Increasing user engagement with a new point of entry of the SaaS platform

How might we motivate financial advisors completing open tasks and accomplishing their goals?

Opening internal platform to external users ≠ success

Product
‍‍‍
FinCompare is a comparison portal, offering small and medium-sized businesses digital access to loans and financial solutions.

Challenge
After transitioning to a SaaS model and opening the platform to external advisors, we noticed that new users weren’t engaging as expected.

Solution
I took the lead, did in-depth research to find out why, and redesigned the platform’s entry point to encourage more user interaction and engagement.

After & Before: Changes That Matter

Turns out, new users were stuck navigating the platform, causing low engagement and reliance on support

This is what I have done to get the clear picture:

Quantative Analysis
I analyzed the data we have to identify tasks that consume significant amount of user time.

User Interactions
I analyzed session recordings to see how users engage with the platform.

User Interviews
learnt where users experience challenges or moments of delight while using the product.

Interviews with support team
Talking to support colleagues helped me to learn about the reasons why users were calling.

Product goal: Empower users to work on the application independently

While company´s business model is built on the monthly fee, it is essential that users see continuous value of being a partner, which in the world of financial advisors means closing deals. Therefore, the business objective was to reduce the time the users need to work on the application before it is sent to the bank.

Key opportunities to get to the desired outcome

After synthesizing research findings into a journey map, I identified key opportunities to improve the user experience for financial advisors:

  1. Clearly display potential income and deal provisions.
  2. Provide easy access to incomplete tasks and required actions.
  3. Simplify visibility of application status and available offers.
  4. Add tooltips for quicker task completion and motivate faster deal closures.
  5. Enhance application features to boost matches and efficiency.

Exploring ideas: Encouraging user to finish applications through a new entry point experience

Despite the team's preference for a different solution (constraints and limitations), for this case study, I opted to focus on boosting user motivation through the introduction of a new dashboard. I created several low-fidelity concepts keeping in mind the requirements I defined in a previous step.

Version with a focus on tasks to be done and left-side menu with icons only to have more space for the content on the screen. Also, prioritized open cases in the center of the screen to grab users' attention to the cases where is action required.

In this version I prioritized the financial KPIs that are relevant to the financial advisors. Also, ideated on the version how to show revenue in progress and tips to improve the application.

Next iteration on the left-side menu and greeting the user. More prominent cards with financial stats with a revenue in progress in the center. It also provides a clear CTA to most relevant cases and gives updates on what's happened while user was away. With this version, I moved further.  

Advisor's new dashboard: What to do, where to do it, and why it matters

After several iterations on UI, here is the final version of the dashboard:

Have a closer look on the features

Transparent Income and Revenue
New financial widgets are meant to help users see the value of their partnership with the platform and motivate them based on their financial performance.

Clear Status and Next Steps
This section highlights recent applications with clear status indicators and direct links to required actions reduces the steps needed to reach key tasks.

Recent Updates
A notifications section with a quick overview of all changes since the user's last visit, is saving time and reducing confusion.

Open Cases
This widget shows all cases, helps users to quickly identify where their focus is needed.

Product Performance Insights
Introduced a performance chart that visualizes the success of different financial products, helping users make informed decisions.

Empowering Users with Knowledge
Added a section linking to the help center, offering articles that enhance users’ knowledge in SME financing, fostering independence and confidence.

Prioritized tasks
Designed a new tasks section that highlights deadlines and provides direct links to applications, with options to filter tasks by today, this week, or this month.

Next steps

As previously mentioned, the dashboard project is currently on hold due to internal company reasons. However, once the initiative is resumed, my next steps will be as follows:
1. User Testing and Feedback: Conduct usability tests on the current design version with users to gather actionable feedback.
2. Design Iteration: Refine and enhance the design based on the insights from user feedback, ensuring it meets user needs and improves the overall experience.
3. Development Support: Collaborate closely with the development team to ensure the successful implementation of the design, addressing any challenges that arise during the development process.

I am looking forward to it!