During my politics degree, I realised I had a real passion for the ‘Why’ in decision-making. This led me to political psychology, which continued to enthral, from my first encyclopaedia of political psychology to a slightly worrying obsession with non-fiction in gender politics, populism, politicians, economics, ideology, policymaking and health disparities.

Starting my journey in UX/UI Design, I found that I had inadvertently developed a good portion of the skills I needed. I knew I was exactly where I needed to be.

Laybuy: Bridging the NZ-UK Market Gap

Laybuy had set its sights on dominating the UK market before its competitors, Afterpay and Clearpay, got a foothold. As a Customer Success Manager, I conducted a deep-dive competitive audit to augment their research about the specific needs and behaviours of UK consumers.

The challenge? The assumption was that what worked in the NZ market would translate in the UK market, and I needed to determine if that assumption would hold. I found that the UK was a mature, highly regulated credit landscape with customers who expected a much broader level of service.

Auditing the Buy Now Pay Later Sector

I conducted a deep-dive UK-first competitive audit looking at Klarna, Clearpay and Afterpay. The initial research was based on technological capacity and user interaction, concluding:

This research supported the original data that had been drawn up by an external research provider, adding contextual depth to their plans. I identified must-haves that also supported specific financial regulatory language and preferred retail partnerships that I developed for their email marketing campaigns.

Driving Growth Through Strategic Email Design

As a Buy Now, Pay Later platform, Laybuy wanted to introduce a system to spread costs into six parts on a weekly basis. The original research found that people were paid weekly, fortnightly and monthly, making the UK a prime market for this payment service.

The goal was to create a high-stakes sales campaign with a cohesive branding plan that cut through the noise of crowded inboxes during busy retail periods. The email design had to fit two main purposes: to encourage retailers to join the platform and reduce abandoned baskets, increasing sales conversion, and introduce those retailers weekly to new retailers as part of their marketing plan.

The process:

• I developed a modular design system for email, allowing the marketing team to quickly assemble campaign assets.
• I prioritised a “Thumb-First” UX, ensuring CTAs were easily accessible on mobile devices where 70% of users were engaged.
• I implemented a high-contrast visual hierarchy to highlight the “Pay in 6” value proposition for both retailers and users.

When the emails were introduced, click-through rates (CTR) increased, resulting in 16 retailers per month joining the platform (a 22% increase) whilst supporting successful multi-channel sales pushes in the market. The increase meant we were able to diagnose a credit issue for UK users, using HSBC and authorise payments to increase uptake.