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Problem: SmartAsset is a fintech company that provides fiduciaries with high-intent investors to grow their firm. The current research framework for consumers was barebones. I was tasked, under the guidance of the associate director of UX, to build out and reform the UX research process at SmartAsset for one of their clients, financial advisors.
Plan: As the lead researcher for this project, I introduced monthly check-in surveys for both active and churned advisors, uncovering valuable insights on why advisors continues their partnership and why they leave which provided a comprehensive understanding of advisors at all stages. I streamlined the research by uncovering the specific wants and needs of advisors and added in advance quantitative metrics.
Collaboration: I shared research cross-functionally with sales, marketing, data, tech, and C-suite, fostering collaboration and maximizing impact through engaging narrative-driven reports with critical hierarchy ensuring effective communication and facilitating informed decision-making.
Outcome: I enhanced decision-making for product teams by implementing data-driven strategies and aligning product features with user needs. Additionally the department used my research to prioritize actual customer needs, resulting in more than a 40% increase in satisfaction scores, a 15% decrease in churn, and recovered almost $1 million of revenue monthly.
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SmartAsset is a financial technology company connecting fiduciaries with high-intent investors. Prior to my work, the UX research framework focused on both advisors and consumers. My job as lead researcher of advisors, was to separate this data collection into its own pillar of research and amplify the impact.
As the current framework for methodology was insignificant, I was tasked with building out and restructuring the methodology for data collection. The pre-existing issues were (1) the data collected lacked the ability to inform the direction of the organization (2) the data was inconsistent and therefore less statistically impactful (3) there were minimal consistent metrics to evaluate performance. I took the following steps in order to accomplish my goal of heightened research impact.
Say goodbye to the old way of doing things! I transformed the research approach from bi-monthly check-ins to a monthly survey that uncovered both quantitative insights and qualitative rationale. I honed in on the wording of our questions to ensure they were articulating the correct sentiment. Additionally, I added further questions to encapsulate edge-cases for dissatisfaction to ensure that I had a comprehensive view of the advisors perspective. These additions added several metrics that we were able to track on a monthly basis.
How satisfied are you with SmartAsset?
On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied are you with your experiences at SmartAsset over the last month?
How satisfied are you with your leads?
On a scale of 1-5, How satisfied are you with your experiences with leads from SmartAsset over the last month?
How likely are you to continue your partnership with SmartAsset?
What can we do to ensure your continued partnership with SmartAsset?
But I didn't stop there—I also added a survey for churned advisors to understand what led to their departure. With these changes, we gained a deeper understanding of our advisors' needs and made informed decisions to enhance their experience and boost retention.
What was the primary reason that you decided to discontinue you partnership with SmartAsset?
On a scale of 1-5, If your concerns with the platform were addressed, how likely would you be to rejoin the platform?
By grabbing data from individuals who churned, I was able to do several things. First, I was able to quantify the impact of addressing concerns. If the advisor who churned do to a specific reason, all rated their likelihood of rejoining above at 3, the team could prioritize this project as it was more impactful then lower rated churn rational.
After implementing this new research strategy, I established a baseline rating for our service including CSAT (customer satisfaction), LTC (likelihood to churn) and LQS (lead quality score). Alongside quantitative data, we also incorporated qualitative feedback, including insightful quotes, stories, and overall sentiment. This comprehensive approach enabled us to dive deeper into the rationale behind the impact and gain a profound understanding of advisor experiences.
My consistent insight gathering informed the following projects:
By combining quantitative and qualitative insights, we were able to drive meaningful improvements based on the new comprehensive understanding of advisors' experience.
Throughout the monthly I reviewed the raw data, the sentiment of "bad leads and bad customer service" expressed by certain advisors was prominent. However, as this was just a small representation of the population, I felt that it was important to cross-check this with actual data.
Armed with this valuable insight, I was determined to tackle this challenge head-on. By leveraging Salesforce, I meticulously cross-checked the communications between advisors and our team to uncover the root cause of their dissatisfaction. Through data analysis, I honed in on whether the dissatisfaction resulted from a lack of communication or misaligned communication.
Turns out, advisors were communicating with our team, just not in the way they wanted. Collaborating closely with the account management team, I provided them with additional supporting data, empowering them to engage in more informed and productive conversations with advisors. By aligning their communication with the expectations of our consumers, we effectively alleviated advisors' frustrations and significantly enhanced their overall experience.
This approach not only mitigated dissatisfaction among advisors but also instilled a greater sense of confidence in our platform. By leveraging data-driven insights and proactively addressing misaligned communication, we successfully transformed advisors' experiences and fostered stronger relationships with them.
Through our ongoing research efforts, I was able to pinpoint the several pain points for advisors, such as the need for new communication channels, a revamped partnership approach, and improved marketing strategies. These focused initiatives led to significant improvements in our business performance, resulting in a whopping 42.33% increase in customer satisfaction. This research was used to inform every facet of the advisors experience which has immeasurable impact as the company grew.
Through our ongoing research efforts, I was able to pinpoint the several pain points for advisors, such as the need for new communication channels, a revamped partnership approach, and improved marketing strategies. These focused initiatives led to significant improvements in our business performance, resulting in a whopping 42.33% increase in customer satisfaction, and recovering over $1 million dollars in revenue. This research was used to inform every facet of the advisors’ experience which has immeasurable impact as the company continues to grow.
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