Improving Plum’s Onboarding

Cross-team collaboration to build an experience that increases trust, conversion and user deposits.

Feb 2024 - Ongoing | 🟡 Partial release

Impact

Signup Conversion

+34%

New Depositor Rate (Leading)

+25%

Quicker time to onboard

3.2x

Context

Old fashioned Onboarding that no longer serves customers needs

Plum’s Onboarding takes on average 16 minutes to complete. Far slower than many competitors.

As Plum’s product offering has expanded, so has our user base and their intention to sign up. Unfortunately, our onboarding experience has not kept up with this evolution.

As a result, only 43.8% of new users made it past our onboarding.

Research & Problem

What’s causing such a high churn?

Most obvious is the time it takes to start using the product, even for the most enthusiastic user this is a big ask.

On top of that are a few high friction drop-off points that I observed in our data.

Linking their banks: Asking for such sensitive information and access so early on, before we provide any value to the user and build up any trust. Reciprocity Principle
Direct Debit setup: A hangover from the product’s original concept, though as it is a required step we see a huge number of users’ abandon the flow

- 38% of them expressed concern about linking their bank accounts and not being able to explore beforehand.
  - “I didn’t like giving out my bank details so soon... I hadn’t really had a chance to see what options were there.”
- 24% were uncomfortable with the direct debit setup enforced during the onboarding
  - “The direct debit agreement was completed before I even got on the app properly. I don’t recall signing an agreement but this was intense and made me feel uneasy.”
How can we improve to help you onboard to Plum easily?
- “I saw something on the ad but as long as I download the app I can’t find those information."
- “I’m not very good with numbers. I struggle with interest rates, just giving numbers is too confusing”
- “Information at Plum is very overwhelming… For someone new, the assistive information feels a lot”

“Incredibly sketchy”

Based on this data, I conducted some qualitative and quantitative research to understand users’ attitudes and behaviours. Common threads here?

Aggressive commitment: Not feeling comfortable sharing bank details & setting up Direct debit right away before seeing the actual benefits
Dark UX patterns: unknowingly opting into certain features and being charged for subscription. It damages our reputation and erodes trust, people think we’re a scam!
Poor signposting: Cannot find the advertised feature in the app, or struggle to understand our products

Ideation

How can we align?

I invited cross-functional stakeholders to the ideation workshop to ensure collective involvement. Hypotheses were then formulated to inform the design strategy.

Explore first, commit later: Build trust and transparency by allowing users to experience what Plum is
Create a better me: Reach the AHA moment by demonstrating how they can achieve their goals with Plum
Be a great host: Ease users into Plum with sufficient support!

Strategies

We need to earn back their trust!

Remove Bank linking & Direct Debit setup: Ask for consent only when necessary. This allows users to proceed efficiently with sufficient context. Progressive Disclosure

Eliminate Dark UX patterns: Commit to a transparent, honest, and accurate approach to foster long-term relationships with customers
- Removing the automatic rule would initially lead to a drop in deposits, but I negotiated with the decision-maker to accept this temporary trade-off. This change would reduce withdrawals caused by the lack of trust, ultimately driving higher Net Deposits and AUM.

Designing for everyone

I want to simplify finance for people with varying levels of financial literacy. Everyone should be able to make informed decisions.
Enhanced information accessibility by using plain language and communicative visual aids to explain complex finance concepts.

Challenges

Cross-functional collaboration

This proposal fundamentally impacts every single product squad in our company. By understanding the tech complexity, and how other functions & their KPIs would be affected, I worked alongside the PMs & ELs of other product squads to create solutions that mitigate risks and ensure our product functions perfectly as usual.

Payment: Design for when user deposit without linking their bank or setting up a payment mandate
Trading: Cater the scenarios when users buy stocks and funds without set up a funding source.
FinCrime: Determine how we verify users if certain information is not captured in onboarding.

Solution

Seamless onboarding

After removing all the unnecessary steps and streamlining the experience, I delivered a seamless onboarding that shortened the time from 16 to 5 minutes and drove a drastic 34% increase in signup conversion.

After you signed up with your phone number, entered a few personal details and create the PIN, you will then be taken directly to the Home Screen, where you can explore the app through a guided journey.

Setting the scene

I’ve consolidated 3 main purposes based on users’ financial aspirations.

Instead of having it as one of the steps in the onboarding, I put them on the Home Screen as a permanent entry point, where you can drop off and come back flexibly at your own pace.

To ensure information is digestible, I’ve added an intro screen that summarises the product benefits concisely.
I introduced new key visuals and animation to our Design System to reinforce our brand identity and ease users into the journey. Check out my exploration!

To understand better how users manage their finances; and to inform how we can make onboarding more relevant
- Moderated 45 min interviews (N=8)
- The most commonly mentioned purpose can be categorised into Save, Invest, and Set up Automation (our killer feature).
Only 30% of Cash ISA users made it past the Explainer screen. They felt frustrated in understanding the product.
- “There are a lot of words sometimes and it can be hard to understand, would be great if you had a video or something to explain the benefits and conditions.”
To validate my design, I conducted unmoderated prototype testing with both ISAs (N=4) and non-ISAs (N=4) users to understand if the new enhancements fulfil their needs.
- “It’s really straight forward and no jargons”
- “As easy as Monzo, easier than Nationwide”

Next best action

I drive adoption by linking up features sensibly.

I want users to not feel like we’re cross-selling, but they’re presented with suggestions that can level up their game.

Upon setting up a Savings product, I nudge users to set up a recurring deposit. This creates a continuity with what they expressed interest in, which drove 13% higher adoption.

A better version of themselves

I believe creating a vision could keep users motivated towards their financial goals.

By projecting how much users can save in a year, I illustrated the impact of setting aside a little and frequently and demonstrated the benefits of automation.

Now users can opt-in to set up a Direct Debit after familiarising with Plum. The usage of their data and cancellation process is clearly outlined to enhance transparency.

Key takeaways

Trust is critical

Initially, I hypothesized that drop-offs were due to technical issues or unfamiliarity with open banking. However, thorough research revealed that trust was the primary issue. Without trust, users won't invest their time. This insight is a wake-up call for the business to prioritize long-term success.

Finding the perfect balance

I considered asking users a few behavioural questions to tailor the app experience to their goals. However, this was descoped to prioritize reducing friction and decision-making during onboarding.

I propose revisiting this idea. By understanding users' goals, we can tailor suggestions and streamline the process, potentially increasing success rates and making onboarding more efficient.

Knowledge transfer

With four PM changes, I established a knowledge transfer process to keep everyone up to speed. I regularly updated the new PM and proactively connected with other teams, summarizing progress and flagging issues to ensure smooth transitions and create synergy.