Project Overview
Transforming Vanguard into a platform where women can easily and consistently invest in the market for long-term financial growth.
Who are Vanguard?
Vanguard is one of the world’s most respected investment management companies, offering a broad selection of investments, advice, retirement services, and insights to individual investors, institutions, and financial professionals.
Founded in 1975, the Vanguard Group is a global investment-management company. Vanguard is famous for its index funds, as well as its advocacy for a “buy-and-hold,” passive-investment strategy. This philosophy argues that people aren’t very successful when they try to time the market, so it’s best to buy investments and hold onto them for a long time.Because of Vanguard’s historic affiliation with the long-term, buy-and-hold approach to investment, many of its clients follow that passive-investment philosophy.
Hypothesis
To increase engagement among women, the app should prioritise simplicity and clarity in setting clear and straightforward goals, streamlining the onboarding process will enable this for the NEW user.
To expand on the project goals further from above:
(1) Simplifying investment terminology and offering a selection of investments aligned with the user’s risk tolerance will make it less overwhelming for users to begin.
(2) Turning the app into a gamified experience, where users can set and achieve goals like saving for a house or budgeting, not only enhances engagement but also provides practical utility, encouraging users to invest more within the app.
(3) Streamlining the app by reducing the number of options will significantly boost engagement metrics on the platform, making it simpler and more user-friendly.
Quantitative Research
I conducted an online survey involving 10 participants who provided valuable insights. Their responses helped me understand the existing knowledge and gather feedback on the direction I should take.
53% of the users were aware of what investing was
41% of the users Investing their money regularly on a existing platform
89% of the users would invest if they had more digestible knowledge
Qualitative Research
In my qualitative analysis, I interviewed 10 individuals to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges they encounter while attempting to use an Investing platform as well as the reasons holding them back from Investing.
What is holding you back from Investing?
“ I fell that investing is primarily for the wealthy and inaccessible to the average person. ”
“ The absence of accessible, user-friendly resources and guidance tailored to my needs makes me feel like I don’t know where to begin. “
“ I fear losing money, I prefer safer options like savings accounts. “
What features would make it easier for you to invest within the APP?
“ The ability to set clear investment goals and track my progress. This feature would help me stay motivated and focused. ”
“ Tools that would help me assess my risk tolerance and guide me toward suitable investment options. ”
“ I like the idea of starting with minimal capital, making it a lesser risk to get started “
What are you goals and motivations if you were to start Investing?
“ I’m interested in generating passive income through investments, so I looking for other ways of making more money”
“ My primary goal if i was to start investing was to save for retirement, ensuring I can live comfortably with a secure future.”
“ Children’s education is a significant motivator for me to look into long-term investing. ”
74% of women too nervous to invest
Three in four women do not invest and are missing out on building wealth as a result, research shows. Source: Moneyweek
Chosen Method
My objective is to improve the onboarding process to establish a more engaging platform, tailor-made for first-time female investors. Through these enhancements, I aim to boost the confidence and knowledge of females embarking on their investment journey.
My strategy involves integrating interactive elements, introducing intuitive features, and implementing user-friendly interfaces into the platform. By making the investment experience enjoyable and user-friendly, I intend to empower female, enabling them to manage their finances effectively and make informed investment choices without any sense of feeling overwhelmed.
Investor Manager Tool
The conventional investment process can be challenging as individuals often struggle to determine the most profitable investment opportunities over time. Hence, a hypothesis to explore is whether a new approach that combines budgeting, saving plans, and machine learning can help individuals achieve their investment goals more effectively. This method aims to leverage historical data and user preferences to predict the optimal investment strategy for each individual, providing a set-and-forget approach that is particularly beneficial for busy mothers looking to start investing. By creating a personalised investment plan with clear targets and utilising machine learning algorithms, this approach can offer a head start and simplify the investment process for users.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
To flesh out the flow of the app, I started to wireframe some key low fi layouts to get a first look and feel to see if the function and usability is user friendly and clean.
High Fidelity Wireframes
Here are a few mockups showcasing the essential screens, including the onboarding and dashboard screens.
Breakdown of Key Screens
Here is an overview of the three main screens: the primary dashboard, the onboarding screens, and the new investment manager function.
Main Dashboard:
The main dashboard serves as the central hub of the application, with the key feature prominently displayed.
Users can easily access the essential functionalities and monitor their investments from this screen.
Relevant information such as investment performance, portfolio summary, and market trends are presented in an organized manner.
New Investment Manager Function:
The new investment manager function enhances the user’s investment management capabilities.
Users can leverage this feature to create and manage multiple investment portfolios, allocate funds, and track their performance.
The function offers intuitive controls and displays comprehensive information, allowing users to make informed investment decisions.
User Feedback
Using a heatmap of the interactions with the prototype, I found that the key feature on the main dashboard was not prominent enough, it got hidden away, also with speaking to some of the users they mentioned they liked this simple feature but wanted it to be more visible so they can utilise it
Key Components
Key components used throughout the screens, so could be re-used again across the whole app.
Observations
After conducting tests with five selected users, the majority expressed that they found it beneficial to have a target for their investments, as it provided them with a clear understanding of the potential returns in the future.
Although users found the onboarding experience useful, they suggested that it could be more interactive and comprehensive. They felt that while it provided value, it lacked sufficient detail to maximize their results.
For the next iteration, I plan to revisit the onboarding process and delve deeper into understanding the users’ key pain points. By addressing these pain points, I aim to enhance the effectiveness of the key feature.
