Building a Leading Consumer Digital Bank

Valley Bank was experiencing steady growth and needed a faster, more efficient way to open accounts online without increasing operational costs. A cross-functional team redesigned the digital onboarding experience, transforming a slow, manual process into an intuitive, user-friendly flow.

By incorporating user research, prototyping, and back-end automation, the team reduced application time from 20 minutes to under five and tripled conversion rates. The updated experience improved user trust, delivered measurable business results, and established a scalable foundation across channels and products.

Impact
Within 90 days, $10M+ in account openings with a 3X lift in funnel conversion, reduced the time required to open an account from 20 to 5 minutes, and minimized a 11-step process to 4 steps.
Role
Design Director
Company Name
Valley Bank
Timeline
24 weeks
Opportunity

How might we create a seamless, multi-channel account opening experience that supports multiple products and meets users wherever they start?

Deliver a frictionless onboarding flow that reduces application time and improves conversion.‍‍

Streamline a legacy 12-step account opening process to improve usability, cut completion time, and reduce abandonment rates.

Create a consistent, multi-channel experience across products.

Design a unified flow that performs equally well across desktop, mobile, and branch environments, adaptable to various product lines (Save, Spend, Borrow, Protect).‍

Improve operational efficiency and scale growth.

Reduce manual processing through automation, strengthen identity verification, and support backend efficiency through third-party integrations.

Challenges

The legacy application flow was slow, complex, and required heavy manual effort

Minimum Lovable Product

  • The original application included 11 steps and took over 20 minutes, resulting in 85% user drop-off by step two.
  • Leadership initially proposed an off-the-shelf solution without front-end customization.
  • The team identified opportunities to improve usability of the off-the-shelf solution and reduce complexity, without impacting the timeline.

    • A design-led case was presented to the Chief Product Officer, resulting in budget for a full-time UX Designer.

    Early investment in lean, user-centered design significantly improved outcomes.

    The three p’s: people, process and product

    Valley Bank launched a company-wide transformation to streamline operations and enable growth. At the time, 94.5% of applications required manual review due to conservative risk policies and limited tech. The team saw an opportunity to modernize systems and design, reducing strain and improving efficiency for both customers and staff.

    Design balanced usability and operational needs, supporting users on the front end while integrating new technology partnerships on the back end.

    Low trust and brand recognition

    Valley Bank had low brand visibility, and digital-first users often encountered neutral or negative reviews.

    Trust-building begins with experience: a clear, confident, user-friendly flow builds credibility faster than marketing alone.

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    Research and Insights

    The team turned insight into action, using evidence-based decisions instead of assumptions

    Set expectations early

    People needed clear guidance on what information was required, how long the process would take, and what steps came next.

    Prioritize required fields first

    Some details were essential; others could be deferred. Restructuring the flow reduced abandonment and sped up completion.

    Existing information architecture

    1. Self registration
    2. Personal info
    3. Identification
    4. Verification
    5. Co-owners
    6. Beneficiaries
    7. Accessories
    8. Review and Submit
    9. Funding status
    10. Enter micro-deposits
    11. Funding confirmation

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    Solution Overview

    Design, collaboration, and a few smart technology bets turned friction into momentum

    A guided, plain-language onboarding experience paired with automated decisioning helped scale both usability and operational efficiency.

    • Simple: Reduced the number of steps and simplified visuals for a lighter experience
    • Guided: Used field hints, progressive labeling, and tooltips to support task completion
    • Friendly: Applied natural language to build trust and ease of use; set expectations with clear validations and success messages

    Information architecture

    We consolidated 11 fragmented steps into 3 clear phases, reducing cognitive load and guiding users with purpose.

    1. Personal details
    2. Funding details
    3. Review and submit

    Welcome & success modules

    • Clearly communicated required documents, personal details and bank credentials
    • Set post-submission expectations around timelines and customer support

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    Technology integration

    We redesigned the application experience to reduce friction at two critical conversion points: funding and identity verification.

    • By integrating Plaid’s instant bank authentication, customers can securely log into their financial institution and verify account ownership in seconds. eliminating the delays and drop-off caused by micro-deposits.
    • Alloy’s automated identity decisioning enables real-time KYC checks, allowing financial institutions to approve legitimate users faster while preventing fraud.

    Together, these solutions convert previously manual checkpoints into seamless digital flows, allowing more customers to complete onboarding in minutes, not days.

    The team

    This work was made possible by building a 0→1 design team and incredible cross-functional partners

    The team

    Hadassah Damien, Design Strategist

    Ivy Chen, Design Operations

    Caroline Phillips, Product Designer

    Brandon Mosley, Product Designer

    Michelle Ammiratti, UX Researcher

    Joel Rosado, UX Researcher

    Laura Cochran, Design Director (Player/Coach)

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