UX Research
Tool Development
My Role
UX Researcher
What I did
Internal Research, Competitive Analysis, Planning, A/B Testing, Unmoderated & Live User Testing, Reporting
Duration
6 months
Emergency saving funds are integral to financial planning, but are too often over-indexed in low return cash accounts.
How can we guide a large financial company’s robo-advisor clients on how to split their savings between cash and accessible investments accounts?
My team lead a discovery, research, and design initiative to develop a recruiting and beta planner tool that aggregates user’s accounts and provides them with a personalized savings range.
Robo-advisor services use machine-learning to manage a balanced investment portfolio.
In 2021 a large financial company that I contracted with decided to expand their personalized investment experience into custom goals and planning tools, including an emergency savings planning tool.
How might we guide robo-advisor clients through their emergency savings plan, so they can achieve the highest returns while still feeling safe?
Internal Research
To validate this experiment, I conducted research through the company’s internal directory for any in-house or external corporate insights regarding the demand for an emergency savings tool.
A 2021 study found that the 2nd highest financial stressor for active workers is not having enough emergency savings, and that ⅓ are most likely use a cash handout to increase those savings.
This is particularly true amongst the robo-advisor’s target demographic (employed, <59, <$100K in investable assets).
Competitive Analysis
Our key competitors also provided insight into what emergency savings features were currently on the market.
Research also found that during the pandemic, 5 major firms that are in direct competition with the company have added a new emergency savings tool on their platforms.
Strategy
Working with data analysts and developers, our team, comprising of a UX Strategist, UX Designer, UX Content Writer, and a Sr. UX Researcher, created a recruiting and beta rollout plan.
Phase 1 involved: FAQ dashboard button to track click rates and gauge client interest; A/B content testing on the “Coming Soon” Fake Door dashboard card; Fake Door recruiting funnel for Phase 2.
Phase 2 involved: Establishing the MVP for Beta V1; Live and unmoderated user testing to validate MVP; Release for beta clients recruited through Fake Door from Phase 1; Continue iterating design for Beta V2.
A/B Content Testing
For Phase 1’s dashboard card and pop-up modal, I ran unmoderated A/B tests in order to asses what content and titles resonated more with target clients. I also led all reporting and findings presentations.
“I have more positive feelings toward a rainy day on the beach than I do with drowning and being saved. One is a setback, one is a trauma.”
Unmoderated & Live User Testing
For Phase 2’s Beta MVP V1, I ran unmoderated user testing and assisted the Sr. UX Researcher during live sessions in order to validate overall flow and high level concept with clients. I also led all reporting and findings presentations.
“This is exactly what I was looking for in an emergency savings plan. I want cash that I can get right away when I need it, and I wouldn’t miss out on earning money through investing”
“Since I’m not very good at making my own budgeting, it would be nice to track it through the Rainy Day Tool.”