How repayments work
In Student Loans Company, we did some user research with students to see how they understood repayments. I used this research to identify where users were struggling, and how I could address this in the content.
Analysis and solution
When students have taken out a student loan, they get access to an online account to manage their repayments. We also use it to give them guidance on things they contact us about.
​
We analysed the most common reasons users call our content centre. One of the overwhelming reasons were students that did not did not understand how much they were repaying or how they would pay us.
​​
In this case, it was clear we needed some extra guidance to give users the information they need, and to reassure them. So, I created a new page in their account to explain how repayments work. There is a lot of content and variables to explain here. (This is only about half the page).
​
It was important to have a page that users could search to answer a lot of common questions we see. I also looked at the flow of their account page, and directed the clearest place for users to find this content.
​
Like everything I do, it fully follows the Government Digital Service (GDS) style guide, so it's easy to read and use.