Advisor Practice Management
INDUSTRY:
FINANCIAL SERVICES
CLIENT:
US INDEPENDENT ADVISOR BROKER-DEALER
YEAR:
2023
ROLE:
AVP PRODUCT DESIGN LEAD
The Backstory
Advisors often struggle to connect the dots between their business goals and the many services their broker-dealer offers. The company wanted a tool that could act like a personal diagnostic—helping advisors see where they’re at, where they want to go, and what they need to get there.
My job: design that experience in a way that felt simple, useful, and personal.
The Idea
We wanted to build a “storefront” for advice—a guided, personalized consultation that helps advisors:
Identify gaps in their current practice
Discover relevant broker-dealer services
Get clear, actionable recommendations to grow their business
Think of it as a fitness tracker, product comparison and credit score app combined for an advisor’s practice, but with a financial planning twist.
The Challenges
The best recommendations start with the right questions. By first seeking to understand, we turn user feedback into meaningful guidance.
A tailored experience begins with understanding. By weaving discovery into the design, we uncover real goals and needs — and create solutions that truly fit.
The Design Journey
Discovery: Goals and requirements of the advisor planning practice tracker
Mockups: questions grouped into 3–6 topics, each focusing on part of the advisor’s practice.
The Validation
The validation phase tested whether the new diagnostic tool helped advisors identify growth opportunities more intuitively and efficiently. We aimed to confirm improvements in usability, comprehension, and confidence in using insights to act on business recommendations.
Insights
Advisors valued the peer comparison as a motivator.
Some wanted deeper analytics behind scores to understand how metrics were derived.
Simplified visual progress indicators helped keep users engaged through completion.
Impact Summary
Validation confirmed that the new diagnostic improved both usability (SUS 83) and confidence in using business insights (+20%).
Early adoption pilots showed increased advisor engagement and faster identification of practice improvement areas.
Guided flow reduced complexity and errors
Peer benchmarking view drove strong engagement
Micro-interactions improved focus and task clarity
❌What Didn't
Early version was too data-heavy
Industry jargon confused independent advisors
Manual data entry slowed completion
93%
Completion
30%
Time Savings
87%
Comprehension
78%
Confidence
The Outcome
The final concept gave advisors something they’d never had before: a personalized diagnostic tool that highlighted strengths, gaps, and opportunities in their business.
The project was well-received and officially greenlit by the steering committee for development in the next fiscal year.
Lessons
The best recommendations start with the right questions. By first seeking to understand, we turn user feedback into meaningful guidance.
A tailored experience begins with understanding. By weaving discovery into the design, we uncover real goals and needs — and create solutions that truly fit.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
