Magnifi Onboarding
AUM
$2.2B
Month 2 Retention
64%
From Transactional Platform to AI-powered Co-pilot
Magnifi's focus evolved beyond just being an investment platform. They introduced an AI Assistant, transforming into an intelligence platform driven by AI-powered investment guidance. This strategic shift aimed to position Magnifi as a co-pilot for every investor's journey, assisting with all their investment decisions, not just those made on Magnifi's platform. By offering this broader guidance, Magnifi aimed to deliver significant value to users and eliminate the need for cumbersome account creation processes.
My Role
I led the end-to-end redesign on the the entire project for both web and mobile platforms with the help of a junior visual designer. This included being part of user feedback sessions and testing the designs after the fact.
Aug 2023 - Feb 2024
What was the need to revamp the onboarding?
With the introduction of the AI Assistant feature, the business and product underwent a transformative shift from being solely an investment platform to becoming an intelligence platform. This evolution meant that the primary objective was no longer centered around encouraging users to create brokerage accounts, but rather to engage with and experience the AI Assistant as a gateway to intelligent investing.
Consequently, the focus shifted towards driving sign-ups and subscriptions to this innovative feature, linking their existing investing accounts & recognising Magnifi's potential to deliver significant value. This strategic redirection proved essential, especially considering the cumbersome process associated with creating a profile.
Business goals
55%
1.7B
70K
Retention
AUM
User Base
from exernal linked accounts
Challenges we were facing
Several factors were limiting Magnifi's ability to attract and retain users:
Cumbersome Onboarding: The 6-step signup process with a mandatory brokerage account creation likely discouraged potential users. A faster and more flexible signup option could be beneficial.
Slow Verification: A 2-day wait for profile verification could lead to user drop-off before they even experience the platform.
Undiscovered Value: The core benefits and features of the AI Assistant, especially how it helps users, were not effectively communicated.
Lack of Ongoing Support: New users were left without guidance after signing up, making it difficult to get the most out of the platform.
Limited Trust: Users were hesitant to share information about their existing investments outside of Magnifi's platform, hindering the AI's ability to provide comprehensive guidance.
A phased approach to onboarding optimization
To achieve our ambitious goals, we strategically divided the onboarding process into three phases:
Streamlining Account Creation
This phase focused on reducing friction and barriers to entry. By simplifying the account creation and setup process, we aimed to increase user acquisition and build a larger user base.
Account Integrations
Given Magnifi's evolution into an intelligence platform, this phase addressed account integrations. Simplifying and streamlining this process was crucial to improve user experience and encourage account linking. This, in turn, would directly impact our Assets Under Management (AUM) and user retention rates.
Cold Start
This phase targeted the "cold start" experience for users encountering the AI Assistant for the first time. Our goal was to make it less overwhelming and confusing. By providing clear value propositions, benefits, and investment opportunities tailored to each user, we aimed to enhance their initial experience and encourage them to embark on their investment journey with Magnifi.
PHASE 1
REVAMPING THE SIGN UP
Before diving into the revamped version - here's a look at the earlier flow and the reasons why it required a revamp;
There were a few obstacles that users faced in the above flow -
73% drop offs at Step 2
Needed a lot of personal and financial information ready before filling out the fields.
Users were overwhelmed by the number of fields that needed to be filled out.
Users already had multiple brokerage accounts and were unwilling to open another.
88% drop offs at Step 4
Lack of clarity about the feature that they were paying for.
Unsure of the benefit - looking for a free trial before committing.
Did not feel safe leaving their credit card information.
Recalling the initial goal
Considering the business requirement of transforming Magnifi from a investment platform to an intelligence platform, meant that the primary objective was no longer centered around encouraging users to create brokerage accounts, but rather to engage with and experience the AI Assistant as a gateway to intelligent investing.
Design direction
3 main areas which we had to address while optimizing for the new sign-up experience.
Clarity of information
Design a dedicated entry point to provide complete information about feature.
Reduce Cognitive Load
Reduce the number of steps to complete an action.
Modular Flow
Break down complex workflows to make it more intricate and digestible.
Early iterations looked like -
What we landed on -
The impact of this change
18K
103K
~3min
New users
Revenue
Avg. time
to set up an account
PHASE 2
Easy account integration
The opportunity -
To elevate user engagement on Magnifi and unlock the full potential of the platform's AI capabilities, we introduced a feature allowing users to seamlessly link their existing brokerage accounts to Magnifi. This enables them to effortlessly view and analyze all their investments in one consolidated space, enabling more informed investment decisions.
Why was this a need?
Research and product feedback revealed that 92% of active users on the platform maintained at least two other brokerage accounts as their primary investment channels. Users faced significant friction in pursuing goals, extracting key portfolio insights, and accessing portfolio recommendations. This stemmed from the manual data updates required for current investments and the inconvenience of managing multiple open windows. This friction had a notable impact on engagement metrics, which stood at 43%, and hindered users from recognizing the full value proposition of the AI assistant.
The current user flow looked like -
But, with the ability to link their investments -
Design direction
3 main areas which we had to address while introducing this feature-
Seamless linking process
Seamless, non-intrusive components enabling users to link accounts without disrupting workflow.
Clear status updates
Clear and concise UI to show the status of their linked accounts.
Consolidated view
To highlight crucial investment details without overwhelming with excessive data.
Building trust: The key to user confidence
A critical aspect of enabling users to link their existing investments was establishing trust in Magnifi. Users need to feel comfortable and secure sharing sensitive financial information. To address this, we prioritized three key user experience principles:
Ability in a product’s competence to get the job done.
Reliability in how consistently the product delivers on its abilities.
Benevolence in the belief that the product wants to do good for the user.
What we landed on -
Seemless linking process
Ability
We made linking your existing investments a breeze! We strategically placed prompts across the platform on both web and mobile, focusing on frequently visited pages. These prompts were designed to be non-intrusive and seamlessly integrate with a user's workflow.
Here's how it worked: A user simply clicks on the prompt and selects their financial institution from a list. They would then be directed to their institution's secure website to complete the verification process.
Clear status updates
Reliability
Once a user completes the linking, the platform shows them a quick confirmation of the account they chose to link along with a status update of process. If successful, a full list of their investments are propagated in a tabular format with prompts to gain more insights around the same.
Consolidated View
Benevolence
Once a user successfully links all their investments, they would be able to view all their investments all at once. The LLM is also trained to filter their investments based on the query input.
The impact of this change
2.2B
20K
64%
AUM
New Users
Retention
PHASE 3
Cold Start
The need -
While we streamlined the initial onboarding process, launch data exposed a critical issue: low engagement with the AI assistant among new users. This directly translated to poor new user retention.
Remote testing and heatmap analysis revealed the culprit - a usability gap. Users became stuck after the first interaction, unsure how to explore the AI assistant's functionalities. The data painted a clear picture: 74% didn't even initiate a conversation.
To bridge this gap, we developed a new, user-friendly introduction flow. This interactive experience showcases the AI assistant's most popular features, providing users with a clear roadmap to explore its capabilities and confidently embark on their investment journey with Magnifi.
What the earlier experience looked like -
User is directly dropped into the conversation flow without context of where to start
No prompts to help a user to get started with a conversation
Lack of clarity of how the tabs on the top nav would be useful to the user
Design direction
3 main areas which we had to consider while introducing this feature -
Enhancing the welcome experience
Design a dedicated entry point to provide complete information about feature.
Personalisation
Reduce the number of steps to complete an action.
Comprehensive guide
Break down complex workflows to make it more intricate and digestible.
The updated user experience -
Deeper Dive into AI Assistant Features: We're going beyond a basic introduction with the AI assistant. The new onboarding process will delve deeper into its functionalities, providing users with a comprehensive understanding of each feature and its purpose. This will equip them to utilize the AI assistant more effectively in managing their investments.
Seamless Transition to Investing: To bridge the gap between learning and doing, we're introducing a dedicated starting point for investing directly after the AI assistant walkthrough. This will leverage user insights and AI recommendations to create a personalized investment plan, allowing users to seamlessly transition from exploring features to putting their knowledge into action.
Empowering Early Investors with a Guided Cheat Sheet: We're committed to keeping users engaged and on track towards their investment goals. To address this, we introduced a new feature: a dedicated "cheat sheet" specifically designed for early investors. This cheat sheet is more than a simple list; it categorizes common questions by theme, providing users with a roadmap to explore the platform's functionalities and maximize their experience.
The impact of this change
191.5%
Increase
90%
Interaction Rates
New User Retention
Overall impact
POSITIVE RESULTS AND STRATEGIC EXPANSION
The three-phase onboarding redesign and optimization yielded significant improvements, bringing us closer to achieving our initial goals. However, we identified an opportunity to further enhance new user acquisition. We believe this is primarily due to the need for more effective communication strategies within the upper part of the marketing funnel, reaching our target market more comprehensively.
Moving forward, we're committed to optimizing the Magnifi experience for a wider audience. The next phase will focus on integrating newsletter subscribers and community users seamlessly into the platform. This strategic expansion has the potential to significantly increase new user sign-ups and broaden Magnifi's reach.