account opening goes mobile

For a long time, if someone wanted to open a bank account at Ally, the only way to do it would be to use a desktop computer. In a time when users expect to be able to download a mobile app and onboard there immediately, not having a mobile experience just isn’t competitive.

The current experience is only optimized for desktop web, and is comprised of 7-9 steps with conditional sub-steps depending on the path you take. There’s an entire screen in the flow dedicated to a checkbox asking if the user is a U.S. citizen. There was lots of room for improvement.

I given one week taking the extensive and cumbersome web-based Ally account opening process and optimize it for the mobile app. This meant creating an entirely new mobile experience to be more streamlined and intelligent, while also adding a level of delight through animations, illustrations, and spirited content.

The experience had to start at app download and move through a new Welcome experience our Storefront team had designed, similar to Instagram stories. From there, the goal was to get the user through the account opening flow in as few steps as necessary.

I knew from research that the biggest drop-off point was at the beginning, where we ask the user to confirm the account they’re opening, and at the end, when we ask the user to fund their account from another account they already have.

I worked with a few guiding principles so that I was staying consistent in my methods as I designed:

1. Consolidate
   Accomplish multiple things on one screen where possible, without overloading the user. (i.e. ask the citizenship question at the end of the previous step, instead of on its own screen)

2. Cut down on information entering
   If the user is a current customer, pre-fill the information we already have. If not, at least don’t make the joint account holder re-enter the same address unless they specifically need to.

3. Remove unnecessary speed bumps
   Don’t force steps that aren’t necessary before account opening. If the user doesn’t need to fund their account right away, let them do it later. The goal is to finish enrolling with as little friction as possible.

4. Delight
   Give the user something to look at while they’re waiting, and where possible anticipate their needs and meet them where they are.

I consolidated that first step into one so that instead of taking an entire step just to confirm what we already know, the user confirms the account they’re opening on the same screen they’re giving us their personal information. This way it feels like the process is already underway, decreasing friction.

My other hypothesis was that the reason funding is a high drop-off point is because users in the real world have to leave the app to go find their routing and account number at their current bank, get sidetracked, and don’ t come back. I made the recommendation that we use Plaid integration at the funding step so that users can enter their bank login information directly in the Ally account opening instead of leaving, so that they’re more likely to complete the funding step.

I also added in a moment of delight at the end, where instead of waiting for funding and a debit card to ship, the user is able to immediately add a debit card to their electronic wallet and begin using their account immediately.

results

Once we tested the final product we saw a huge decrease in drop-off on both the first screen and the funding step, and users were delighted that we could automatically pull in their bank account information, making the transfer process seamless, and also that they could immediately start using their electronic debit card right away.

The reaction from the business at the end of the week-long project was essentially “when can we do this?” and it was slated to the roadmap almost exactly as you see above.

The design for this proof of concept went on to inform the redesign of the mobile app, which is in production today.

This was one of the few projects I’ve been on where I was the sole designer, I was able to turn the work around in a really short timeline, and I made some innovative and delightful recommendations that the business ended up taking and implementing in the final build.