Synchrony Bank · Help content + taxonomy

Making nearly 100 questionseasier to navigate.

How a content audit, competitor review, user-centered taxonomy, and mobile content model supported Synchrony’s buy-now-pay-later launch.

RoleContent Strategist (contract)
Timeframe2021–2022
CompanySynchrony Bank
ScopeAudit, benchmarking, taxonomy, mobile model, copy
PartnersCX, design, Help Center, marketing, legal
StatusLaunch work completed

The problem

Two content systems, one launch

The marketing team had accumulated a large collection of internal BNPL assets. Some were current and useful; others were outdated, duplicative, off-brand, or difficult to locate. The team needed a reliable view of what it had and what still needed to be created.

The customer experience created a connected problem: nearly 100 questions covering payments, credit checks, fees, refunds, fraud, and statements. One long list would be difficult to scan, especially on a phone.

The current public page may have changed since launch. This case describes my verified work and points to one published question that remains visible; it does not claim authorship of every word on the current page.

Contribution 01

Turn a warehouse into an inventory

I cataloged internal assets in Excel, recording each item’s type, purpose, condition, and status. I flagged outdated, duplicate, and off-brand material; identified gaps; and recommended what to keep, revise, archive, or create.

01Keep
02Revise
03Archive
04Create

The inventory connected content condition to a decision and gave the launch team a clearer basis for production.

Contribution 02

Benchmark customer expectations

I reviewed help content from other BNPL providers, collected recurring questions, grouped them by theme, and identified subjects Synchrony needed to address clearly.

The benchmark was not used to copy a competitor’s structure or language. It distinguished expected baseline content from opportunities to make Synchrony’s guidance clearer or more complete.

Contribution 03

Build a taxonomy around user concerns

I helped organize the question set into recognizable customer concerns rather than internal organizational language.

Payments + statementsCustomer-centered category
Credit checksCustomer-centered category
Fees + chargesCustomer-centered category
Refunds + returnsCustomer-centered category
Fraud + securityCustomer-centered category
Account supportCustomer-centered category

The structure gave people a practical first decision: identify the subject, then find the specific question.

Contribution 04

Make the model work on mobile

I worked with design to recommend a nested-accordion experience that progressively revealed detail:

01Choose a category
02Review its questions
03Open one answer
04Take the next step

The design intent was to make a large FAQ set manageable without placing nearly 100 expanded questions on one screen.

Writing

Write for a stressful moment

Financial help content often reaches people when they are confused, worried, or dealing with possible fraud. The writing needed to be direct without sounding cold.

Bank-centered phrasing

How do I report unauthorized access to my account?

Customer’s actual concern

I didn’t open this loan. Who can help me?

The published answer acknowledges the seriousness of the situation and directs the customer to Synchrony for immediate support.

Shipped output

A navigable help-content system

  • Searchable inventory of BNPL marketing assets
  • Keep-revise-archive recommendations
  • Competitor help-content benchmark
  • User-centered categories for nearly 100 FAQs
  • Recommended nested-accordion content model
  • Plain-language support copy for topics including fraud and fees

With post-launch data, I would review category-level opens, unsuccessful searches, repeated customer-service questions, and mobile drop-off points within the accordion sequence.

View Synchrony Pay Later