UX Research
Trading App
Redesign Trading Strategy Feature
How research helps improve feature adoption
*For confidentiality concerns, some result data in this report have been modified.Research Overview
This is a UXR project from my last UX researcher job in a securities company in China. Our department was responsible for developing investment platforms for our customers. After the new trading strategy feature had been launched in our App for 10 months, the product manager noticed that this feature's user number was lower than expected.
Understand User Behavior: Gain a deeper understanding of how users interact with the trading strategy feature
Identify Barriers to Adoption: Identify where and why drop-offs occurred in the conversion process.
Propose Improvements: Proposed actionable improvements based on insights gathered.
Research Goals
Scope
Competitor Analysis; Interview; Questionnaire; Usability Test
My Roles
Design and conduct research; Write research report; Present report to stakeholders
Timeline
10 Weeks
The Impacts
The design of the trading strategy feature has been redesigned based on this research insights
The number of users of the trading strategy has increased 7 times a year after redesigning the feature.
Define the Problem
Our trading strategy feature indeed have a lower number of users and trading volume
To assess the perceived lower number of users of our trading strategy feature, we have conducted a comparative analysis with two key competitors, Competitor A and B.
User Number
1/5
Competitor A has twice the number of monthly active users compared to us, but its user base of the trading strategy feature is 5 times bigger than ours.
Trading Volume
1/15
Despite having a similar number of monthly active users as Competitor B, our trading strategy feature's trading volume is only 1/15 of Competitor B.
Therefore, the small user size of our feature is not a reflection of market-wide trends or user base size but an indication of issues specific to our feature and how it is presented to our users.
Comparative Analysis
80%
Where Does the Problem Occur
Despite initial interest, a marked drop-off occurs early in the conversion process
While over 80% of our active users expressed interest in this feature, a mere 10% have actively utilised it, indicating a substantial conversion gap.
Interested
Aware
First-click
Set up
Submit
10%
After investigating the data of the conversion process, we observed the most significant drop-offs occur from the “Aware” stage to “First-click” stage, and subsequently from “First-click” stage to “Set up” stage. This suggests that:
While a substantial portion of our active users are aware of the trading strategy feature, most of them have not taken the initial step of exploring it further.
Even among those who proceed to click on the feature, many choose not to set it up.
Based on these findings, we then focused on discovering why these significant drop-offs occur, identifying and addressing the underlying issues.
Conversion Process
Why Does the Problem Occur
While users are interested in the concept of trading strategies, we failed in value proposition
Our survey shows two interesting contradicting results:
“More than 80% of users reported interested in the feature”
“The top reason user did not check the feature is because they think it is unattractive”
The follow-up interview reveals the insights behind this contradiction, the limited understanding of the feature’s value proposition. Most interviewees recognise a primary benefit of trading strategies: reducing the time spent on reading the tape to catch the right condition and falls short of appreciating this feature's full spectrum of unique benefits.
“Aware” to “First-click”
User could not locate the feature in the App
In the survey, the second common reason for users not checking the trading strategy feature is because of their inability to find it in the App. This difficulty persists even among interviewees who expressed a keen interest in the feature.
Complexity: even experienced investors struggled to set up the trading strategy
During the interview, most users had difficulty understanding and implementing the trading strategy, even after referencing the help documentation of the feature in the App. This issue is surprisingly pervasive, impacting not just novice users but even those with over 5 years of experience in stock investment. This suggests we have to conduct a usability test to make this feature more usable.
“First-click” to “Set up”
Risk aversion: users are hesitant to try a new feature, especially one related to financial strategies.
Our user interviews and survey data revealed a key concern that impedes users from advancing in their journey with our trading strategy feature - the perceived risk of using it. This risk-averse attitude is particularly prevalent among our main user base, which predominantly consists of older age groups. Meanwhile, competitors A and B, with their younger user bases, might not face this challenge to the same extent.
How to Improve the Design
1
Strategic feature pleacement
Add a new position of the trading strategy feature on the share price reminder set-up page. Hence, users could intuitively set up a trading strategy that helps them buy or sell the shares when reaching a certain price.
The trading strategy feature has been redesigned according to the research insights and suggestions. The user number of the feature has increased 7 times in 1 year after the redesign.
Highlight the feature
Employ design elements that enhance the visibility and appeal of the feature within the App to encourage first click.
Redesign the feature home page
There are several highlights in the redesign:
a - Social Proof: Display the number of users using the feature and the trading volume to provide social proof and alleviate users' hesitations about the risk.
b - Promote Simple Strategies: Guide users, especially beginners, to start with the simplest and lowest-risk trading strategies.
c - Tutorial Integration: Provide comprehensive tutorials directly on the feature homepage to guide novice users through the setup process.
3
Before
After
2
Before
After
