Deem Finance

Deem Finance is a Dubai-based financial institution, offering credit cards and personal loans. Unlike a traditional bank, Deem operates similarly to American Express, providing financial products without a full banking license.

Deem engaged Digital of Things to redesign their credit card application flow, with the goal of building a seamless, personalised onboarding experience that dynamically recommends a card based on customer segment and income, collects KYC, and submits applications to backend services, all while meeting UAE regulatory requirements including UAE Pass KYC.

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The challenge

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Deem was experiencing significant friction in its credit card application flow. Analytics from GA4 revealed the problem was not just visible but measurable.

The existing journey had several compounding issues:

• A long, multi-step flow with unnecessary friction points, particularly around consent forms, terms and conditions, and eyelid/biometric data capture.
• An outdated visual design that undermined trust at the point of conversion.
• No contextual guidance or microcopy to help users navigate complex financial or regulatory questions such as KYC fields and politically exposed person (PEP) declarations.
• The experience was not optimised for mobile, despite that being the dominant access channel.

Deem came to Digital of Things with a clear directional brief: reduce the drop-off rate by modernising the experience and simplify the journey to only what is necessary at each stage.

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The approach

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The project did not require a heavy discovery phase. Deem knew their market well and came with a clear brief. The work moved through three phases.

1. Discovery - The team reviewed GA4 analytics to locate the specific drop-off points, then mapped the existing as-is journey screen by screen. Competitor flows were analysed, with some competitors nominated by Deem and others identified by the DOT team. To-be journeys were then designed for two distinct user types: salaried and self-employed applicants.

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2. Design - Three visual concept directions were presented as moodboards and after selecting the direction, the team then produced high-fidelity UI screens across four journey variants: salaried web, salaried mobile, self-employed web, and self-employed mobile, in both English and Arabic. The self-employed flow included additional steps for document submission.

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A key design principle throughout was guidance: instead of leaving users to interpret the journey on their own, the redesigned experience used tooltips, inline explanations, and a friendly tone of voice at every step. Complex regulatory fields such as PEP declarations were made self-explanatory. An interactive prototype of the core journey was also delivered, along with updates to Deem's design system.

3. Handoff and support - Figma files, component libraries, and design annotations were packaged for the development team. DOT maintained close collaboration with Deem's developers throughout implementation, designing new screens as edge cases came up. There was also a post-delivery support allocated for tweaks, new screens, and code review.

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The outcome

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The client was extremely satisfied with the result. Deem's team responded positively to the speed of delivery, the quality of the collaboration, and the transparency maintained throughout the project. The development team was already in implementation before the design phase closed, reflecting the tight coordination between both sides.

Following project completion, Deem Finance came back to the Digital of Things’ office in person to express their satisfaction and to discuss a new engagement covering an additional journey. While that proposal is still in progress, the return visit is a direct reflection of the confidence built over the course of this project.

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