What Was Wanted
Create a 529 new user setup process that made it easily consumable and usable to all age demographics. The client wanted something along the lines of a Turbo Tax process where the user can quickly move through the process.
The Original
The original process was over 20+ pages long of inputting basic information and financial data. There was no way to stop and resume the process without starting over. It was a long and tedious process that made the investor feel like it took ages to fill out.
The Ideas
After reviewing other financial processes and setups, I did a competitive analysis on how Turbo Tax worked and other basic new user setups. One of my real world ideas to pull in was; when you are at a store and they ask you to sign up for their rewards card...if it's more than name and email, most people won't bother to hold up the line. Now how does that translate into 20+ pages of financial data?
The Design
I first shortened all the pages into smaller bits. Pages were as simple as just their address or bank information. Breaking the pages down made the pages shorter, easily scanned as to what needs to be done. Pages were no longer took lots of scrolling to finish. Another big change I made was taking all drop downs and radio off and just replacing them with prefilled select-able buttons. This way it was easier for the user to quickly select what they wanted, less typing and mobile friendly. We also implemented a "save for later function," so if you don't have all the beneficiaries SSN info, etc; you could come back and fill it in without having to start the process all over again. Besides that, buttons and input fields were slightly enlarged to follow current design trends. I also suggested to stakeholders, if the user selects or doesn't select certain options, some of these now unnecessary pages could be skipped over.
The Results
All the changes implemented made the process feel like it was being completed faster. It also solved the problem of people "abandoning" the set up resulting in more funds being purchased. The process was now mobile/responsive friendly. which the original design could never be.