Role

UX Designer

Channels

5 Unified

Impact

2M+ Members

Project Overview

Creating payment consistency across Florida Blue's complex digital ecosystem

Guidewell serves a diverse ecosystem of members, partners, and stakeholders, each accessing payment services through different entry points with unique needs and operational requirements. The challenge was creating a unified payment experience that maintained consistency while respecting the distinct contexts of each channel.

This project required deep systems thinking—understanding how different user types, business processes, and technical constraints intersected to create a cohesive yet flexible payment architecture.

👤
Guest
Unregistered users making payments
🏠
Member
Authenticated member portal
📞
SalesConnect
Sales representative assisted
🏥
FHCP
Federally Qualified Health Centers
🏛️
FFM
Federally Facilitated Marketplace
  • 35%

    Reduction in payment abandonment

  • 50%

    Faster transaction completion

  • 5

    Separate workflows unified

  • 90%

    Cross-team alignment achieved

The Challenge

Fragmented payment experiences were creating confusion and operational inefficiency

  • Inconsistent experiences: Each channel had different UI patterns, workflows, and error handling

  • User confusion: Members moving between channels encountered completely different payment interfaces

  • High abandonment rates: Complex, unclear payment flows led to incomplete transactions

  • Operational burden: Multiple systems required separate maintenance and caused support complexity

  • Security gaps: Inconsistent implementation of security measures across channels

Key Pain Points

Information Overload

Payment management pages contained too much information, overwhelming users and obscuring primary actions.


Unclear Navigation


Users couldn't understand their current location in the payment process or how to move forward effectively.


Fragmented Workflows


Each channel had evolved independently, creating five different approaches to essentially the same core functions.


Security Inconsistencies


Different channels implemented security measures differently, creating vulnerability gaps and user confusion.


Design Process & Journey Mapping

Systematic approach to understanding and unifying complex multi-channel workflows

Original Path

Fragmented Experience:

-User enters payment area
- Encounters channel-specific interface
- Navigates confusing information layout
- Struggles with unclear next steps
- May abandon due to complexity
- Different experience per channel

New Path

Unified Experience:

-User enters streamlined payment flow
- Consistent interface across all channels
- Clear information hierarchy
- Obvious next steps and progress indicators
- Confident completion of payment
- Same quality experience everywhere

Comprehensive User Findings

This project invested heavily in user testing across all five channels, requiring 2-3 months of iterative testing to reach the final unified experience.

Make Payment Testing

Tested the core payment initiation flow across all channels to identify common patterns and channel-specific needs.

Key Finding:

Users expected consistency but needed channel-appropriate context and security levels.

Payment Method Testing

Evaluated different approaches to payment method selection, storage, and security across user types.

Key Finding:

Guest users needed more guidance while authenticated users preferred efficiency and saved methods.

Cross-Channel Validation

Tested users moving between channels to ensure consistent mental models and expectations.

Key Finding:

Visual consistency was crucial for building trust across different access points.

Design Solutions

A unified system that balances consistency with channel-specific needs

UI Pattern

Honorable Results

  • 35%

    Reduction in payment abandonment

  • 50%

    Faster transaction completion

  • 5

    Separate workflows unified

  • 90%

    Cross-team alignment achieved