Native iOS
Brief
Identify Stash's core strategic differentiator in a saturated competitive landscape
Identify Stash's core crypto consumer base that would rather engage in crypto through Stash than through other means
Identify, plan, and design Stash's unique product offering to help the core consumer get crypto exposure into their asset portfolio
Integrate crypto into the core Stash investment experience, including discovery and self-directed purchase.
Research
Our user researcher Stella Tu ran several moderated and unmoderated sessions using prototypes I created to check the validity of our concepts. These sessions, coupled with the data we gathered from mass survey tools revealed the key elements that would motivate customers to invest in crypto with Stash:
a.) An unbiased source of reliable education
b.) personalized guidance when investing
c.) transparency
Solutions
Strategic solutions
Using our validated concepts and research we were able to help guide some of the larger strategic decisions being made at the company level. Stash as a company was trying to better understand where it's differentiating offering lied.
As confirmed with our users, we were able to reinforce the Stash Investment Committee's initial opinion that Stash should only offer an extremely limited number of coins with a medium to large market cap. Users stated the curated list of coins reinforced trust in Stash as an investment platform.
Additionally, citing users' desires for education, we implemented educational articles written by our Investment Committee throughout different touchpoints in the experience. Users, again, felt a greater sense of trust in the platform when we offered education up front.
Feature solution
During our user testing, one concept resonated with users very highly: the “crypto calculator”. The calculator followed simple binary rules that would help users experiment with any amount and thus allow them to gauge the impact of that investment in their portfolio. An amount less than 5% of their overall portfolio was a “safe” amount to invest as was recommended by our investment committee. An amount more than 5% prompted automatic feedback and educational material so users could understand the impact on their portfolio. As a regulated fiduciary, Stash was very careful to steer away from anything explicitly considered as “financial advice”. Thus our design opted for neutral text (no “good” or “bad”) but still used iconography and education to guide user decisions.
Designing a complete experience
While education was our differentiator among competitors, we still needed to design a top class experience in order to integrate crypto into the Stash investing experience. The team and I focused on a few key moments such as Discovery and Sign up to delight users with animation, simple terminology, and robust guidance.