Designing the journey from sign-up to first investment
Designing the journey from sign-up to first investment
New investors were arriving at ADDX and not making their first investment
Investors came in excited - and then gets confused
This confusion amounts to lost of investment opportunities and significant revenue over time
Context
How might we streamline collaboration across design, marketing and legal so consistent communications reach investors better?
How might we reduce lack of guidance so new investors can understand what to do next and make a first investment with confidence?
"I just have no idea what the fee structure is and I assume that it will be quite expensive.”
ADDX Investor
“Hedge fund is something that really isn’t that straightforward."
ADDX Investor
"Maybe I need better education on private credit. Like why would someone buy something in the middle?"
ADDX Investor
Key problems
Research
Lack of information
to take the first step
Onboarding emails averaged a 3.2% click rate. Investors signed up but there's not enough guidance on what's next
Guidance depended on the relationship manager
Investors who wanted answers had to ask, which worked for some but left the rest without direction
Every email
took 6 hours and a team of 2
Scattered design assets meant each email was built from scratch, so communications were delayed
and it became these 3 insights
and it became these 3 insights
which led to two key "How Might We" questions:
The success metrics is divided to 2:
✅ Investor engagement: increase in open rate, click-through rate, investment opportunity (STO) page views
✅ Operational efficiency: reduction in production time, system scalability, and team handover
Building an investor journey around trust, not transactions.
Results
increase in investor activation
after the newly improved user journey
less production time
from 6 hours to 15 minutes, 24x faster through a modular design system
Increase in investment page engagement
through educational materials, curated content and new product launches
Impact
Impact
increase in investor activation
after the newly improved user journey
less production time
from 6 hours to 15 minutes, 24x faster through a modular design system
Increase in investment page engagement
through educational materials, curated content and new product launches
Impact
increase in investor activation
after the newly improved user journey
less production time
From 6 hours to 15 minutes, 24x faster through a modular design system
Increase in investment page engagement
through educational materials, curated content and new product launches
Context
New investors were arriving at ADDX and not making their first investment
Investors came in excited - and then gets confused
This confusion amounts to lost of investment opportunities and significant revenue over time
How might we streamline collaboration across design, marketing and legal so consistent communications reach investors better?
How might we reduce lack of guidance so new investors can understand what to do next and make a first investment with confidence?
Key problems
Research
Lack of information to take the first step
Onboarding emails averaged a 3.2% click rate. Investors signed up but there's not enough guidance on what's next
Guidance depended on the relationship manager
Investors who wanted answers had to ask, which worked for some but left the rest without direction
Every email took 6 hours and a team of 2
Scattered design assets meant each email was built from scratch, so communications were delayed
and it became these 3 insights
which led to two key "How Might We" questions:
1
Rethinking the onboarding journey
Creating a new onboarding flow that prioritizes educating the user on different asset classes and offerings instead of purely product launch
2
A shared cross-functional workflow
Design, marketing and CRM now work at the same time in Figma, instead of one after another. Communications reach investors while they’re still relevant.
before
onboarding email series 1
Hello, and then?
A warm introduction from the CEO that celebrated joining the platform, but didn't help investors understand what to do next
after
Welcome to the platform
Addressing the biggest uncertainty, which wasn't "Who is ADDX?" but"How do I make my first investment?", the redesign showcases more product introduction, guided onboarding, and a clear CTA
3
Making every touchpoint consistent with
reusable design assets in Figma, mirrored in Braze
One modular system covers emails, push notifications, social, web, events and merchandise, whoever produces the asset. Consistency signals reliability to investors deciding whether to make the first step.
The success metrics is divided to 2:
✅ Investor engagement: increase in open rate, click-through rate, investment opportunity (STO) page views
✅ Operational efficiency: reduction in production time, system scalability, and team handover
Context
New investors were arriving at ADDX and not making their first investment
Investors came in excited - and then gets confused
This confusion amounts to lost of investment opportunities and significant revenue over time
"I just have no idea what the fee structure is and I assume that it will be quite expensive.”
ADDX Investor
“Hedge fund is something that really isn’t that straightforward."
ADDX Investor
"Maybe I need better education on private credit. Like why would someone buy something in the middle?"
ADDX Investor
Rethinking the onboarding journey
Creating a new onboarding flow that prioritizes educating the user on different asset classes and offerings instead of purely product launch
1
Building an investor journey around trust, not transactions.
Result
before
onboarding email series 1
Hello, and then?
A warm introduction from the CEO that celebrated joining the platform, but didn't help investors understand what to do next
after
onboarding email series 1
Welcome to the platform
Addressing the biggest uncertainty, which wasn't "Who is ADDX?" but"How do I make my first investment?", the redesign showcases more product introduction, guided onboarding, and a clear CTA
before
onboarding email series 1
Hello, and then?
A warm introduction from the CEO that celebrated joining the platform, but didn't help investors understand what to do next
after
Welcome to the platform
Addressing the biggest uncertainty, which wasn't "Who is ADDX?" but"How do I make my first investment?", the redesign showcases more product introduction, guided onboarding, and a clear CTA
A shared cross-functional workflow
Design, marketing and CRM now work at the same time in Figma, instead of one after another. Communications reach investors while they’re still relevant.
2
3
Making every touchpoint consistent with
reusable design assets in Figma, mirrored in Braze
One modular system covers emails, push notifications, social, web, events and merchandise, whoever produces the asset. Consistency signals reliability to investors deciding whether to make the first step.
Research
Key problems
and it became these 3 insights
Lack of information
to take the first step
Onboarding emails averaged a 3.2% click rate. Investors signed up but there's not enough guidance on what's next
Guidance depended on the relationship manager
Investors who wanted answers had to ask, which worked for some but left the rest without direction
Every email
took 6 hours and a team of 2
Scattered design assets meant each email was built from scratch, so communications were delayed
which led to two key "How Might We" questions:
How might we streamline collaboration across design, marketing and legal so consistent communications reach investors better?
How might we reduce lack of guidance so new investors can understand what to do next and make a first investment with confidence?
The success metrics is divided to 2:
✅ Investor engagement: increase in open rate, click-through rate, investment opportunity (STO) page views
✅ Operational efficiency: reduction in production time, system scalability, and team handover
Results
Building an investor journey around trust, not transactions.
1
Rethinking the onboarding journey
Creating a new onboarding flow that prioritizes educating the user on different asset classes and offerings instead of purely product launch
before
onboarding email series 1
Hello, and then?
A warm introduction from the CEO that celebrated joining the platform, but didn't help investors understand what to do next
after
Welcome to the platform
Addressing the biggest uncertainty, which wasn't "Who is ADDX?" but"How do I make my first investment?", the redesign showcases more product introduction, guided onboarding, and a clear CTA
2
A shared cross-functional workflow
Design, marketing and CRM now work at the same time in Figma, instead of one after another. Communications reach investors while they’re still relevant.
3
Making every touchpoint consistent with
reusable design assets in Figma, mirrored in Braze
One modular system covers emails, push notifications, social, web, events and merchandise, whoever produces the asset. Consistency signals reliability to investors deciding whether to make the first step.
Overview
Designing trust into the investment journey
The complexity of investment products, unfamiliar terminology, and uncertainty around the process created friction between account creation and first investment.
After mapping the investor journey and redesigned the communication experience across key moment, the result was a more guided experience that helped investors understand what to do next, while giving internal teams a scalable system to create consistent communications.
and the result?
+54% increase in investment opportunity discovery
+30% increase in investor activation
430 lifecycle touchpoints delivered by one designer in 6 months
2-week onboarding for the next designer through a modular design system
Reflection
From graphic design to product to service design
Throughout the three and a half years of working here, I learned to be adaptable, to trust the ambiguity, and to lead interns and stakeholders alongside the design work.
Most of all, it taught me that trust isn’t built by a single touchpoint. It’s built by a sequence of communications, organised around what the user needs to understand, in the order they need to understand it.
A letter from the VP of Content and Marketing when I left
A letter from the VP of Content and Marketing when I left
A letter from the Lead Alternative Investment Specialist
& VP of Content and Marketing, written when I left ADDX
A letter from the Lead Alternative Investment Specialist
& VP of Content and Marketing, written when I left ADDX
A letter from the VP of Content and Marketing when I left
ROLE
service designer & GRAPHIC DESIGNER
COMPANY
ADDX
YEAR
2022 - 2025
Designing the journey from sign-up to first investment