Onboarding:
Experiences that nurture new customers
Project Overview
When I joined Varo, the app had no onboarding experience. Data clearly showed we needed one.
Varo had a critical gap in the product experience: no onboarding to be speak of. Many new customers hit a wall right after sign-up. Four of five new users never activated their banking card. Customers had to wait up to 14 days to receive their banking card. Any friction was an invitation to churn out. Drawing on my experience, I knew we could build something better.
My Role
Identified an onboarding gap that left our customers hanging. Observed that problems stemmed from subpar experience design and organizational silos.
Built cross-functional alignment and shared ownership through design sprints, user research and project roadmapping.
Led with influence, not control—orchestrating strategy and execution while empowering teams to co-create solutions.
CHALLENGE
Why customers were dropping off early
Frustrated customers had to wait up to 14 days for their debit card to activate their accounts. High-intent users felt stuck. When customers finally received their card, they were left to figure out how to get active and get the most value out of the account. Low-intent customers simply forgot they opened an account and moved on.
-Kai
A long, convoluted path to become approved and active
Taking Action
Sprinting with a customer-first strategy.
To tackle these challenges, I spearheaded Varo’s first design sprint. The effort brought together design, product, engineering, marketing, and data teams to challenge assumptions and delve deeply into insights. We rapidly crafted and tested onboarding concepts with customers to drive our strategy and decision-making process.
Team
1
Strategist/
Researcher
1
Content
Writer
2
Product
Designer
1
Product
Manager
22
Engineers
2
Life Cycle
Marketers
CONCEPTS TESTED
Wizard
Progress Trackers
Task List
Next Best Action Carousel
CoMPS OF the DESIGNS TesTED DURING THE DESIGN SPRINT
EXECUTION
Match customer motivation with improved flows, instant activation and timely nudges.
CONTINUOUS TESTING
All roads lead to testing and optimization.
Showing one action at a time, resulted in a 151% click through lift for “Add Money” and a 103% increase in funding the account.
Wizard outperformed menu by 2.3% on funding and 1.8% on spending by Day 7. More choices invite hesitation.
Expressive designs above the accounts outperformed direct designs below the account by 37.3% on card activation at Day 14.
Champion VS challenger tests
Impact
Onboarding curated for the customer.
We designed a new experience that catered to our customer intent. We provided frictionless entry and instant activation to highly motivated customers. For customers who needed more time to trial and build trust, we offered helpful guidance and timely nudges to ease them in, in a meaningful manner.
151%
increase in “Add Money” CTA engagement
103%
increase in day 1 funding
43%
increase in day 7 funding
25%
Decrease in Time To suBmit application
+10 pts
increase in monthly transaction-active rate (20% → 30%)
30
15
REDUCED App taps FROM