Make the most of every retirement dollar you save 

Helping customers project their annual income in retirement and giving them a proposal to reach their goal. 

Platform:
Desktop and mobile responsive 

My role and deliverables:
UX/UI Design & illustration 

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Problem

Millions of people haven't saved enough money for retirement. Knowing how much to save can seem overwhelming because retirement feels like it's always in the distant future. 

The client

A Fortune 100 financial services organization that is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research, medical, cultural and governmental fields. They serves over 5 million active and retired employees participating at more than 15,000 institutions and has $1 trillion in combined assets under management with holdings in more than 50 countries.

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The hypothesis

From the onset, we wanted customers to get the maximum value for the minimum input of personal data. Often people want to quickly access an online tool before they commit to entering a lot of information. Our approach was to keep the layout very simple and reduce cognitive load. Every page sets up what comes next. The first part of the experience has four steps. We pre-populate as many fields as possible to streamline the amount of time before seeing results. And finally, once they get the results, we allow them to download a full report to share, save their progress for future use, and, when applicable give them the ability to make changes on the spot.

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My role

I worked on the project for over a year, integrating a fail-fast approach. The team of three (the UX lead, content strategist, and myself, the visual UI designer) worked closely with usability researchers and ADA specialists to ensure that our MVP (minimum viable product) experience would serve the most significant number of participants. Qualitative research was conducted every month. Afterward, we would work closely with researchers and business partners to interpret the data and improve the project flow. 

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The overall tone of the experience was conversational and direct. To enhance and make the experience more memorable, I worked closely with the team to develop a set of custom illustrations and a color palette. The goal was to create a unique set of visuals that still worked within the overall brand guidelines. 

Research

Along the way, we were able to explore a variety of layouts and flows. We focus on optimizing the experience for both desktop and mobile responsive. We designed pages that adapted as needed to smaller screens. Through qualitative testing, we validated that most users prefer exploring this type of goal on a larger screen, such as their laptop. However, we also learned that many people want to start the experience on their phones. Then save their progress and continue later on a larger device. For this reason, we employed several native patterns within the experience.

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Early career – Age: 22-35

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Mid-career – Age: 36-55

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Transitioner – Age: 56-67

From the onset, we must focus on the needs of three groups. The final product concentrates on supplying retirement savings advice and strategies based on income level, age, and risk tolerance. 

Solution

Our team was able to put into production phase one of the MVP. The experience is designed to be scaled over time. The center of the experience is based on Morningstar’s Monte Carlo engine. As users return over time, they will find access to new sections and updated features.  The first release saw a 15-20% increase in client retention and first-time users.

Our high-level goals were to:

  • Collect the minimum amount of personal information and allow people to get clear, concise retirement savings advice. 
  • Show clients’ results as easy-to-implement steps to improve their retirement outcomes.
  • Allow people to update their retirement savings, both automatically and/or manually, based on their comfort levels.
  • Create a simple plan for people to return periodically to update and stay on track with their goals.
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