WORKING PAPER 4.2.3. Research Outcomes: Training Design Modifications for Phase 3 of the Project Our qualitative research work in India can be categorized as applied research, as its main objective was to investigate what aspects of the training are currently working for customers, and what aspects could be improved for Phase 3 of the project and how. In the following sections, we summarize the key features of the training content and the training platform we have decided to upgrade as a direct consequence of our qualitative research interviews in India. Phase 3 project teams are currently working to implement all design modifications described below, under the auspice of the DIV grant. The objective is to improve the design of the training to enhance client engagement. 4.2.3.a. Design modifications on the content for the financial heuristics training Based on the client behavioral insights derived from the qualitative interviews in India, we were able to identify a few main areas for improvement for the training content. The key content-based design modifications are described as follows: • Target the Financial Heuristics training to retail business clients. • Help clients choose the best time to receive the training call. • Improve the orientation session for the training. • Pay specific attention on how the content is delivered. 4.2.3.a.i. Target the Financial Heuristics training to retail business clients One major finding is that clients are much more likely to be and stay engaged if the content is targeted to their interests and needs. Thus, targeting the right audience with appropriate training content is crucial for making the Financial Heuristics training product a success. For Phase 2 of the project, we used a very wide spectrum of business owners for the training—tailoring, catering, services, manufacturing, and retail. We discovered that the content of the Financial Heuristics training was not universally applicable to all businesses. For example, one client with a tailoring business reported that she hung up the training calls when the topic was inventory management, which she did not find relevant for her business. We decided to focus on retail businesses for the scale-up Phase 3 projects. In terms of content, this decision translates into putting specific emphasis in the curriculum on topics that are highly relevant for retail business owners, namely supplier and inventory management. The Financial Heuristics training curriculum for Phase 3 of the project will focus on four main modules— all highly relevant to retail clients: cash separation, customer credit, inventory management, and supplier management. The revised content includes 18 actionable Financial Heuristics covered under these four modules. (See Appendix A for details on the corresponding Financial Heuristics under each topic.) The selection of the topics and Financial Heuristics to be featured in the scale-up pilots is a direct consequence of what we learned from clients regarding their key business and financial management challenges, and our behavioral assessment for how to best address these challenges (for more details, see Sections 4.1 and 4.2.2). 4.2.3.a.ii. Help clients choose the best time to receive the training call Given that our clients are pressed for time, and training calls could potentially compete with their business and household responsibilities, we found that it is important to send the training calls at the most convenient time for clients. The way we solicited that information in Phase 2 of the project gave us a lot of wrongly selected times, so we designed a different process to elicit from clients the best time to call them—by asking them specifically when they are least busy during the day to receive the training call. 24