NERDWALLET
PROJECT NAME
QUICK START GUIDE
YEAR
2023
ROLE
SENIOR PRODUCT DESIGNER
Overview
NerdWallet's mission is to help users make smart money moves through providing reviews and ratings for financial products, personal finance tools, and extensive library of financial articles. This project involved increasing user activations for NerdWallet's financial tools including credit score, cash flow, and net worth features. My pod was tasked to iterate on an existing quick start guide and streamline activating users to get their credit score and link their financial accounts.
TL;DR
Led the design of a new activation component at NerdWallet that simplified credit score activation and financial account linking, reducing user friction.
Project Overview
User Problem
Users need a fast, intuitive way to activate their account so they can immediately access NerdWallet’s tools and insights.
Success Metrics
TransUnion credit score activations
Plaid financial account connections
Overall account activation rate
Design Process
UserTesting Results
Strengths
Users appreciated the step-by-step guidance: “I love the step-by-step approach, super clear and easy to follow.”
Opportunities
Some users expressed hesitation around sharing sensitive information: “I’m NOT comfortable sharing all of my personal finance information. It’s a lot of accounts to share upfront.”
Design Process
Redesign Proposal
To help new users reach value faster, I worked with the Product Manager to propose a simplified three-step activation flow, eliminating half of the original steps in the activation experience.
Design Process
A/B Testing
NerdWallet uses a data-driven design approach, validating solutions through experimentation before rollout. We A/B tested the existing activation module against a new Quick Start Guide, which consistently outperformed the original experience. The Quick Start Guide increased TransUnion activations by 8% and Plaid activations by 3.4% across millions of users.
Key Results
The new Quick Start Guide drove higher activation rates than the previous design. This success gave me the opportunity to represent the Design Org and present the results at the company all-hands, earning recognition from the CEO as a strategic win in user activations. Through this process, I learned how to advocate for growth-focused design while staying grounded in core design principles.
