Money Intel

Company

Money Intel is a 401(k) platform with automated financial advice for employees.

Goal

In 3 weeks, redesign the sign-up experience and app to boost the enrollment rate for 401(k) retirement plans.

Team

I worked with one other UX designer.

Process

The Problem

One problem that stopped people from joining their company's 401(k) plan: many people don't understand what they are. Another problem: Money Intel had streamlined the 401(k) sign-up process, but it still looked and sounded like a traditional, boring 401(k) provider.

Interviews

Money Intel had a wide range of users – any working professional who's company used the MoneyIntel service. We interview potential users to understand their thoughts and feelings about 401(k) plans.

Affinity Diagramming

We organized interview takeaways into groups, hoping to discover themes and insights.

Some important takeaways from interviews:

Survey

Main takeaway: of 40 people surveyed, only half understood the value of a 401(k) plan!

Empathy Mapping

Empathy mapping was another way to organize our interview learnings, helping us to pinpoint users' biggest hesitations regarding signing up for a 401(k) plan.

Task Flows

We mapped all the touch points of the current Money Intel experience, from the initial email to the dashboard. Given our 3-week time frame, we chose to redesign the most critical touch points, highlighted below:

Collaborative Design

We used a design studio exercise to explore multiple options and quickly narrow down layouts, which led to the wireframes below.

Wireframes

The context of the signup process was important: during the first week at a new job. We knew users were already overwhelmed by emails, new systems, and signup forms. With that in mind, we tried to make the entire process super simple, starting from the first email invite:

The ability to "remind me later" about this 401(k) plan also aimed to reduce the chaos that users were likely experiencing in their first week of employment.

We sought feedback on wireframes, iterated, and reached a final solution.

Solution

Email Invite

Our interviews had revealed that many users wanted to talk to a real person for financial advise. While Money Intel did not have the staff to provide human advisors, we could at least simulate a conversation with a real person by using a conversational tone designed to position Money Intel as a friendly advisor. We aimed to convey how easy this process would be, unlike traditional 401(k) providers.

Infographic

Our research showed that we needed to explain the value of a 401(k) very clearly and quickly, so I designed an infographic-style landing to explain the benefits before forcing using to sign-up.

Visual Design

It's amazing how a sleek look can change the whole experience.

The interaction design of this page was also important: as users changed their contribution % and other inputs, the savings graph and stock portfolio would need to react in real-time, showing users how their chosen plan would affect their future.

One goal was to make those distant, intangible gains more tangible. We focused this page on users' projected savings at retirement, highlighting how much money they would gain through compound interest (it was Einstein who said that compound interest is the eight wonder of the world!)

Results

"Jeff had strong attention to detail, used feedback effectively, and learned complex financial concepts required for the project with ease. The end product effectively enhanced user experience above and beyond expectations. I would highly recommend Jeff to anyone looking for UX design work.” - Andrew Hallengren, Founder of Money Intel