Improve Onboarding Experience
The inherited situation
Aspiration Financial LLC, a sustainable fintech startup, wanted to improve the customer onboarding experience for the B2C debit card product.
My role
I owned the customer journey for opening a new account: from email entry to application submission.
I was tasked with improving the funnel using my systems engineering skills. The funnel needed to minimize the number of funnel drop outs, connect new customers to the climate-centered mission, and maximize funded accounts (quantity & deposit size).
Primary KPIs
Other relevant metrics: Active new account holders (% who engage during first month), Connection to mission (only tracked in intermittent surveys)
Key Questions & Challenges
- Which funnel changes will improve KPIs the most?
- How can I reimagine onboarding to delight new users, progress business goals, and stay mission aligned?
Gather Data
Starting Point
Deeper Research
My effort to understand how & why the existing funnel came to be.
Market Research
Side by side comparison versus competitions’ funnels.
Analytical Tools
Leveraged Amplitude and DataDog to investigate user pain points.
User Empathy
Designed & ran a study targeting funnel drop outs. Coordinated with cross-functional teams to launch study.
Org Politics
Met with tenured colleagues to understand why existing decisions were made.
Hypotheses
Based on my research, I formed ideas about which changes would most improve the relevant KPIs.
Decrease # of steps
KPI: drop off rate
- Survey respondents complained of lengthy process
- Survey indicated confusion and concern about steps unique to Aspiration
- Market research showed competitor funnels were half the length
Allow delayed step completion
KPIs: % accounts funded, initial funding $$
- Pain point data showed users dropped out before funding an account
- Survey indicated users wanted to fund their account later.
- Survey indicated decision fatigue with many setting choices
Tie in climate mission without extra steps
KPI: drop off rate
- Survey indicated mission connection decreased later in the funnel, and also that mission connection was a primary driver for wanting an account
A/B Tests
Everyone at the organization had an opinion about the existing funnel, and a lot of emotional attachment. So in order to get buy-in from all stakeholders, I ran a/b experiments:
Streamlined funnel tests
Make opt-ins automatic
Worked with legal to approve automatic opt-in to climate friendly settings. Those steps could be removed from onboarding, and adjusted later in the dashboard, if desired.
Updated look/feel, language, & trust elements
Added info about why we needed SSN, included SSL info, reskinned funnel with updated branding.
Add green banking facts to onboarding
Added climate banking facts to the funnel, to retain mission connection and promote completion of the application.
Challenge
How can I get cross-functional buy-in on my plan to serve the triple bottom line throughout the funnel?
Cross-functional alignment
Everyone at the organization was mission aligned, including our users, so once I had the data, I just needed to show them that it was better.
Integrate findings
Socialize the findings
Connected data to the changes that needed to be made in the funnel.
Get approvals
Drafted PRD for onboarding funnel experience based in findings from research. Scaled the tests up to 100% of traffic.
Results achieved
Increased account funding by $100k+, per year
Increased funnel completion by over 2%
Reflection
This was a lab for me in getting cross-functional alignment. Many of the adjacent teams were attached to certain steps in the funnel. I used user data, survey responses, and market research to get buy-in for the experiments.
Once the experiments showed improvement, the leadership team was happy.
Skills used
Cross-functional Collaboration
With engineers, designers, data scientists, marketing, user research, legal, etc. Made engineers feel heard.
A/B testing
Data informed, user research informed. Reduced number of funnel steps.
Iteration
Made small changes, one at a time, measured impact, especially as it related to up/down funnel activities.
User research & empathy
Organized user survey. Advocated for simplicity in the sign up. Collaborated with marketing for cohesive brand identity.
Roadmapping
Prioritized user pain points alongside growth goals. Balanced need to stay mission aligned throughout roadmapping.
Leadership
Gained alignment cross-functionally, across teams, and up the organization leadership team, by advocating for users with data and research.