Axos Bank is an online financial services company providing a diverse range of banking products and services for personal, business, and institutional clients nationwide.
The Axos enrollment app. The innovative, on-the-go app solution for opening both checking and savings deposit accounts.
Axos Bank was struggling with a significant issue in its account enrollment process, where a staggering 82% of users were abandoning the process before successfully opening an account. This low completion rate not only reflected inefficiencies in the user experience but also directly impacted the bank’s growth potential. With just 18% of users completing the enrollment process, the bank was missing out on valuable opportunities to onboard new customers.
The project started as an innovation initiative with a small team, including the CTO, CDO, VP of Software Architecture, Mobile App Manager, and myself as Product Manager. We brainstormed ideas for the new product, focusing on functionality and design. Transitioning from Senior UX Designer to Product Manager, I gathered customer feedback, business requirements, and technical specs to develop a design proof of concept, which was presented to the CEO for the rebranding roadmap.
As Product Manager, I completed the project discovery documentation, defining the core elements: the Why, What, Who, and Success.
Once the document was approved, I developed a workflow (see user flow below) covering eight user scenarios to illustrate how different users would navigate the app based on their status. I then created wireframes and updated the initially approved proof of concept (POC) to incorporate the approved ID verification and biometric authentication technologies.
Next, I collaborated with the UX team to finalize the mobile app’s design. I managed third-party vendor relations through weekly meetings to ensure the smooth integration of biometric authentication (Daon), ID verification (Mitek), account aggregation (Geezeo), and money transfer (Payveris) technologies. Additionally, I consulted weekly with the Risk and Compliance team to ensure alignment with the company’s privacy policies. Finally, I worked closely with the project manager, business analyst, and development team to bring the app to fruition.
Prior to the app's launch and with tight time constraints, I conducted an in-house usability testing session with five participants from various departments who were not involved in the project. Based on the feedback and business requirements, several design iterations were made before the final launch.
After the app went live, my responsibility as the product manager was to develop a strategy for retaining both new and existing users. I designed a track-and-nurture workflow diagram using our current Salesforce lead campaign and proposed Salesforce opportunities.
To drive business growth, Axos Bank needed to address the high enrollment abandonment rate by focusing on its root causes. The solution involved developing a mobile app that enhances the onboarding experience with biometric authentication, ID verification technologies, and in-app help features to reduce user churn. This app provides both new and existing customers with a fast, convenient way to open deposit accounts while optimizing the enrollment process. It aligns with the company’s goals of increasing deposits and improving customer retention by making the product easier to adopt and use, attracting new users, and driving account growth.
Within a few months of launching the new enrollment app, we reduced enrollment abandonment by 30% among new customers and increased the average number of banking products per customer by 40%. These results were driven by the adoption of the app and the implementation of a cross-sell intercept strategy, which presented customers with a complementary product before completing the onboarding process. I collaborated closely with the enrollment team to develop and refine both the new platform and the onboarding process.
The final design prototype of Axos Bank's first app for customer enrollment. Click through to view screens.