Problem
When I took up the role of design team lead at InvestEngine, there was talk of revamping the website’s homepage. The marketing team said the site looked like a shop selling mobile phones. That’s true, but I spotted an even deeper problem relating to UX: the site gave no indication that the service worked on desktop computers. From my years of experience, I know that many people only trust their home computer with important financial transactions.
Research
I therefore set the product analyst the task of identifying patterns in user behaviour and determining the differences between behaviour on desktop and mobile devices. To the surprise of many (though not me), 56% of customers made their first deposit via a desktop browser. The number of new customers who registered via a desktop browser was almost equal to the number of registrations via the iOS app.
It is as if the owner of a coffee shop with a cappuccino ad on its door suddenly discovered that 56% of customers order tea. Everything pointed to the wrong positioning.
Active users: platforms by months (January–July 2024): Web, iOS, Android
Solution
The company was a firm believer in the ‘mobile first’ trend, but this discovery prompted everyone to pay more attention to the desktop user experience as well. In the Accounts section, we prominently featured a laptop in a prominent position – I’m confident that this sends an additional trust signal to potential customers and attracts those who are a little wary of purely mobile services.
Result
Following trends is all good, but setting them is even better. Thanks to my product sense, we didn’t lose sight of users’ real needs and steered the statistical research in the right direction. My initiative was aimed at increasing customer trust and contributed to growth in both new users and funds deposited into accounts (+30% in the 3 months after the redesign).
