Overview
Heard was facing a critical challenge: losing 40% of new customers within their first month. A major factor was the lengthy 6-week waiting period for completing initial bookkeeping after signup. This meant customers paid for nearly two months of subscription fees before experiencing the product's value. The combination of delayed service, manual tasks, and inconsistent support left customers feeling neglected and questioning their investment in Heard. It was imperative to identify and address the root cause of these issues quickly.
My Role
As the product design leader, I led the comprehensive redesign of Heard’s financial services onboarding experience. I led the discovery research that transformed a complex, operations-focused process into a streamlined, customer-centric journey, significantly improving customer activation, retention, and operational efficiency by shifting complexity away from customers while streamlining internal processes.
Process
We worked on improving onboarding over three iterative releases solving complex integration issues, tech debt and streamlining fractured Ops-focused workflows collectively.
Discovery
Through interviews with legacy, current, and churned customers, combined with cross-functional stakeholder sessions, we uncovered several critical issues slowing down our onboarding process:
Customers faced immediate overwhelm upon signup, with 25 separate tasks on their dashboard.
The process failed to account for tax seasonality, requiring full documentation uploads regardless of timing.
Multiple operations teams independently requested documents through different channels, creating confusion and frustration.
Most critically, customers lacked clear understanding of how Heard would manage their practice's finances and address their specific concerns.
Outcome
Activation
From the discovery research, we identified three essential tasks for successful account setup, with bank account connection emerging as the most critical. We redesigned the experience with an intentional focus on this key integration.
The new UI strips away distractions, featuring navigation specifically designed for new customer onboarding. Customers now see just three clear tasks, each with time estimates aligned to therapists' familiar 50-minute work blocks. This focused approach removes uncertainty and helps customers quickly reach their first value moment.
Customers now get the opportunity to easily connect their bank accounts and upload their bank statements.
After connecting their bank account and statement uploads, customers move into a guided waiting period. While our bookkeeping team prepares their financials, customers can explore educational content about Heard's role as their financial back office. This transforms previously idle waiting time into an opportunity for customers to understand our partnership.
Education App Overview
During the bookkeeping preparation period, we transformed idle time into a valuable learning opportunity. By recognizing that 60% of our customers are first-time business owners, we created targeted educational content to help them master essential business concepts. This empowers customers to effectively manage their private practices while their books are being prepared.
Customer get a chance to take a glimpse into how Heard prepares their practice's books.
AHA MOMENT - Completed Books
Once bookkeeping is complete, customers gain near real-time visibility into their practice's financial health. This moment marks their first true experience of Heard's core value: transforming financial data into actionable business insights.
Income
Customers now have the opportunity to view real time income streams, AI-enabled trends and relevant support articles.
Final Numbers
