CommSec
Role
Senior Product Designer
Year
2018
CommSec, a leading Australian investment platform, faced a critical turning point. While boasting a large customer base and established market presence, its platform struggled to resonate with modern investor needs. Perceived as complex, fragmented, and geared towards "experts," the experience left many users feeling lost, unsupported, and ultimately disengaged. This translated to declining engagement, high churn rates, and missed opportunities for growth.
Determined to revitalise the platform and empower investors of all levels, a dedicated team, with myself as Lead Product Designer were tasked with creating a north star vision for Commsec. The deliverables for this project were a series of core platform concepts, a new research informed IA and modern UI that could be used internally to inspire and motivate the team, guide internal decision making and help prioritise the future roadmap of CommSec.
The foundation of our design strategy was laid in in-depth user research. Through comprehensive interviews, surveys, and usability testing over seven sprints, we immersed ourselves in the challenges and aspirations of diverse investor segments.
Key insights emerged:
Lack of personalised guidance: Users felt unsupported and unsure where to find relevant information.
Difficulty navigating complexity: The platform's information architecture was confusing and overwhelming, creating friction for users of all experience levels.
Fragmented experience: Disconnected touchpoints and inconsistent messaging hindered trust and continuity.
Building upon our research, we established core design principles that centred on designing clear paths forward with relevant information at each step, providing continuous support throughout the investment journey, and simplifying the platform to make it accessible and user-friendly for all experience levels. This holistic approach aimed to foster trust and empower investors at every stage.
This vision translated into tangible features and functionalities:
Homepage designed for customer mindsets: Reflecting key stages of the investment journey, the homepage provided clear glanceable information and relevant next steps.
Contextual messaging: Personalised messages surfaced relevant information and opportunities based on individual user context and needs.
Visualising portfolio progress: Users could easily track their progress and understand their overall financial picture.
Collections: Expert curated collections allowed users to curate companies, notes, and intentions, fostering deeper engagement.
Company notes: Users could record notes and tags on companies, enabling CommSec to personalise future interactions.
Watchlist insights: Curated research reports surfaced based on individual interests, streamlining the research process.
Stock search: Simple and advanced controls to screen for stocks using queries
Logged out app: Public search functionality allowed users to explore companies without logging in, lowering the barrier to entry.