FIS Global · Digital Banking Accelerator
Redesigning financial services
A client institution wanted to leap ahead with a fully upgraded digital experience, and co-invested with FIS to build it. As the sole researcher, I set the research foundation and guided the design from discovery through launch.
- Sole researcher
- ~6 months
- Card sorting · Usability testing
- B2B
At a glance
What the research delivered
- Launch
A data-backed, next-gen redesign of onboarding and account servicing launched for one of FIS's top clients.
- Product
FIS gained a new web and mobile front-end to sell as an upgrade to existing clients, or as a premium entry point for new ones.
- Revenue
A documented, repeatable testing and iteration framework, which FIS sold to existing and prospective clients.
- Strategy
Personas reframed from generations to financial goals, making future recruitment and testing more precise.
The challenge
Ambitious scope, aggressive timeline
My role
FIS provided core banking and a configurable digital front-end to financial institutions. One client wanted far more than the standard front-end, and proposed co-investing in a next-gen platform that FIS could later offer to other clients.
The client wanted to launch on an aggressive timeline, which meant rapid discovery, iteration and validation across critical journeys. As the only researcher, I owned the research strategy end to end: competitive intelligence, navigation testing, concept validation, and usability testing of onboarding and account management before launch.
CX leadership team
- Drew HopkinsLead of Research
- Dean ValentinLead of Design
- Tracey DunlapLead of UX
- Kim BuschCreative
Tools
- UserTesting
- SurveyMonkey
- ProvenByUsers
- Lookback
- Miro
- Adobe XD
The process
From discovery to launch
Select a stage to see what I did and what changed because of it.
01 · Competitive research
Grounding the redesign in what the market was already doing
I benchmarked direct and indirect competitors in a database that compared feature usage, navigation depth and component choices across major banking platforms, then looked for trends. I also built visual catalogs of key user journeys to find shared patterns and real innovations.
What changed
- Login and disclosures were simplified, following the lead of neo-bank competitors.
- A major navigation change: submenus over long sequences.
02 · Card sort
Users didn't think of "Security" as a place
Navigation was a known pain point in account servicing, so I ran a closed card sort across 10 categories that mirrored our sitemap. The results set the foundation for any major reconfiguration.
For example, the Security category stood out. Participants had no consensus on what belonged there, and their choices didn't match our sitemap. Looking at how cards clustered regardless of category, I saw that security items were strongly tied to settings items. People thought of them as settings.
My recommendation
- Drop Security as a top-level category and move its content into a submenu under Settings.
- Pull Alerts out into their own navigation item, which the clustering and the competitive research both supported.
03 · Polls and preference tests
Fast signals to steer the design team's vision
With competitive research and navigation testing in hand, the design team iterated on new concepts. I used quick polls and preference tests to steer them: aesthetics, component variations and navigation pathways, with several rounds focused on the dashboard.
What changed
- My analysis drove several of the designers' larger refinements before we moved into full usability testing. See the carousel of iteration testing for specific examples.
04 · Usability testing
In-sprint testing for a risk-averse client
Usability was the heaviest focus. Our client, like many banks, was conservative, so every round had to be polished, and the client observed sessions and commented in real time.
05 · Reporting and revision
Improving with data, sprint after sprint
At the end of each sprint I presented a progress report to the client: what we tested and why, the main pain points, corroborating data, behavioral stats, and quotes or clips as evidence. Issues were ranked by severity, with options for next steps.
Example: BillPay and Transfers
- Users struggled with navigation, readability and visibility in the native app compared with mobile web.
- That led to a hybrid of the two platforms, which reduced code and improved the experience.
The dashboard, three iterations
Iteration 3
Users could rearrange their accounts and add the functionality they wanted. It was well received; the next step was making personalization easier to discover.
Beyond launch
Research that paid off
Sales advocacy
A research process FIS could sell
After testing wrapped, I standardized our in-sprint testing into a marketable process, with an overview and price estimates for the sales team to share with current and prospective clients.
Informing future research
From generations to financial goals
The team had segmented users by generation. Surveys and testing showed that users were better understood by their financial goals and needs, which skewed with age but weren't defined by it. I built four personas around those goals, backed by data from our studies.
Segments defined by age.
Segments defined by financial goals and needs, which improved recruitment and testing relevancy.
What I'd carry forward
Lessons learned
Iterate on the strategy, too
Like the product, our testing approach kept evolving. I kept refining the research boards and progress reports to showcase findings better.
Troubleshoot in advance
Getting participants through firewalls into a remote environment was hard. Better onboarding documents and a troubleshooting guide made sessions far smoother.
Share frequently
In-sprint testing tests a team's cohesion. Frequent sharing and daily check-ins kept collaboration high.
Open to new opportunities
Let's work together
UX Research Director · Head of Research · AI Strategy, remote or relocating