Reducing transfer failures by 200%
role
Senior Product Designer
TIMELINE
May 2024 to Aug 2024
Making transfers more reliable
Scope & contribution
As the sole designer, I led the end-to-end redesign of the account transfer experience over three months, owning everything from user research and interaction design to prototyping. Partnering closely with product and engineering, we set out to create the transfer tools and visibility advisors needed to better serve their clients.
PROBLEM
Transferring money was one of the biggest pain points for advisors at Altruist. Nearly 1 in 15 transfers in a specific area were failing . Financial advisors often had to chase clients for approvals, all while having very little visibility into what was happening. It created unnecessary work, tax risk, and a frustrating experience for everyone involved.
Helping advisors stay on top of retirement activity
We’d been hearing about these transfer issues from customers for a while, so I moved quickly into design. I was excited to get some early concepts in front of advisors. In our discovery, one area that was clearly creating issues was retirement contributions and distributions. Advisors had little visibility into this information, making tax season more stressful. I created a new tracking component and explored surfacing it at the account, household, and firm levels.
Partnering with operations to reduce transfer failures
I chatted with our operations team and learned that a major cause for account transfer failures was advisors selecting the wrong institution. There were often multiple options for the same institution, which created confusion. We couldn't remove any of the options, so we added some healthy friction by introducing a step that surfaced the right option most advisors would use.
Another common issue was advisors trying to transfer unsupported stocks. I also designed a partial account transfer flow where advisors could select exactly which securities to transfer and see which ones weren’t supported.
BEFORE
AFTER
Improving visibility and reducing customer support requests
As part of discovery, I also chatted with our customer support team, who received multiple requests each day from advisors asking about the status of ACATs and transfers. I designed a status tracker that gave advisors a clear view of each ACAT’s status and timeline, reducing the need to reach out to support.
"If I don't know the status of something and my client asks about it, it makes me look really bad."
Research Participant, Financial Advisor
Creating the industry's first fully digital Move Money Authorization
I worked closely with compliance to create a one-time authorization for recurring transfers, known in the industry as a Move Money Authorization. At the time, the process still relied on paper forms. To understand the experience firsthand, I had an advisor mail me their forms so I could go through the process myself. We launched a fully digital MMA that eliminated the back-and-forth of the transfer process and is now patent pending.
"There's so much back and forth. It feels like I'm playing tennis with my clients."
Research Participant, Financial Advisor
Integrating user feedback into launch
I organized and facilitated user research with over 10 advisors and a few of their clients. I used what we learned to refine the designs before launch. This led us to move the MMA to the household level, which required some back and forth with compliance to make possible. Research also showed that the transfer drawer was the most relevant place to surface contribution data, which I had initially overlooked.
$
b+
assets transferred
%
less rejections
%
less support tickets
patent pending
Takeaways and next steps
REFLECTION
The post-launch metrics were really exciting to see and it was clear we had made a meaningful impact. This project reinforced how important it is to balance the familiar with the future. When there’s a lot of data and complexity, it’s important to show the right information at the right time. For next steps, we were exploring ways to make contribution data more dynamic, like showing limits based on income and bringing more of these features into onboarding.
SHOUT OUT
Though I focused on my role, this project wouldn't have been possible without the amazing team behind it. Special thanks to my design, product, engineering, and ops partners: Julia Kim, Rob Manukyan, Ellie Kibbe, Victoria Koi, Igor Tseluiko, Dmytro Lytvynenko, and Rachel Brown.
Reducing transfer failures by 200%
role
Senior Product Designer
TIMELINE
May 2024 to Aug 2024
Making transfers more reliable
Scope & contribution
As the sole designer, I led the end-to-end redesign of the account transfer experience over three months, owning everything from user research and interaction design to prototyping. Partnering closely with product and engineering, we set out to create the transfer tools and visibility advisors needed to better serve their clients.
PROBLEM
Transferring money was one of the biggest pain points for advisors at Altruist. Nearly 1 in 15 transfers in a specific area were failing . Financial advisors often had to chase clients for approvals, all while having very little visibility into what was happening. It created unnecessary work, tax risk, and a frustrating experience for everyone involved.
Helping advisors stay on top of retirement activity
We’d been hearing about these transfer issues from customers for a while, so I moved quickly into design. I was excited to get some early concepts in front of advisors. In our discovery, one area that was clearly creating issues was retirement contributions and distributions. Advisors had little visibility into this information, making tax season more stressful. I created a new tracking component and explored surfacing it at the account, household, and firm levels.
Partnering with operations to reduce transfer failures
I chatted with our operations team and learned that a major cause for account transfer failures was advisors selecting the wrong institution. There were often multiple options for the same institution, which created confusion. We couldn't remove any of the options, so we added some healthy friction by introducing a step that surfaced the right option most advisors would use.
Another common issue was advisors trying to transfer unsupported stocks. I also designed a partial account transfer flow where advisors could select exactly which securities to transfer and see which ones weren’t supported.
BEFORE
AFTER
Improving visibility and reducing customer support requests
As part of discovery, I also chatted with our customer support team, who received multiple requests each day from advisors asking about the status of ACATs and transfers. I designed a status tracker that gave advisors a clear view of each ACAT’s status and timeline, reducing the need to reach out to support.
"If I don't know the status of something and my client asks about it, it makes me look really bad."
Research Participant, Financial Advisor
Creating the industry's first fully digital Move Money Authorization
I worked closely with compliance to create a one-time authorization for recurring transfers, known in the industry as a Move Money Authorization. At the time, the process still relied on paper forms. To understand the experience firsthand, I had an advisor mail me their forms so I could go through the process myself. We launched a fully digital MMA that eliminated the back-and-forth of the transfer process and is now patent pending.
"There's so much back and forth. It feels like I'm playing tennis with my clients."
Research Participant, Financial Advisor
Integrating user feedback into launch
I organized and facilitated user research with over 10 advisors and a few of their clients. I used what we learned to refine the designs before launch. This led us to move the MMA to the household level, which required some back and forth with compliance to make possible. Research also showed that the transfer drawer was the most relevant place to surface contribution data, which I had initially overlooked.
$
b+
assets transferred
%
less rejections
%
less support tickets
patent pending
Takeaways and next steps
REFLECTION
The post-launch metrics were really exciting to see and it was clear we had made a meaningful impact. This project reinforced how important it is to balance the familiar with the future. When there’s a lot of data and complexity, it’s important to show the right information at the right time. For next steps, we were exploring ways to make contribution data more dynamic, like showing limits based on income and bringing more of these features into onboarding.
SHOUT OUT
Though I focused on my role, this project wouldn't have been possible without the amazing team behind it. Special thanks to my design, product, engineering, and ops partners: Julia Kim, Rob Manukyan, Ellie Kibbe, Victoria Koi, Igor Tseluiko, Dmytro Lytvynenko, and Rachel Brown.
Reducing transfer failures by 200%
role
Senior Product Designer
TIMELINE
May 2024 to Aug 2024
Making transfers more reliable
Scope & contribution
As the sole designer, I led the end-to-end redesign of the account transfer experience over three months, owning everything from user research and interaction design to prototyping. Partnering closely with product and engineering, we set out to create the transfer tools and visibility advisors needed to better serve their clients.
PROBLEM
Transferring money was one of the biggest pain points for advisors at Altruist. Nearly 1 in 15 transfers in a specific area were failing . Financial advisors often had to chase clients for approvals, all while having very little visibility into what was happening. It created unnecessary work, tax risk, and a frustrating experience for everyone involved.
Helping advisors stay on top of retirement activity
We’d been hearing about these transfer issues from customers for a while, so I moved quickly into design. I was excited to get some early concepts in front of advisors. In our discovery, one area that was clearly creating issues was retirement contributions and distributions. Advisors had little visibility into this information, making tax season more stressful. I created a new tracking component and explored surfacing it at the account, household, and firm levels.
Partnering with operations to reduce transfer failures
I chatted with our operations team and learned that a major cause for account transfer failures was advisors selecting the wrong institution. There were often multiple options for the same institution, which created confusion. We couldn't remove any of the options, so we added some healthy friction by introducing a step that surfaced the right option most advisors would use.
Another common issue was advisors trying to transfer unsupported stocks. I also designed a partial account transfer flow where advisors could select exactly which securities to transfer and see which ones weren’t supported.
BEFORE
AFTER
Improving visibility and reducing customer support requests
As part of discovery, I also chatted with our customer support team, who received multiple requests each day from advisors asking about the status of ACATs and transfers. I designed a status tracker that gave advisors a clear view of each ACAT’s status and timeline, reducing the need to reach out to support.
"If I don't know the status of something and my client asks about it, it makes me look really bad."
Research Participant, Financial Advisor
Creating the industry's first fully digital Move Money Authorization
I worked closely with compliance to create a one-time authorization for recurring transfers, known in the industry as a Move Money Authorization. At the time, the process still relied on paper forms. To understand the experience firsthand, I had an advisor mail me their forms so I could go through the process myself. We launched a fully digital MMA that eliminated the back-and-forth of the transfer process and is now patent pending.
"There's so much back and forth. It feels like I'm playing tennis with my clients."
Research Participant, Financial Advisor
Integrating user feedback into launch
I organized and facilitated user research with over 10 advisors and a few of their clients. I used what we learned to refine the designs before launch. This led us to move the MMA to the household level, which required some back and forth with compliance to make possible. Research also showed that the transfer drawer was the most relevant place to surface contribution data, which I had initially overlooked.
$
b+
assets transferred
%
less rejections
%
less support tickets
patent pending
Takeaways and next steps
REFLECTION
The post-launch metrics were really exciting to see and it was clear we had made a meaningful impact. This project reinforced how important it is to balance the familiar with the future. When there’s a lot of data and complexity, it’s important to show the right information at the right time. For next steps, we were exploring ways to make contribution data more dynamic, like showing limits based on income and bringing more of these features into onboarding.
SHOUT OUT
Though I focused on my role, this project wouldn't have been possible without the amazing team behind it. Special thanks to my design, product, engineering, and ops partners: Julia Kim, Rob Manukyan, Ellie Kibbe, Victoria Koi, Igor Tseluiko, Dmytro Lytvynenko, and Rachel Brown.
Reducing transfer failures by 200%
role
Senior Product Designer
TIMELINE
May 2024 to Aug 2024
Making transfers more reliable
Scope & contribution
As the sole designer, I led the end-to-end redesign of the account transfer experience over three months, owning everything from user research and interaction design to prototyping. Partnering closely with product and engineering, we set out to create the transfer tools and visibility advisors needed to better serve their clients.
PROBLEM
Transferring money was one of the biggest pain points for advisors at Altruist. Nearly 1 in 15 transfers in a specific area were failing . Financial advisors often had to chase clients for approvals, all while having very little visibility into what was happening. It created unnecessary work, tax risk, and a frustrating experience for everyone involved.
Helping advisors stay on top of retirement activity
We’d been hearing about these transfer issues from customers for a while, so I moved quickly into design. I was excited to get some early concepts in front of advisors. In our discovery, one area that was clearly creating issues was retirement contributions and distributions. Advisors had little visibility into this information, making tax season more stressful. I created a new tracking component and explored surfacing it at the account, household, and firm levels.
Partnering with operations to reduce transfer failures
I chatted with our operations team and learned that a major cause for account transfer failures was advisors selecting the wrong institution. There were often multiple options for the same institution, which created confusion. We couldn't remove any of the options, so we added some healthy friction by introducing a step that surfaced the right option most advisors would use.
Another common issue was advisors trying to transfer unsupported stocks. I also designed a partial account transfer flow where advisors could select exactly which securities to transfer and see which ones weren’t supported.
BEFORE
AFTER
Improving visibility and reducing customer support requests
As part of discovery, I also chatted with our customer support team, who received multiple requests each day from advisors asking about the status of ACATs and transfers. I designed a status tracker that gave advisors a clear view of each ACAT’s status and timeline, reducing the need to reach out to support.
"If I don't know the status of something and my client asks about it, it makes me look really bad."
Research Participant, Financial Advisor
Creating the industry's first fully digital Move Money Authorization
I worked closely with compliance to create a one-time authorization for recurring transfers, known in the industry as a Move Money Authorization. At the time, the process still relied on paper forms. To understand the experience firsthand, I had an advisor mail me their forms so I could go through the process myself. We launched a fully digital MMA that eliminated the back-and-forth of the transfer process and is now patent pending.
"There's so much back and forth. It feels like I'm playing tennis with my clients."
Research Participant, Financial Advisor
Integrating user feedback into launch
I organized and facilitated user research with over 10 advisors and a few of their clients. I used what we learned to refine the designs before launch. This led us to move the MMA to the household level, which required some back and forth with compliance to make possible. Research also showed that the transfer drawer was the most relevant place to surface contribution data, which I had initially overlooked.
$
b+
assets transferred
%
less rejections
%
less support tickets
patent pending
Takeaways and next steps
REFLECTION
The post-launch metrics were really exciting to see and it was clear we had made a meaningful impact. This project reinforced how important it is to balance the familiar with the future. When there’s a lot of data and complexity, it’s important to show the right information at the right time. For next steps, we were exploring ways to make contribution data more dynamic, like showing limits based on income and bringing more of these features into onboarding.
SHOUT OUT
Though I focused on my role, this project wouldn't have been possible without the amazing team behind it. Special thanks to my design, product, engineering, and ops partners: Julia Kim, Rob Manukyan, Ellie Kibbe, Victoria Koi, Igor Tseluiko, Dmytro Lytvynenko, and Rachel Brown.