FinTech
Edward Jones
UX Strategy
AI-Driven Onboarding
Design systems
What I'm doing?
Notably:
Onboarding Hub – Streamlining Prospect Onboarding
Overview
At Edward Jones, the onboarding process for new clients was fragmented, complex, and riddled with inefficiencies. Financial Advisors (FAs) and Branch Office Administrators (BOAs) faced significant challenges in converting prospects into clients due to multiple disconnected applications, lack of visibility into the onboarding process, and a high potential for human errors.
To address these issues, I'm leading the Onboarding Hub initiative, a multi-year UX effort aimed at creating a centralized, intuitive, and transparent onboarding experience for both FAs and BOAs.
Problem Statement
Current State Challenges
The onboarding process relied on multiple disconnected tools, forcing FAs and BOAs to switch between Salesforce, MoneyGuide, and various back-office systems.
There was no single source of truth, causing confusion about where a client stood in the onboarding journey.
The workflow lacked real-time transparency, making it difficult to track errors or pending tasks.
The learning curve was steep, especially for new FAs without BOA support, making client acquisition an uphill battle.
User Pain Points (Identified from branch visits & feedback channels)
🔹 Tedious navigation across multiple disconnected applications.
🔹 Lack of visibility into where a prospect was in the onboarding journey.
🔹 Error-prone manual entry leading to delays.
🔹 Inconsistent workflows depending on client type and product selection.
Current State - Journey Map
Future State - Journey Map
UX Approach
Research & Discovery
To gain a deeper understanding of the problem, we conducted:
Journey Mapping Workshops – Visualized the current onboarding workflow and identified bottlenecks.
Co-Design Sessions – Collaborated with FAs and BOAs to ideate potential solutions.
User Interviews – Gathered qualitative insights from advisors struggling with the current process.
📌 One key insight came from a scenario-based exercise:
"If I’m a new FA with no BOA support, how can I efficiently onboard new clients while focusing on building relationships?"
This exercise revealed that FAs needed:
✅ A high-level snapshot of the client's onboarding journey.
✅ Guided workflows to navigate account setup.
✅ A single platform integrating key onboarding tasks.
Ideation & Prototyping
With these insights, I led the design team in creating an MVP concept to serve as a north star for leadership discussions. Our design exercises included:
Low-fidelity wireframes to visualize the new Onboarding Hub.
Clickable prototypes to illustrate key user flows.
A “UXercise” with leadership to validate problem areas and align on priorities.
Iteration 1
Iteration 2
AI Integration for Smarter Onboarding
While the core onboarding improvements focused on UX and system integrations, we also explored (Artificial Intelligence) AI-driven enhancements:
1️⃣ AI-Powered Predictive Prompts
We are experimenting with AI models to analyze past account openings and suggest next-best actions based on:
Client demographics and past financial behavior.
Preferred account types and likelihood of conversion.
Common onboarding drop-off points.
This allows FAs to focus on high-potential prospects, improving efficiency and client engagement.
2️⃣ AI-Driven Workflow Optimization
Beyond predicting next steps, AI is also helping us find inventive ways to simplify the account opening process. By analyzing historical data, AI identifies repetitive tasks that can be automated or streamlined, reducing manual entry and potential errors.
3️⃣ AI-Based Sentiment & Trend Analysis
AI continuously monitors and learns from feedback gathered through Pendo, identifying:
Emerging friction points in the onboarding process.
Recurring user concerns that require design improvements.
Opportunities to introduce smart automation based on real-time user behavior.
These insights allow us to iteratively refine onboarding flows to match evolving user expectations.
Solution: The Onboarding Hub
The Onboarding Hub unifies all prospect onboarding tasks into a single, user-friendly workspace, eliminating fragmentation and improving efficiency.
Key Features & Value Proposition
✅ Unified Overview – A single dashboard showing client onboarding status.
✅ Step-by-Step Guidance – Simplified workflows that adapt to client needs.
✅ Transparency & Error Tracking – Real-time visibility into required actions.
✅ AI-Powered Recommendations – Predictive prompts to help FAs prioritize prospects.
✅ Modular Approach – Allows incremental improvements instead of a monolithic overhaul.
Pivoting for Agile Execution
Given the complexity of tool integrations, a full-scale rollout would take years. To deliver value sooner, we adopted an incremental release strategy:
🔹 Focus on a slice of the workflow (e.g., onboarding high-net-worth clients).
🔹 Deploy, test, and refine before scaling to broader use cases.
Research & Validation
Two rounds of user validation were conducted:
🔹 Co-Design Sessions – FAs and BOAs provided feedback on early designs.
🔹 Usability Testing – MVP prototypes were tested to refine interactions.
Key Takeaways from Testing
✅ Users appreciated the simplified workflow but needed more customization options.
✅ The dashboard view was well-received as it provided a single source of truth.
✅ AI-powered predictive prompts helped reduce decision fatigue for FAs.
Impact & Next Steps
The Onboarding Hub initiative laid the groundwork for a long-term transformation of Edward Jones’ onboarding process.
✔ Established a clear UX-driven roadmap for leadership and product teams.
✔ Simplified onboarding with an intuitive, guided workflow.
✔ Integrated AI-driven insights to improve efficiency and decision-making.
✔ Built a scalable framework ready for seamless integration.
Future Roadmap
🚀 Expand to additional user groups beyond FAs and BOAs.
🚀 Enhance automation for document handling and approvals.
🚀 AI-driven behavioral insights to predict client needs before they arise.
🚀 Further optimize AI-based recommendations based on real-time feedback.
Final Thoughts
Leading the Onboarding Hub effort was a high-impact UX challenge that required deep collaboration, research-backed decision-making, and iterative design thinking.
By balancing user needs with business goals, we are transforming how Edward Jones empowers its advisors and clients with a streamlined, transparent, and AI-enhanced onboarding experience.