Designing for growth at a fintech startup
Revamping a marketing website to encourage prospective customers in banking and lending to connect with sales.
responsive website
redesign
customer research
startup
saas
b2b
fintech
ROLE and team
Design intern working with COO, sales, and product design
TOOLS
Figma, Figjam, Miro, Maze, Google Workspace, Zoom, Fathom AI, Otter AI, Squarespace
when
April to July 2023
CONTEXT
Micah Group is a fintech startup in Plymouth, MN. Its core team is a talented group of builders who care about their clients and are making a SaaS product to help small business owners get loans faster.
problem
The Micah marketing website was first thrown together to get the brand online. The website didn’t have a dedicated and explicit path to guide customers to the next step in the long B2B buying process. So, how did customers find out if Micah’s solutions could solve their business problems?
how i did it
I conducted the startup’s first formal customer interviews to guide marketing website design decisions and then presented insights to the C-suite and sales, outlining prospect expectations and hesitations when buying business critical software from a lesser known company.
I redesigned the startup’s marketing website—a refreshed homepage and contact page, along with new pages about the product offering.
landing page
before
Hero did not meet WCAG requirements for accessibility
Secondary buttons were not accessible
CTA led to an endless loop without a clear action
Use of certain brand colors made actions hard to find
AFTER
Hero is WCAG AAA accessible, incorporating a secondary brand color
More neutral and readable secondary buttons
Content and visuals to improve trust and reputation
CTA with a clearer path to sales form
product features page
before
Primary buttons were not accessible
CTA led to an endless loop of product specs
Content did not give enough details about the product
AFTER
Primary buttons are AAA accessible
CTAs to sales intentionally placed in nav, hero, and footer
New pages add another layer of detail while product imagery gives end users a peak at the product
contact page
before
Primary buttons and links were not accessible
A multi-use contact form that was not an explicit sales page
Too many opportunities to explore the website and not reach sales
aFTER
Primary buttons are accessible and descriptive
Appeal to credibility and trust through intentional placement of value props and sales team member photo
Keep the focus on sales by removing unnecessary links and content
research
Getting the team on board with the redesign
I proposed a website redesign to the COO, with a focus on optimizing sales. Recognizing its business potential, the COO gave the greenlight. We had weekly check-ins to discuss progress and blockers.
I hosted a brainstorming session with Sales to get their buy-in and gather assumptions about the customer segment. Our assumptions helped to build proto-personas. As I conducted interviews, I checked back on the proto-persona and let it evolve as my understanding of the problem space and our customers deepened.
research
“
They’re looking for proof that you can do what you say you can do.
- Brainstorming with sales
WORKING BACKWARDS
Bold calls-to-action, appeals to credibility, and stand out impact
I needed to better understand our competitors and the industry. I asked the COO for a list of our competitors so that I could analyze their marketing website. From that list, we narrowed down to 5 competitors across product, company size, and customer profiles.
In my analysis, I looked at the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities with regard to:
Sales conversion paths
Visual hierarchy and content
Navigation patterns
I hypothesized what the goal of each content block on the landing page was and how this related to customer goals for discovering and evaluating software. These inputs shaped my assumptions about what prospects prioritize in software discovery and evaluation, which I would dig into more with customer interviews.
What the competitors did well
High contrast CTAs
High contrast CTA buttons
CTAs leading to sales or contact forms
Frequent placement throughout website
Appeal to credibility
Testimonials from leadership
Value propositions
Product imagery
Highlight the impact
Content that is easy to skim
Links to more in-depth content like case studies and white papers
“
How is the service level? And if there's a problem, how is it to work with this company that just sold me this product?
CONNECTING THE PIECES
Customers hesitate to work with an unknown or less established company
Buying business critical software in banking is a huge decision. Leadership has a thorough and layered evaluation process. After conducting and analyzing interviews, I honed in on 3 insights about the discovery and evaluation process. I shared an executive summary with insights and recommendations to stakeholders.
My qualitative data analysis process includes a debrief, followed by coding of interview transcripts (transcripts created by Otter AI or Fathom AI), and then sorting in an affinity map or spreadsheet to find patterns and themes.
Decision Makers 🧐
Roles interviewed: Bank CEO, Bank president, head of lending
Prefers product that is familiar, established, and/or compliant with regulations
Evaluates multiple products to understand if it addresses their problem
Needs in-depth conversations to build relationships with Micah
Decision Influencers 🤨
Roles interviewed: credit analysts/end user, data scientist/IT
Slow to adapt or learn new software
Needs to be trained quickly and easily into new software through implementation
Needs to see details of the product to understand the UI and fit into their workflow
PERSUADING THE C-SUITE
Micah is a young player in a highly regulated industry that is slow to change and innovate
I could incorporate the sentiment and address some of the user and business goals with a landing page. There were still actionable insights that fell outside of the scope of a website and would be important for the future of Micah (see: What I Learned).
I presented these insights in a Google Meet with the COO and sales team. The recording was then sent to the CEO who shared with board members.
interview insight 1
Reputation and credibility
Build credibility and trust in Micah as a new software company in a highly regulated industry.
interview insight 2
Vendor relationship and support
Investment in the software also means investment in the relationship between the vendor and customer.
interview insight 3
Product and workflow
Our Decision-Influencers (end users) are experts in the field and will quickly understand if the product maps to their current workflows.
DESIGN FOR GROWTH
Elevating impact and credibility in an unknown business and software
A shared goal between the business and prospective customers, especially in this complex B2B context, is to build relationships. The content and UI of the website had to invite customers to reach out to sales—creating a quick and clear path to the people who knew the product best. Following research, I created 3 design goals for ideation that could ultimately lead to improving website conversions.
design goal 1
Boost credibility and trust in the solution and business
Design goal 2
Help customers see if the product meets their business needs
design goal 3
Clear a path for customers to have in-depth conversations with sales
ideate
Inviting growth through content organization and visual hierarchy
ideate
design goal 1
Boost credibility and trust in the solution and business
To get prospects to interact with sales, I had to find ways to show that the startup solution was impactful and that the business itself was credible. I sketched UI elements that would:
Show quantitative impact of the software
Showcase testimonials from the product champions, with focus on leadership and logos
Highlight the value propositions to build trust
Sketching mobile and desktop screens
Bringing quantitative impact from low to high fidelity
design goal 2
Help customers see if the product meets their business needs
I created a site map and user flow to prioritize the content and UI needs that would map to prospect goals. This, along with starting with a mobile-first design, helped me figure out the order of how the content would appear and all the additional pages to include within that journey. Customers would be navigating between product features, information about the company, and use cases to get a better understanding of the solution and company, before they even thought about interacting with sales.
Create a site map that includes new pages
Increase product understanding by creating visuals of the product UI and incorporating it with new marketing copy
Start mobile-first design to prioritize content
Scalable site map with new pages
design goal 3
Clear a path for customers to have in-depth conversations with sales
Initially, the website's CTAs directed users to product features but failed to encourage contacting the sales team. This created a never-ending cycle that retained potential clients on the site without creating conversions. CTAs were scarce and hard to locate.
Enhance the CTA button's contrast for improved accessibility
Implement a previously unused secondary brand color in the monochromatic scheme
Deliberately incorporate Sales CTAs in the navigation bar, hero section, and footer
Call-to-action buttons for placement and contrast
Landing - Hero
Easy to spot
Incorporated secondary brand green against brand navy for high contrast
Landing - Footer
Give them a shortcut
CTA in the footer that did not require filling out the full sales form
Our Solutions - Hero
Make it sticky
Added the sales CTA to the sticky navigation bar and menu
About - Hero
Multiple paths
A path to sales on multiple pages while learning about Micah and the product
Prototype + test
Did the design move the bar in building trust, helping customers understand the product, and clearing a path to sales?
Prototype + test
usability testing
A robust prototype for unmoderated testing for hard to reach study participants
I created an interactive prototype for unmoderated testing that acted like the real website. The usability test metrics connected back to the design goals. Participants were asked to:
Rate their level of trust in Micah after looking through the homepage
Learn about the types of features the Micah software has
Show how they would get in touch with sales
Seven participants went through both the old website as well as the redesign and completed the same tasks and questions for each.
design goal 1
Boost credibility and trust in the solution and business
result 🟡
Consistent ratings between the old design and the new design for trust.
Different users may be at different parts of their evaluation journey and will need another layer of context to build trust. I recommend that Micah continue customer conversations (see: What’s Next).
design goal 2
Help customers see if the product meets their business needs
result 🟢
Participants were able to identify and navigate the features with the new pages.
Deemed the layout as “easy to navigate” and “predictable.”
design goal 3
Clear a path for customers to have in-depth conversations with sales
result 🟢
Improved visibility and ease of access to the CTA in redesign.
Participants found the new CTA 9x faster than in the original design.
revise
Continuing to elevate trust through thoughtful UI choices
revise
Final Mobile Screens
Final Desktop Screens
Research to find pull with the ideal customer
As Micah seeks more customers, it’s crucial to continue customer interviews for the benefit of the marketing website and the product. In my research presentation to leadership, I recommended that Micah continue strategically learning about the customer segment they’re honing in on to understand their value props and their discovery, evaluation, and decision-making for purchasing.
WHAT I LEARNED
Storytelling and working with leadership
By collaborating with the COO, I was able to demonstrate the value of my work and the potential for my research to shape the business. I jumped at the opportunity to present my research and website redesign to leadership. I got to practice storytelling with strategic insights that would help the business. The recording of my presentation was shared with other decision makers in the company.
Study design for decreased bias in usability testing
The usability test involved both an assessment of the current live website and the prototype. The order of which participants did the tests was randomized. A possible alternative to the study design might be having two sets of testers with similar overall profiles, rather than each tester seeing the website (A/B or B/A). Or having the same testers view the website and prototype with a washout period in between.
Ideally, I would next conduct moderated usability tests with prospective customers on the website redesign to better reveal customer thought patterns and emotional reactions to the website.
WHAT I LEARNED
