Willow

Create a platform tailored to women's financial needs matching them with trusted financial coaches.

Task
Wireframes
Prototyping
User Testing

Timeline
8 months

 

Overview

I collaborated with an early-stage financial technology startup focused on empowering women through financial coaching. My role involved crafting the user interface for both customers and coaches, encompassing onboarding screens, dashboards, and financial tools. Additionally, I contributed to the development of the company website and designed worksheets essential for coaching sessions.

Problem

In the male-dominated financial industry, women frequently encounter disparities in treatment and often feel disheartened and overlooked when seeking to improve their financial well-being. Our primary goal was to establish a platform empowering women to gain knowledge about financial health and receive personalized support aligned with their life stages and aspirations.

 Discovery & Research

At Willow developing trust in the fragmented industry of financial coaching was a top priority. Women would often speak about meeting with advisors who were dismissive and left feeling overlooked and underestimated. After synthesizing data from the affinity mapping exercise, the key pain points that emerged were women lacking financial confidence and support. We spoke to women about feeling they did not have the "brain" for finances and relinquished control to their spouses. Many were intimidated by their finances and did not know what resources were available to them. Women who were controlling their finances were left feeling patronized and uncared for by their services.

  • An initial round of testing which included 10 participants showed 80% of women having a negative association with financial advisors and coaches due to a general feeling of a lack of respect, empathy, and willingness to educate.

  • Initially the wireframe concepts included illustrations but after user testing we identified that less than 10% of users connected with them and removed it from our website design

  • An important insight we gathered was that users sought a roadmap tailored to their specific life stage, such as 'buying a house' or 'going through a divorce.' They expressed the need to see someone represented who was undergoing a similar journey and desired clarity on the steps involved and the benefits they could derive from coaching.

  • Another key point of confusion for our users was that they did not understand the difference between a financial coach, advisor and planner

 Pain Points

“I am unclear about the process”
— Participant 2
“I am not ready to commit”
— Participant 5
“I need emotional support and encouragement”
— Participant 3
“I don’t understand the difference between coaches”
— Participant 6

Clarifying Types of Financial Coaches

Upon realizing the need for additional clarity regarding the available coaching types on our platform, we aimed to address this by developing a comparison grid. This grid aimed to succinctly explain the benefits provided by each coaching type, facilitating informed decision-making for users.

Design

After gathering insights from user testing, we identified the necessity to develop a roadmap on our website to demonstrate the value of financial coaching for women by women and to simplify the intimidating process. Initially, we focused on showcasing a demo for just one life journey, but it lacked the desired variety for users. Through multiple iterations, we refined our approach to create an interactive step-by-step journey. This solution provided women with a comprehensive preview of the benefits they could attain from financial coaching tailored to their specific life situations, instilling confidence and encouraging engagement.

Iterations

  • The first variation presented challenges due to UI implementation complexities.

  • The second variation proved challenging as it comprised too many steps, making it difficult to digest.

  • In the third iteration, we adjusted the step cadence to ensure attainability before launch. However, we encountered an issue with insufficient variety in both users and journeys.

  • We moved forward with the forth variant that showed sufficient examples for initial launch

 Outcome

Ultimately, the wireframes developed for the website were not implemented as we made a strategic pivot in the final stages of the project. Instead, we opted to internally manage the website using a WordPress template. This decision was driven by considerations of timeline, budget, and resource availability, prioritizing a faster market launch for the business. While the original plan did not unfold as expected, this experience underscored the importance of adaptability in the startup environment. I learned that flexibility in response to change presents not a failure, but an opportunity for growth and innovation.