Overview

I was a product design consultant for the iOS mobile platform for Raymond James, working to bridge the gap between their Clientele website and their new MVP app. We built a revamped version of the existing app, with 40K downloads as of March 2023, and a 70% 30-day retention in just 3 months after the launch.

The project aimed to identify and solve usability issues in the app, integrating key features into the MVP to improve functionality for older users and refresh the branding to align with the existing web application. Learn more about what Raymond James does.

4 months deadline till delivery

Our team was grappling with the high expectations of stakeholders and an urgent need for design assets and specifications to keep pace with development timelines. This rush often led to overlooked user insights due to insufficient research and testing. I aimed to alleviate these pressures by enabling a greater focus on user research, usability, and the development of a comprehensive design system. As the third product designer to come onboard, I quickly assimilated and made significant contributions in several areas:

• UX Research: I conducted extensive user interviews and heuristic evaluations to uncover user pain points and areas for enhancement.

• Design System Implementation: I established a design system that ensured visual and functional consistency across the platform, facilitating a better understanding among the Engineering and Product teams of component selection and implementation.

• Usability Improvements: Due to lack of time, no usability tests were conducted previously before dev handoff. Since establishing a design process, we started actively conducting usability testing on all projects.

Analyzing patterns from desktop usage

I conducted research interviews with 8 users to uncover any pain points they were experiencing. These users used two platforms: unfortunately all of the available candidates used the desktop application.

Some things I did included:

• asking open-ended questions about painpoints & goals

• understanding behaviour of clients through observation of them using the application

• observing how clients used desktop application directly informs us of their needs and behaviours while using the mobile application

• inquire about what clients would like to do more of when on-the-go

Different user behaviour dependent on age group

Post-interview, I collaborated with my manager to perform affinity mapping, synthesizing identified issues into common themes and feature-related groups.

Some insights gathered include:

1. Variation of in users’ technical skills

2. Users wanted to have a direct snapshot of portfolio

3. Users wants to see specific in-depth reporting for specific accounts or categories of accounts at a glance

4. Discontent with the navigation

5. Be able to easily transfer funds

Post interview, we used the gathered insights to create both a user persona as well as user journey map to align our team. These insights were useful for prioritizing development efforts, helping plan future features, and helped strengthen stakeholder buy-in.

Based on both our UX research report as well as reports from our Client, we were able to further segment our main user into two primary groups. We broke down the user by their attributes, pain points, motivations, goals and responsibilities.

This helped us gauge user needs and pain points that were felt by our users, as well as features that are desirable for the user, such as:

• a customizable dashboard that helps users visual their financial growth

• Clearer feedback of fund transfer

• A filter for the various accounts

Prioritization Matrix

Due to time constraints, we were unable to fully integrate user research findings into the current round of product development. We used a prioritization matrix to determine the importance and urgency of different features in the project. It helped our product team decide which features to focus on. After a discussion with our team, we realized we wanted to spend more UX efforts in designing the old dashboard, reprioritizing how information is shown as well as including essential features used by our key personas. Unfortunately, even though the information architecture was getting over bloated, we realized that we didn’t have enough time to do a complete IA change.

Exploration of dashboard

Despite having a initial dashboard design, we chose to refine it after gaining deeper user insight after doing our research. Spending more time on the dashboard design is crucial as its role is to act as a central interface for users to interact with data and functions efficiently - this is because the dashboard’s role as the initial interface aligns with the “awareness” and “consideration” stages, where the customer becomes aware of functionalities and consider how they can meet their needs. Our goal is to guide users to the “decision” stage more smoothly - whether that is transferring funds or monitoring accounts to reach a financial decision with an advisor later on.

Aligning insights with user flow

By using the information we gathered for user research, we were able to inform most critical user flows or actions within the app - those that were essential for achieving the primary goals of our users. Below, I’ve included a userflow of the dashboard, and of the key decision making pathways.

Information we decided to include:

1. Immediate view of total assets as well as daily value change

2. Notification of changes in account

3. Access to changes in “Top Holdings” as well as various account information

4. Easy access to transfer funds

5. Ability to customize dashboard

Based on the information we decided to include, I was able to iterate and sketch out wireframes for the dashboard, highlighting how different design choices could impact user behaviour.

The team and I did a exploration of 3 variations of the dashboard. We received feedback from both the product team on the client side, as well as their users. A combination of exploration 1 and exploration 2 was preferred due to the clear hierarchy and how visual elements are styled.

Finalized Dashboard

The final dashboard strikes a balance between functionality and form, allowing users to use it for monitoring, analysis, and decision-making. Its design principles prioritize clarity, efficiency, and user engagement, making it a valuable asset to manage and interpret data effectively.

The Delivery

The deliverables included in the final handoff include:

1. Stakeholder’s interview

2. Product audit

3. User research and scenario prioritization

4. Information architecture

5. User flow maps

6. UI Design

7. Design system

400+ pages were created for Android and iOS platforms separately. In the following pages, I will be sharing some of the specific pages that I have contributed to. Including:

1. Password & Security

2. Feedback for fund transfer

3. Customization

4. Filter

Security is key!

The password and security page involves ensuring a balance between usability and protection. We’ve included clear error messages to help users understand and address any issues related to password entry and authentication.

Feedback for transfer

When it comes to fund transfer, we tried to design a intuitive interface that makes it easy for users to initiate and complete fund transfers.

Key considerations includes:

1. Clear and simple navigation

2. Streamlined input & validation

3. Confirmation and review

4. Feedback and confirmation

Customization for various users

We tried to provide users with a personalized and intuitive experience. Here are some key considerations when designing the customization:

1. Customers are given the flexibility and control and able to customize various aspects of the dashboard according to their preference

2. Default options are visually appealing and functional, ensuring that users have a great experience even without customizing every aspect. Note*: Default options based on usability testing.

3. Customization settings are organized in a clear and logical manner so users are able to easily locate and understand how to make changes.

Filter for simplicity and clarity

For the filter feature, we wanted to prioritize simplicity and clarity. Considerations involved:

1. Including only relevant and useful filters to avoid overwhelming the user, user research was conducted to identify the most important and commonly used filter criteria

2. Customizable options that empower users to tailor the filter experience to their specific needs

3. Avoid overwhelming the user by using progressive disclosure techniques to show only the most commonly used or essential filters, as well as providing options to expand for additional or advanced filters

Consistent design system

The design system was developed to provide consistency and cohesiveness across all digital products and platforms, as well as reflect upon the brand identity for Raymond James. We were able to streamline the design and development process, saving time and effort by providing pre-designed and pre-tested components that could be easily implemented. This not only improved efficiency but also maintained consistency throughout the organization's digital presence.

Measuring success

Unfortunately, due to being pulled out of the project after the release date, I was not part of the decision-making for metrics of success. However, based on the research done, these are the metrics I would look into.

• User Satisfaction (Net Promoter Score - NPS): NPS measures overall user satisfaction and loyalty, as well as how likely users are to recommend the banking app to others, which is a strong indicator of user satisfaction and the app's value proposition.

• Task success rate + frequency of customers calling financial advisors: One of the goal of the application was to free up financial advisors’s time due to frequent calls from customers. Measuring the task success rate would also directly impact the freqency in which customers call their advisors to do various tasks.

• Engagement (Daily Active Users - DAU/Monthly Active Users - MAU): I was able to gather MAU three months after the project had ended, learning that there was a 70% 30-day retention in just 3 months after the launch. It would have been interesting to gather insight on why the 30% did not continue to use the application.

The results and much more to do

After a year of hard work, the app was launched in 2023 March, with 400k users.

Reflecting on the project, there are several aspects I believe could have been approached differently:

1. Navigational Hierarchy: As the project evolved, we inadvertently cluttered the MVP with excessive features, particularly within the "more" menu, as the client was insistent on mirroring the desktop version's capabilities. A more thorough investigation into which features were truly beneficial for mobile use would have been prudent.

   • The initial user flow design should have been constantly updated throughout the project lifecycle to remain relevant and effective.

2. Simplify interface to tackle main painpoints: Instead of continually adding new features, a stronger emphasis on iterative design to directly tackle identified pain points would have been more beneficial.

3. Focus on UX Research: Even though UX research was done on the project, further encouragement for the client to recognize the value of detailed UX research reports as a fundamental project deliverable would have enhanced the project's overall impact.