Hun H Jung
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Vanguard Mobile

 

The push for a new app

 

Role

Lead designer

Responsibility

  • Led the initial design direction of the new Vanguard mobile app

  • Led key end-to-end mobile experiences

    • Login (Remember Me, Biometrics & 2 Factor Authentication Setup)

    • Portfolio and Account monitoring

    • Mutual fund trading

    • Buy and sell web-view ETF/Equity

    • Trade cancellation

    • Activity

  • Design system prioritization effort

Collaboration

  • External UX research consultants

  • Internal mobile UX research

  • Visual designers

  • Content strategist

  • iOS and Android dev leads

  • Product owners

  • Domain experts

PROBLEM DEFINITION

Our firm is seeing unprecedented investment growth but our mobile app is lagging far behind competitors.

Problem

  • Digital reputation: Vanguard is seen as behind the times, digitally; Our aging digital presence is a sore spot for some loyal fans and an obstacle for some new prospects

  • Technical acumen: Vanguard is slow to adopt mainstream technical and experience standards that competitors have shown to adopt early

  • Security: The tight scrutiny can limit innovation and speed to market required to compete digitally with FinTech

Not a problem

  • Investment reputation: Strong growth of new assets under management based on the quality of our investment products

  • Security: Perceived as a safe place to invest money

Could be a problem

  • Retention: Will the investor of the future base their decision on keeping/bringing money to Vanguard based on our digital experience?

GLOBAL MOBILE BEHAVIOR SUMMARY

Consumption and spending patterns are dominated by mobile devices

  • 90% of smartphone consumption occurs in-app

  • Adults spend an average of 3hr 40min per day on their smartphones

  • Usage is consistent between men and women

  • 71% share of total minutes spent online is through mobile devices in the USA

  • USA is 4th in total online usage via mobile, 3rd in total population, and 1st in GDP

  • 70% (3B) of Amazon 2016 holiday transactions completed in-app

  • 83% (15B) of Alibaba Singles’ Day 2016 transactions completed in-app vs 3.2B web

  • Mobile devices dominate total minutes spent online: 71% US, 91 India, 72% Brazil, 62% UK

  • 72% of people check their smartphone every hour of an update

  • 75% of Gen Zers (1996-2017) prefer mobile over all other digital channels

CURRENT STATE ANALYSIS

Understanding how clients and the industry perceive the Vanguard Investors mobile app

Perceived view

The mobile/product relationship

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Page activity

The majority of the app gets little to no usage

  • Adobe Analytics traffic data suggests that over half of the app gets little to no page usage

  • 90% of usage comes from phone and 10% from tablet

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Research highlights

  • Most users value deep functionality but often find the experience cumbersome and confusing to complete tasks like investing

  • Strong visual graphics/visualizations are preferred to lots of text and hard to read tables

  • Data should be personalized, so stats are served to clients, rather than layers deep

  • Users expect functionality that they’ve seen elsewhere, whether, in shopping apps or other investment firms, they want to execute tasks efficiently

Client quotes

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SIX ATTITUDINAL PERSONAS

Six attitudinal Personas describe the retail client population. There are three bolder, more self-directed, and optimistic Personas (Red, Orange, and Violet), composing about one-third of the client base. The remaining clients are either more likely to use an advisor and focus on wealth preservation (Peach) or less knowledgeable about investing (Lavender and Sky).

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CLIENT BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Research goal

To better understand the motivations of clients who engage with the mobile application to better support their relationship with Vanguard and their investments through the mobile app.

Research activities

Methods

  • Opinion Lab (Feedback analytics tool)

  • 2 Rounds of moderated research

    • 38 participants across High (24) & Low (14) engaged clients

    • In-person and remote sessions

    • Concepts validation, task exploration, terms discussion

  • Workshop and co-creation sessions with crew

Synthesis & Analysis

  • Identify key themes and opportunities

  • Analyzed Opinion Lab Feedback

Common tasks

Across all web registered guests

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EXPERIENCE HYPOTHESES

The new app puts our clients’ core investing needs first

Client benefits

  • Simple end-to-end experience with highly digestible flows

  • Improved transact flows to make it easier to invest

  • Fast and easy access to accounts, holdings, performance

  • A single app that can work for most Vanguard divisions

Business benefits

  • A modular and component-based app that has scalable code and UX libraries

  • Seamless end-to-end experience focusing on simple and highly digestible interactions

  • Mobile gate-keepers governing the platform and experience

  • Enabling opportunities for digital expansion & increased mobile flows

PROPOSED EXPERIENCE MODEL

How can we streamline the process of building a scalable enterprise mobile app?

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PLANNING FOR THE NEW APP

Mobile app experience design principles

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The new app will have a modernized and optimized UI

  • We are celebrating the brand with an elegant new visual identity

  • Design language built and tested with a user-centric approach

  • Enable faster iteration and influencing our approach to all Vanguard digital experiences

The mobile app program approach

Continuously deliver an MVP by following an agile, data-driven, and iterative release approach to replace the existing app while building a future vision of signature moments for the long term.

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INITIAL KPIs

We have set initial client KPI targets for the App to achieve by end of 2021

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Key features included at App replacement

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Core use cases

Money petting experience
What do I have invested with Vanguard and how are my assets performing?

Trade experience
I want to invest more in my holdings or a new product.

Experience map — Vision

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Old mobile screens

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New mobile screens

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Scenario example

Buy a mutual fund

I want to buy more of the 500 Index Admiral Shares mutual fund.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM UX RESEARCH

Many people love where Beacon is headed.

Positive impacts among core users:
• Transactions are much simpler than in BAU for many, especially prospects and clients who primarily trade in ETFs and Stocks.
• Bottom navigation helps with overall navigation.
• Content helps re-orient people if they get lost.
• Clients said it has the key information they come to see — overall balance, account totals, and performance.
• Less active investors saving for the long term say things like: “This has everything I need.”

CLIENT REACTIONS

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NEXT STEPS

2021 Mobile OKRs

Adoption OKRs
• Show clients the value in using mobile for their digital interaction
• Be the trusted financial advisor available anytime, anywhere
• Increase mobile app awareness, double adoption and improve retention, increase the adoption to xM by end of 2021
• Build mobile-specific features and continue to evolve our login infrastructure

Engagement/Client Satisfaction OKRs
• Personalize to engage our clients allowing them to make a better investment decision, provide a modern digital channel that unleashes access to other interaction devices
• Increase monthly active usage, increase App CSAT scores by x%, increase deposit and contribution by x%, increase trades by x% for all new Vanguard customers, increase PAS appointments through experimentation
• Build and release more mobile-specific features and continue to evolve the experience