The Ask
Refinitiv wants to create a fund screener that is easier and more approachable for investors of all levels.
My Role
I was the product design lead representing the design team of Ecora. I communicated directly with my clients from start to finish, working closely with the product owner, manager, and designer of Refinitiv team to ideate product features, and establish the look and feel of the product. I proposed new features based on research and delivered wireframes, mockups, and prototypes to the clients, and worked with developers to ensure that the design is well implemented in the launched version of the service.
Insights
Investment has become sensational recently in a way it has never been before, and the popularity is only getting higher, albeit in an often volatile manner.
While more and more younger generations are getting into investing, the majority of them lack financial literacy. This is especially more dangerous because the lion’s share of the current rage behind the recent investment booms is focused on the “meme stocks” and digital currencies. These are extremely risky investments that can cause financial wreckage if participated without proper understanding.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.352.5252&rep=rep1&type=pdf [ Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior among Young Adults: Evidence and Implications ]
Unlike meme stocks and Bitcoin-alikes, investing in funds is highly recommended for beginners as a way to start their investment portfolio*. One of the best ways to start investing in funds is through fund screening tools, but they are nowhere near as popular as other popular trends because even the most popular fund screeners have archaic looks and features, on top of being downright confusing to use.
* https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/10/smarter-living/the-young-persons-guide-to-investing.html [ The Young Person’s Guide to Investing ]
Problem Framing
The problem is simple: Most industry-leading fund screeners have outdated UI and UX, and are difficult to use unless you have extensive knowledge.
Solution
We will re-design the fund screener from the ground up to provide better usability, an updated interface, and a lower barrier of entry.
In order to achieve this, we will identify key points where users may find conflict in their decision-making process, and implement services that will make the overall experience more inclusive.
Research
We wanted to first identify some pain points from the current market-leading fund screeners like Vanguard, Morning Star, and Reuters. We have asked several individuals to interact with them and tell us what their impression is based on the experience.
Sample notes from one of the interview session.
The big takeaways from these interviews were:
1. Users were genuinely confused by outdated designs and felt overwhelmed by so many filtering options that they know little or nothing about.
2. On top of their uncertainty from lack of knowledge and guidance, users were reluctant to commit to adjusting filters because they felt like having no way to save their progress will discourage them from continuously engaging with the fund screener.
3. Users felt disappointed that there were no options to search for a specific fund based on fund symbols, and discovering funds that are similar to it through the search.
To summarize... the majority of users did not know where to even begin, didn't want to commit to progress that they can't save, and wanted ways to search by specific funds. Even more shortly, it was simply too hard and unfriendly, especially for beginners.
We went ahead to address these pain points and rethink the relationship between the fund screener and users from the ground up to create a fund screener that can deliver a more inclusive experience.
Idea sketches for the new fund screener.
Outcome
1. Onboarding
It came across as a surprise that there are no market-leading fund screeners that have a proper onboarding for novice investors.
After extensive research into basic criteria for deciding on the right funds to invest in, we have come up with an easy-to-use onboarding process that will help users on narrowing down on broad filters & encourage them to engage further with the fund screener.
Step-by-step onboarding screens.
2. The Screener
First and foremost, the screener was designed to be good at its job — a fund filtering and screening tool with powerful fundamental services that can fiercely compete with the market leaders in and of itself.
First and foremost, the screener was designed to be good at its job — a fund filtering and screening tool with powerful fundamental services that can fiercely compete with the market leaders in and of itself.
However, to go beyond our competitors, we have implemented several features that ensure even the very first time users can have plenty of tools in their hands to get started with the screener, even after the onboarding process.
Screener landing page.
If a user went through onboarding, the screener will be populated based on their choices.
Populated screener.
You can edit filters directly from the top panel, or open up a modal for more comprehensive edits & add new criteria.
Editing and adding new filters.
If you already have a fund you know and would like to find similar funds, simply search by its name or a symbol. After selecting, the screener will automatically fill in filters that apply to the selected fund.
Populating filters by a fund.
All financial and investment terminologies you will find the screener will have dedicated definition & tips on how to utilize/understand it. That way, even first-time users will be in good hands.
Definitions and tips hover.
These definitions and tips are also available in-depth inside the full filter edit modal.
Definitions and tips hover inside the modal.
Screening for a fund is not an easy task and users may want to come back to it at later times. Refinitiv's new screener allows them to save their filters for future use.
For those who are truly lost on how to adjust filters, or curious about how others have done it, they may browse community presets that were uploaded by other users as a good source of reference.
For those who are truly lost on how to adjust filters, or curious about how others have done it, they may browse community presets that were uploaded by other users as a good source of reference.
