When starting the process, we defined a set of goals which included the following:
1. Understand the context
Get to know key partners, activities, resources and value propositions
3. Generate ideas
Answer critical business questions and customer needs through design
5. Develop a mobile-first prototype
Create a robust clickable prototype
2. Identify focus areas for opportunity
Important customer needs that are critical to solve
4. Socialize and iterate
Share outs with appropriate subject matter experts
6. Form a narrative
Form a story in a way that compels, inspires and drives action
The project overall was only 6 weeks and was meant to be an ideation project to serve Fidelity new ideas they can incorporate in future planning. This meant that in this timeline, there was only limited time and access we could have to both advisors and clients. Due to these constraints, we were able to depend heavily on existing conversations that the Fidelity design team had already had with their advisors and use existing research to guide our insights and processes.
In our engagement, we also were able to first identify the current journey that clients take when onboarding with Fidelity's managed wealth services. Due to the short timeline and 2-week sprint cadence we established, we chose to focus on the three highlighted areas of Future Monetary Goals, Financial Assessment, and Plan and Proposed Solutions.
To first begin the project, we needed to have a solid understanding of the users were were designing for and understand the context of the project as a whole. To do this, we set up a workshop with key stakeholders with a goal to define our goals in our engagement and to start to understand the necessary steps we would need to take to be successful.
We outlined the 5 pillars of Fidelity design that we wanted to ensure we would touch on to categorize the different types of pain points Fidelity clients might feel.
We then asked each participants on the call ( which included Fidelity designers and other senior business stakeholders ) to outline points of the journey they believe they did well in carrying out their pillars and where it was a pain point. Additionally, we also created a journey map together and outlined the current pain points to level set and make sure the PS team fully understood the current journey and what we were trying to solve for.
Some key pain points that clients reported having were:
After determining the pain points within the current journey as noted by research gathered by the Fidelity team, we were able to devise a future state vision that aimed to target each of those pain points. While the full end to end journey was a lot longer than what we could include in our sprint, we focused on how to help Sally create her financial vision, build her approach, and implement that vision via our solution.
Here are examples of a few of the different flows in the screen map we were able to create, linking the different flows we created for each sprint to demonstrate the full journey that Sally would take to complete this experience.
In our short time, we were able to ideate on the information that we were given to form a narrative based on the three focal areas. Focusing on our persona, Sally, we tried to tell a story of how a client might be able to be compelled to partner with Fidelity to manage their finances. All of the high fidelity designs used principles and components from Fidelity's existing design system.
Challenge: To start Sally's journey, Fidelity needs to understand her needs to generate an investment proposal. Typically, this involves speaking with an advisor or filling out a lengthy digital form. However, scheduling time with advisors can be challenging and complex forms can be confusing.
Solution: We proposed a simplified onboarding process for those interested in managed accounts, featuring a conversational, interview-style format. By breaking down complex questions, we aim to make the process more approachable for clients. This approach focuses on the client's financial goals and priorities, and may also help advisors match with clients who are a good fit for their expertise and communication style.
Challenge: A common pain point that many clients experience is that they often do not have the required financial literacy to fully understand financial documents that are given to them. Additionally, a huge role advisors play is to educate their clients to build trust and to allow them to feel more comfortable with what they're getting into.
Solution: In our design, we incorporated dynamic explainers of financial concepts throughout the application as an aid for both advisors and clients.
The current Fidelity Learning Center has a wealth of information; however, it is mostly articles that link out to a separate section. We recommend exploring brief videos in context to the content in the app (questions, insights, disclosure) that will educate the client and move them forward on the path to Managed Solutions.
Challenge: In current day process, advisors are required to run analytics on a user's portfolio to get essential metrics such as tax drag and risk assessment. This process is ran separately and is attached in additional documents when clients are being served the client investment proposal. Thus, a commonly stated pain point is that advisors and clients need to use multiple different platforms to gather all the required information that needs to be served for the client.
Solution: The goal with our approach is to reduce the need to look in multiple places for information and instead integrate these analytics directly within each goal in the proposal instead.
Solution: The playground option gives Sally the opportunity to set goals differently to see the implications of each option.
This could drive Sally towards managed solutions. The choices presented may make Sally feel like advisors could better help her understand her options and making sure she is making the most informed choices when it comes to her financial plan.
Challenge: In the process, after the client has submitted initial information, they are given a digital proposal. The current proposal that is given is a long complicated document that is hard to digest for clients. In our approach, we are aiming to break down the proposal in a way that is easier for clients to understand.
Solution: To do this, we have an overall proposal summary that include insights that don't exist today to help clients understand what they're getting into. Additionally, we allow the clients to see all of their information in a comparative way as well - this compares their current to what their future assets could look like under managed solutions.
Solution: In an alternate solution to breaking down the proposal, we also proposed following a similar format we introduced earlier: delivering the digital proposal in a conversational way. Drawing inspiration from other platforms that have been successful with this approach, we ideated on how to break down complicated information into bite sized pieces for the client to digest.
We used more colorful aspects of the Fidelity's existing design system and created a summarized view of the more detailed proposal that advisors can help to break down complicated financial jargon.
How to work through ambiguity
Logistical challenges at the beginning of the project caused delays and ambiguity. It took several weeks to obtain necessary materials and get everyone on the same page. As a result, we had to spend significant time parsing through materials and defining our own processes to understand the problem and ideate a solution. However, this experience was ultimately valuable for my and my team.
Ideating in short time periods
Due to the short timeframe of the project, we had to think quickly and ideate broadly. With a North Star project, we had the luxury of not having to worry as much about technical restraints and focus on an all-encompassing solution. This also fostered more creativity and opportunity to explore all different types of solutions that could support our overarching goals.
How to speak up and work more collaboratively
Being the UX designer on the project, I needed to quickly learn how to lead a lot of the UX-drive design sessions and to steer the conversation back to user needs. Although we were able to ideate widely and come up with a lot of creative ideas, it was important for us to always steer back to the core user and the problem we were trying to solve.
