Case study of lessons learned during the redesign of the Wachovia.com investing center, outlining mistakes we made and how we rebuilt trust.

1. Rebuilding Trust in the
User-Centered Design Process
Samantha Bailey, Vice President, Information Architecture
COPYRIGHT Wachovia CONFIDENTIAL

2. For the Record
•I’m a librarian who works in
digital spaces
•Currently: VP, Information
Architecture for Wachovia
•Pioneer in IA: First employee of
Argus Associates, spent 5 years
there developing their operation
& methodology
•MILS from University of
Michigan, 1996
http://www.mcphee.com/amusements/current/11247.html

3. Overview
What went wrong
How we addressed it
How do we keep from doing it (wrong) again?
What can you learn from our mistakes?

4. Background
Team structure & how we work with our internal
partners
Relationship between Bank & Brokerage
(Wachovia.com and Wachoviasecurities.com)
Internal Competition (“full service” vs. “self-directed”)
Audience: mix of novice & expert, variety of investing
needs

5. We used a user-centered design
methodology, how come we got a
site no one was happy with?

6. Initial Design Process
When user-centered design…isn’t
Weaknesses:
• Investing center as subset of much larger project
• Internal politics and corporate flux (merger)
• Working relationship
• Shared understanding of goals & methodology
• Our level of subject matter expertise
“You didn’t include us enough in the process.”

7. The Original Outcome
http://www.wachovia.com/personal/page/0,,327,00.html

8. Usability Test Results
Tested Wachovia.com site during site-wide redesign;
users could successfully locate the investing center, but
couldn’t successfully navigate it
Users don’t understand
menu structure (select
one, series of steps)
Novice users particularly
confused
Expert users don’t find
scheme intuitive either
“If I were looking for
advice on where to start,
I’m not sure this would
be helpful at all.”
“Wording seems to be
confusing.”
Knows she wants to
invest in stocks. Comes
here to determine
whether or not she can
purchase stock through
Wachovia. She isn’t
sure.

9. It’ s humbling to plan the
redesign of a redesign before
the redesign launches.

10. Laying the Groundwork
Pre-Discovery
• Understanding why the first attempt failed (humble pie
issues)
• Time delays worked to our advantage
• Relationship building
• Establishing new working agreement
- Increased BU involvement
- More sign-off points

11. Redesigning the Investing Center
Phases: Standard UE Process
• (pre Discovery)
• Discovery
• Design
• Usability Testing
• Iteration
• Development & Implementation

12. Redesigning the Investing Center
Phase
Goal
Discovery
Improve understanding of
customer’s & business needs
Design
Design several versions
Usability Testing
Test for most successful
Iteration
Design best of breed hybrid
Development &
Implementation

13. Trust Factor
If this was to be a pretty typical methodology, how was
trust increased (and why did we expect a different
outcome)?
• Communication—it’s cliché, but can’t be stressed
enough
• Repetition—didn’t rely on trickle down (luxury of time)
• Pushed back on requests to compress discovery

14. Redesigning the Investing Center
Discovery
• Clarifying the business needs
• Clarifying user expectations (conducted interviews with
Financial Advisors and customers)
• Involving the business in the process—asking for
specific kinds of engagement

15. Discovery Conclusions
User configurations
Novice
Users
Expert
Users
Want
Advice
Don’t Want
Advice

16. Discovery Conclusions
Novice
Users
Expert
Users
Want
Advice
Don’t Want
Advice

17. Discovery Conclusions
Novice
Users
Expert
Users
Want
Advice
Don’t Want
Advice

18. Discovery Conclusions
Novice
Users
Expert
Users
Want
Advice
Don’t Want
Advice

19. Discovery Conclusions
Novice
Users
Expert
Users
Want
Advice
Don’t Want
Advice

20. Discovery Conclusions
Business Needs:
• Tell the Wachovia story: what differentiates us as a
brokerage firm
• Provide more real-time market updates and fresher
content
• Focus the design on acquisition of new customers and
on funneling verified leads to Financial Advisors

21. Sea Change
Focus the design on acquisition of new customers and
on funneling verified leads to Financial Advisors
How were we able to come to this conclusion, this time?
• More stakeholders around table in environment focused
on building trust led to more candid conversations
• The business units had more clarity about corporate
goals and interdependencies.

22. Discovery Conclusions
Novice
Users
Want
Advice
Expert
Users
Use website to direct
qualified leads to
Financial Advisors
• Criteria for identifying
qualified leads

23. Discovery Conclusions
Novice
Users
Expert
Users
Don’t
Want
Advice
Guide users through
self-directed
Brokerage options
• ID candidates for richer
service offerings

24. Design
Three Approaches:
• Needs & Tasks (wizard)
• Filter
• Portal

25. Design: Needs & Tasks
Classification Schemes:
• Investing Tasks (e.g., locate an advisor,
rollover an IRA)
• Life Event Planning (e.g., retirement, college)
• “Getting Started” tool that guides users
through steps, intended for the novice user

26. Design: Filter
Tool (short series of questions) “filters” users
into novice with advice, novice without advice,
expert with advice, expert without advice
categories

27. Design: Portal
Classification Schemes:
• Meeting Your Needs (i.e., investing tasks)
• Life Event Planning (e.g., retirement, college)
• Investing Choices (focus on investment
vehicles)
• Current Wachovia Customers

28. Business Unit Reaction
• Had a hard time keeping the 3 approaches distinct—
tended to want to converge by combining the elements
they liked and removing the elements they didn’t—had
to ask them to trust us & the usability testing process
• Very skeptical about filter approach
• Preferred portal approach

29. Trust Factors
• Looked for opportunities to demonstrate increased
SME
• Relied on our business partners for SME guidance
•Demonstrated points where our expertise was brought
to bear in unique ways

30. Usability Testing Results
Needs & Tasks
• Novice users responded extremely positively
to wizard (wanted to be sure it would be useful
to them and not just a tool to gather marketing
info)
• Expert users generally successful (skeptical
about wizard)
•Life Event Planning: generated high level of
appeal across board

31. Usability Testing Results
Filter
• Users rejected the filter—they felt confident
self-identifying the categories and either didn’t
like the idea of answering questions or only
wanted to do so if the result would be more
tangible (e.g., advice)
• Novice users were less clear about whether
or not they wanted advice
• Expert users readily self-identified

32. Usability Testing Results
Portal
• Those who didn’t like it felt there were too
many choices; others not bothered by this
• No one understood the Current Customer
category, didn’t like duplication in options
• Expert users liked the Investing Choices
category

33. Usability Testing Results
General Findings
• Users thought the Wachovia Story was
marketing and tended to ignore it
• Most expert users looking to other sources
(e.g., Motley Fool) for market data
• Looking for Fees & Commissions info.
• Novice users intimidated by market chart
• Novice users open to tools

34. Design Iteration
Hybrid:
• Provide Wizard front & center for novice
users
• I Want To… (task based)
• Accounts & Services
• Life Events Planning
• Investment Choices

35. Business Unit Reaction
• Confident about mix of options for novice
and expert users
• Liked portal aspect
• Appreciated Wachovia Story, Market
Research
• Fought for inclusion of Investment Choices
• Conceded to greater inclusion of Fees &
Commissions info

36. Project Debrief
“You included us in the process too much.”

37. Conclusion—for us
• Rebuilding trust required focusing as much effort on
nurturing the relationship as on our design efforts
• The final product is a user-centered design that we
expect to be popular with our users
• The relationship with the business unit is such that we
look forward to working with them in the future (and
hope they feel the same way)

38. Conclusion—for you
• Examine situation from every angle; decide what
you’re willing to “own”
• Balance eating humble pie with reputation
management
• Anticipate the effort required in relationship
management as part of the project planning process
• Don’t underestimate the importance of SME
• Use usability testing to validate recommendations

39. Contact Information
Samantha Bailey
VP, Information Architecture
samantha.bailey@wachovia.com

40. COPYRIGHT Wachovia CONFIDENTIAL