Nabtrade
Guiding first time investors into a robo investor.
Overview
Project type
UX/UI Design
Role
Designer
Duration
6 weeks
Team members
Project manager
Investment SME
Summary
Our client already had financial advisers and an existing online brokerage platform for investors and traders that primarily reached sophisticated and wealthy investors however they could see that a greater interest in retail trading through robo investors was creating a plethora of challenger products and services.
There was an opportunity to reach out to their everyday customers who used their suite of banking products and offer a simple passive investment product to help them diversify and grow their wealth. We were to conduct research on their customers as well as competitors in the space to develop a potential robo investor product that could be included alongside their more sophisticated online brokerage.
Challenge
How can we build confidence for first time investors to get started with a robo investor product?
Process
Internal interviews
As complete finance newbies we first needed to talk to multiple internal stakeholders as well as our resident expert to better understand how investing works, what ETF's were, and why we should trust a robo investing tool. Needless to say these were long conversations filled with many questions...often repeating the same question until we felt confident that we understood the core value proposition.
Competitive analysis
We then conducted competitive analysis on robo and micro investing products in Australia, the UK, and the US to better understand the market. We mapped common features such as small investment amounts, limited numbers of portfolio options, and streamlined identification steps that allow customers to get started quicker. We also identified different unique selling propositions and key features used to better educate and differentiate the product for their target audiences such as goal based investing.
Early prototype
We developed an early mobile app prototype experience based on competitor research and our clients requirements as a prompt for discussions with customers to test ideas for key selling points, portfolio types and key financial details.
Customer interviews
We conducted interviews to better understand first time investors habits and level of knowledge around investing. We interviewed across a broad range of professions, ages, genders to find common barriers, gaps in understanding, as well as their habits with money and long term financial goals.
In addition to this we used our prototype to test some of our key hypotheses, and the desirability of a new investment offering from a trusted financial provider.
Insights
We discovered a few recurring themes.
01
Customers have low investment confidence and experience
Most people feel nervous and underqualified to invest in the share market and that they need to be experts to prevent themselves from making mistakes and losing their money. Having a trusted or strongly referred provider is essential especially for a first time experience.
01
Overwhelmed and daunted, want guidance and control
There are so many brokers, products, and advisers out there, and even more opinions and strategies to sift through that puts people off. The time and mental investment required to enter the share market is significant and people want an investment solution that is tailored to their needs.
03
The more money invested, the more assurance is needed
With investments over $30,000 customers have a greater need for reassurance that their investment is safe and trustworthy. Most customers appreciated the chance to talk to someone first before contributing more money all at once while also being wary of financial advisers who may be untrustworthy and have a conflict of interest.
Principles
Based on our findings, we developed some principles to guide our design decisions.
Educate me slowly, speak my language, show me benefits early
Compare against known benchmarks such as property, term deposits or savings accounts. As well as use similar language and visualisations from other long term investment concepts such as superannuation to speed up understanding. Lastly don't overwhelm with information.
Do the hard work for me...but keep me informed along the way
Limit options to reduce choice anxiety while allowing people to self select and feel in control. Minimise barriers to entry by reducing steps in the process, but provide ensure important updates are communicated when needed.
Start with a low entry threshold, grow my confidence
Let people try with a small amount first, rather than requiring a higher minimum investment amount. Confidence and trust grows with understanding and familiarity, let people try before they invest larger amounts. Many users cited 1k-5k to start out with and increase the balance based on performance.
Help me understand, evaluate and navigate risk
Provide clarity around risks associated, and help people choose the risk level they are comfortable with as well as assure them of the security with investing with a large financial institution. Several participants felt more comfortable talking with someone if investing larger amounts of money over $30k.
Ideation & Prototype
We ideated concepts based on a product landing page and an ongoing portfolio monitoring experience using the Nabtrade platform on web rather than a native app. We used our guiding principles to ensure that features and inclusions were always building trust, credibility, and transparency around key concerns from our research.
Concept testing
We conducted a further round of concept testing to ensure that we had made improvements from our early prototype as well as the usability of a different browser based experience.
Outcomes
We created detailed designs, a prototype, slide deck, and a video reel with user feedback to present the changing investment landscape, the opportunity, and the positive response from potential investors to our senior stakeholders. Our findings overwhelmingly showed that retail customers were becoming more trusting of investing directly online and in a simple investment product with low fees that behaved in a similar manner to their superannuation, but only needing more guidance, reassurance and transparency to help build confidence over time.
Unfortunately the decision was taken to not continue with the product as it might attract customers away from the core investment offerings of the business. But our client was very happy the project gave me many lessons.
Next steps
If I were to have continued with the project i would have looked at:
Building a stronger picture of the shifting competitive landscape, especially with regards to the growth of challenger brands. We had assumed from our client that the business case was strong enough, so while we worked on the experience and delivery we missed out on better framing the opportunity.
Also i would have looked at ways to pitch it as a product that could operate alongside existing products for more experienced investors rather than one that could potentially cannibalize their user base.
Lessons learned
Capture video for more compelling discussions.
Video highlights can help build better context and confidence in the research findings. Showing first hand quotes and reactions can shift conversations especially in areas of great contention within the business.
Aim for expertise but don't lose your newbie perspective.
Learning about such a complex subject can send you down the rabbit hole learning about ETF's, dividends, asset allocation, etc but you should never forget the perspective you initially had, and what those terms meant to you the first time you came across them.
