qplum

Onboarding into an algorithmic portfolio

qplum qfolio: onboarding into AI-driven investment portfolios — a chatbot that produces a financial plan, and the regulated account opening behind it.

Impact

+2%: Onboarding conversion after the app redesign
2: Platforms redesigned, iOS and Android

Case snapshot

Role: UX/UI Designer · Sole designer
Scope: Onboarding, funding, QBot, iOS and Android apps
Team: Sole designer
Timeline: October 2016 – 2017

The situation

Investing as a utility, sold to people who have never opened a brokerage account.

qplum is a US online investment advisory firm offering portfolios driven by AI and machine learning — retirement planning, IRA accounts, 401k rollovers and personal investing accounts. Its positioning was investing as a utility.

That positioning sets the design problem. A utility is something you set up once without thinking hard about it; a regulated brokerage account is the opposite, and the onboarding has to absorb that difference.

What the app had to let someone do

Get a plan
Talk to an AI-powered chatbot and get a free financial plan.
Invest
Invest in a blend of qplum’s top portfolios.
Open accounts
Open Traditional, Roth and SEP IRA accounts; roll over an existing IRA or 401k.
Track
Follow the performance of an ETF portfolio.

My scope

The only designer, across onboarding, funding and the apps.

What I owned: User research and a dashboard for users already invested with qplum; the funding steps, including linking different types of bank account; QBot, the chatbot that gives personalised suggestions and reminders; and a redesign of the iOS and Android apps.
Beyond the screens: The main landing page, and a product design process and design system that the design team grew around.

The hard call

A chatbot giving financial advice sits inside a regulated perimeter.

qplum is registered with the SEC as an Investment Advisor and with the NFA as a Commodity Trading Advisor. Brokerage and clearing ran through Apex Clearing and Interactive Brokers, both FINRA/SIPC members, with accounts SIPC-protected up to $500,000, including $250,000 for cash.

That dictates what a conversational interface is allowed to say. A chatbot that produces a free financial plan has to be friendly and helpful without straying into advice the firm cannot give in that format.

The craft