Summary
The main goal was to visually unite the Advisor Workstation into an all-encompassing digital work environment, considering three sides of the advisory process ─ the advisor's experience, the client's journey and the operational workflow.
Redesigning the Financial Advisor Workstation for Efficiency and Visual Clarity
AUDIENCE: The business' target customers for the Advisor Workstation were Financial Advisors, Individuals and Families, and High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs). Clients who see their financial advisor service as an indispensable partner for every financial journey they undertake.
CHALLENGE: Visual Defragmentation and Adapting to Diverse Advisor Preferences.
Envestnet's tech stack included various digital tools for financial advisors, but visually, the user experience was fragmented. Advisors spent significant time manually consolidating information from different areas within the application just to function. Our team aimed to create a single cohesive architecture to address this challenge.
Envestnet needed a customer-centered perspective on their research data to gain insights for improving their product. The challenge was the diverse methods advisors use, influenced by experience, preferences, tech savviness, and firm scale. We had to sift through extensive feedback to find flexible solutions that addressed the root causes of issues, not just quick fixes.
My role in the project
Our team mainly focused on enhancing the efficiency of advisors' work processes and freeing up their resources to create a better connection and truly help their clients achieve life goals. We holistically examined the advisors' experience to align Envestnet’s digital ecosystem with the advisors’ purpose, philosophy and strategy, paving the way for a more effective and innovative solution.
I took on roles in usability testing, visual design, and collaborated directly with our development and product management teams to iterate on and test prototypes. My tasks included performing heuristic analysis, presenting mockups, redesigning the UI and user interactions, providing production-ready graphic assets, and organizing usability testing sessions.
Additionally, Envestnet needed fresh insights to improve their product based on diverse advisor feedback. I navigated this feedback to find solutions that addressed root issues rather than just patching problems.
The Process: Try, Learn, Tweak, Repeat!
Phase One: Research and Interviews
We kicked off the project by revisiting financial advisors historic feedback and from this producing charts to organize and prioritize apparent issues and and then met with advisors, immersing ourselves in their daily routines and workflows. This helped to confirm our suspicions and surface other issues that were not captured.
During one of these visits, we stumbled upon an advisor using a homemade spreadsheet that addressed several pain points our existing tools did not. This unexpected discovery provided us with invaluable insights and sparked new ideas.
Phase Two: Usability Testing
With the initial insights in hand, we developed early wireframes of the product. We then organized usability testing sessions where advisors interacted with these wireframes. During one session, an advisor suggested implementing a quick-access search bar combined with customizable keyboard shortcuts. This feedback was a game-changer. The advisor explained how this feature would allow them to quickly access client information, generate reports, and navigate the platform without breaking their workflow. This idea dramatically improved navigation efficiency and was quickly integrated into the design.
I provided practical tips and guidance to the team, ensuring the tests were structured effectively and that we asked the right questions. This phase was crucial in highlighting areas where the design was strong and where it needed improvement.
Phase Three: Collaboration and Iteration
After receiving feedback from usability tests, our team held intensive daily collaboration sessions. One day, I introduced an unconventional yet impactful idea: integrating object-specific actions directly within workflows, allowing advisors to perform corrective or complementary tasks without switching screens. This innovation aimed to significantly reduce the number of clicks typically needed to resolve issues across different workflows. Initially perceived as ambitious and technically intricate, this concept proved transformative during testing. Advisors welcomed the seamless execution of tasks without disrupting their primary workflow.
We brainstormed implementation strategies, sketched prototypes, and swiftly incorporated advisors' feedback into iterative design updates. Each refinement cycle was meticulously prepared for subsequent interviews, ensuring continuous enhancement of usability and efficiency tailored to advisors' needs.
Phase Four: Validation and Refinement
In subsequent interviews, we presented the updated wireframes to the advisors. During one of these sessions, an advisor shared a poignant personal story. She recounted a challenging client interaction where a delay in accessing crucial financial data caused frustration and impacted trust with the client. Sarah emphasized how having quick access to comprehensive client information and being able to push that to the client quickly could have diffused the situation and strengthened the client relationship. This story resonated deeply with the team, highlighting a feature we hadn't initially prioritized but identified in personas: a unified client dashboard for real-time data access.
This revelation prompted us to rethink our design strategy. We swiftly adjusted the wireframes to integrate this critical feature, aiming to enhance advisors' ability to manage client interactions seamlessly.
These sessions were pivotal for validating our design changes and gathering valuable new feedback. We meticulously observed their reactions, capturing verbal insights and subtle non-verbal cues. This iterative process of validation and refinement ensured that, by the project's conclusion, the product was finely tuned to precisely meet the needs and expectations of advisors, enhancing their ability and confidence to deliver exceptional client service.
