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Auditing Usability of a Wealth Management Platform

Year

2023

Timeline

3 months (Dec 2022 - Feb 2023)

Company

Creative Bulls

Client

Earnext

Website

earnext.com/en

earnext.com/en

earnext.com/en

B2C

SaaS

FinTech

Desktop

Usability Audit

My role

As the Lead UX Consultant, I carried out the heuristic evaluation, improvement proposals, and admin area redesign. This was the second project I delivered at Creative Bulls applying this methodology, a practice I introduced to the agency and helped establish as a formal service offering.

The team

  • UX Consultant (me): heuristic evaluation, improvement proposals, and admin area redesign.

  • Creative Director: client relationship management and creative direction throughout.

Button components on GFP design system

Context

Earnext is a wealth management platform that aggregates, analyzes, and simplifies complex financial data for wealth managers and their clients. Creative Bulls was engaged to audit and improve the platform's usability, both the client-facing interface and the admin environment.

Problem

The platform presented recurring usability issues across multiple areas. Navigating it required unnecessary cognitive effort, users were not warned before performing critical actions, and the admin area was an entirely separate environment: visually and functionally disconnected from the rest of the product.

Challenges

Risk of oversimplification

Wealth management platforms are inherently dense. The goal was to identify what was truly necessary, what could be restructured, and where the experience was creating unnecessary friction.

Disorientation across key screens

Several screens lacked titles and clear navigation states, making it hard for users to understand where they were within the platform.

Unsafe and repetitive actions

Destructive actions were visually identical to non-destructive ones, with no prior warning. Users were also required to re-enter owners' information from scratch every time a new asset was added.

Disconnected environments

The admin interface was completely different from the client-facing platform, creating an inconsistent experience for users operating across both.

Decisions & Tradeoffs

Precision vs. simplicity was the central tension throughout. The opportunity was in reorganising information, not reducing it. Recommendations had to be practical and applicable to the existing product structure, not a full redesign from scratch.

System status and navigation clarity

Many key screens lacked titles entirely, making it hard for users to orient themselves within the platform. A thorough screen audit was conducted to assign relevant titles and map the main routes, enabling breadcrumb navigation across important flows.

Trade-off: No significant trade-off identified here. This was a foundational clarity improvement with no meaningful downside.

System status and navigation clarity

Many key screens lacked titles entirely, making it hard for users to orient themselves within the platform. A thorough screen audit was conducted to assign relevant titles and map the main routes, enabling breadcrumb navigation across important flows.

Trade-off: No significant trade-off identified here. This was a foundational clarity improvement with no meaningful downside.

Visual differentiation of destructive CTAs

The delete action was visually separated from non-destructive ones through colour differentiation.

Trade-off: Adding a warning prompt was advised, however the client decided against it to avoid introducing an extra step that could slow down expert users.

Visual differentiation of destructive CTAs

The delete action was visually separated from non-destructive ones through colour differentiation.

Trade-off: Adding a warning prompt was advised, however the client decided against it to avoid introducing an extra step that could slow down expert users.

Centralized contacts repository

Rather than requiring users to re-enter owners’ information for every asset, a shared repository was proposed to allow users to create and link existing contacts to assets.

Trade-off: No significant trade-off identified here. This was a clear process improvement with no meaningful downside.

Centralized contacts repository

Rather than requiring users to re-enter owners’ information for every asset, a shared repository was proposed to allow users to create and link existing contacts to assets.

Trade-off: No significant trade-off identified here. This was a clear process improvement with no meaningful downside.

Save-and-continue flow for complex asset forms

Users could save partial progress and return to lengthy forms without losing their work.

Trade-off: This introduces the concept of incomplete assets in the system, which requires clear status indicators to avoid confusion around data integrity.

Save-and-continue flow for complex asset forms

Users could save partial progress and return to lengthy forms without losing their work.

Trade-off: This introduces the concept of incomplete assets in the system, which requires clear status indicators to avoid confusion around data integrity.

Admin area redesign for consistency

The admin interface was realigned to match the client-facing platform visually and functionally.

Trade-off: Admin users familiar to the existing environment may need a transition period, requiring the client to support users through a dedicated transition service.

Admin area redesign for consistency

The admin interface was realigned to match the client-facing platform visually and functionally.

Trade-off: Admin users familiar to the existing environment may need a transition period, requiring the client to support users through a dedicated transition service.

Impact breakdown

Clearer system status

Improved visibility of system status across key platform screens.

Improved error prevention

Prevented critical data loss by visually differentiating destructive actions from non-destructive ones.

Flexible asset logging

Enabled flexibility in logging complex wealth assets through a save-and-continue flow and a centralized contacts repository, allowing quicker selection of asset owners when applicable.

Unified experience

Unified the admin and client-facing platform into a single, consistent experience.

Plus! Consolidated heuristic evaluation as part of the agency's service offering, informing decision-making through applied practice.

Interested in learning more about the process and decisions behind?
Feel free to reach out.

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