Harbor
A 401(k) provider with the first mobile only sign-up and management app, aimed at Small Businesses and their employees.
The TL;DR
Retirement outlook for Americans is looking incredibly bleak. Nearly 21% of Americans have no retirement saving according to Emmie Martin of MSNBC. Another 66% believe they will outlive their retirement savings. 401(k) provider VestHQ has taken on the challenge of reversing this trend with Harbor, a mobile app created to eliminate the roadblocks inherent in other provider’s processes. In order to surpass the status quo, Harbor needed a stronger design, and a strategic approach to the sign-up process.
VestHQ’s goal for Harbor is simple, improve employee participation in 401(k)s, by appealing to the everyday employee of SMBs, who are typically non-investors. Universally, not many people opt in, or care for their company sponsored 401(k). To achieve this Harbor was created in as a mobile app. To go further, it would need to become a digital financial advisor, building trust, and taking the tedium out of the sign-up and transfer process. Additionally, careful consideration to the IA was an absolute must.
21% of Americans have no retirement savings
Trimming the Onboarding
First things first, how to make an intuitive chatbot to onboard new users?
Steering the Overview
Harbor was created with the intention of building rapport with users. However, an issue with their onboarding process from the beginning was how to stay compliant with their fiduciary responsibilities and to keep the process simple.
Thinking of the real life analogues, the “Plan Overview” was developed. Creating a thoughtful IA, utilizing a main page digest, tabs, and a strong visual hierarchy was key to building a easily understandable, yet fully comprehensive, plan overview.
before
after
Advanced Options
Staying within compliance is difficult while also balancing UX principles. Legally, Harbor has to provide functionality to allow all users to make changes to their plans.
But, Harbor can’t make future recommendations or adjustments to plans that are customized.
There’s a desire to “protect the user from themselves” while also wanting to trust in the user’s ability to understand the product.
Harbor was designed for the user who doesn’t have a lot of experience with investing or managing a 401(k). But, there are users who may desire control over their plan and how it develops.
The solution lied in a compromise. Users had to understand the severity of consequences when customizing their 401(k) plans. The only way to do this was to interrupt the exploration and analysis of the Allocation tab, and limit access to customization behind a few extra steps. The advance users aren’t Harbor’s target user, and providing upfront access won’t empower users with a healthy retirement so much as ruin their future.
Sailing Toward the Future
Future iterations will explore some ideas with considerations toward IA. Specifically, the On boarding phase in which the user interacts with Henry includes a section of forms that the user must check over.