Axis MF

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1. There are indeed three main components in the interface – Audio waveform, Video player and Subtitle columns(Source and target).

2. Video is important but only to understand the nature and emotion of the dialogue. The real estate provided for this component should be significantly less than what it is in the wireframes.

3. Audio waveform is the most important component in a translation tool because it helps the user determine the start and end time of a subtitle and is a very visual and easy way to set time. Ease of use and an accessible placement in the interface is critical.

4. Users at any given point of time needs to see 5 subtitle boxes in view to understand the context of the dialogue.

5. A translator first watches the video to check if the source is proper. They then start translating subtitle boxes one by one. After translating substantial amount of boxes, they start setting time using the audio waveform by listening intently and using video player as a reference. Having multiple ways of setting subtitle time was important for a friendly experience.

6. Shortcuts are an essential part of their workflow.

7. Consistency is absolutely necessary and hard to maintain. 8. Proof reading their own work is a hassle as it requires immense concentration and time.

Our research indicated that the needs of target users fell neatly into a typical conversion funnel for a purchase of mutual funds. Our main task was to enable this to happen in an easier, convenient manner.

The basic approach for the website redesign was simple. We had to empower the customer to buy mutual funds on their own terms, going through the usual steps of learning, exploring and making their own decisions based on their own needs.

SWOT is not a cliche. It’s a really powerful tool to quickly bring a common understanding between all stakeholders about how to best proceed with a project.

– Identify business goals v/s project goals
– Identify current successful strategies in place on website
– Be aware for potential roadblocks in the future
– Uncover dependencies that were previously unknown
– Give perspective to our research and discovery activities
– Develop new strategies or revise old ones
– Establish what will make the project successful
– Save time by not making designs that will be obviously rejected
– To allow us to design better experiences for this project
– Make initial estimations of feasibility of designed journeys

We use the following knowledge of these strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to ideate on new journeys.

Example 1

Weakness – Reliance on Axis Bank for majority of business.
Threat – Regulatory changes can destabilize business (w.r.t large share of customers coming from Axis Bank).

Ideas

1. Improve the self serve experience for on axismf.com  especially for new customers, to reduce the reliance on Axis Bank for customer leads.
2. Turn existing customers into brand ambassadors to get referrals, thus building a new channel for new customer acquisition.

Example 2

Opportunity – Leverage e-commerce to current digital behavior

Ideas
1. Create a frictionless discovery, purchase, and payments journey for all transactions
2. Adapt e-commerce user journeys to fit our project context, tap into user’s established habits about using e-commerce websites to make payments
3. Implement informative dashboards, and order management interfaces more in the lines of e-commerce product purchase and performance experiences.

Example 3

Opportunity – Marketing opportunity to establish a brand identity for Axis Mutual Funds
Weakness – Brand confusion – Axis MF or UTI MF? , Axis MF is in shadow of Axis Bank

Ideas
Differentiate ourselves with a multiple faceted strategy that involves:
a) unique user experience through improved website journeys, per and post experiences
b) distinct brand identity and voice through design
c) turn customers into brand evangelists through better experience

Example 4

Opportunity – New Product introductions
Weakness – Low engagement with distributors
Strength – Extensive Axis Bank Network can be tapped into for distribution

Ideas
Create a simple, self serve and easy to use experience for distributors, so that they prefer using AxisMF.com for their sales, and hence, push AxisMF product sales of existing and new products

Example 5
Opportunity – Tapping into smaller, B15 town and rural markets

Ideas
Create self service journeys that will enable customers even in smaller, B15 towns and rural markets to get invested with no handholding of a human agent required, streamlined effortless paperwork, and provide comprehensive assistance over remote channels such as phone, video and informative tutorials.

Digital Experiences
– All journeys need a digital upgrade
– Introduce new technology advancements. Example – advisory algorithms
– Only single flagship product is very popular (ELSS)

Marketing Opportunities
– Use the BOLD campaign strategy to strike an emotional chord with potential investors
– Scope for expansion into B15 markets is large

Latent Needs
– Tax savings product allows to target TG (25~35 yo)
– Tax savings and SIPs are huge drivers of growth

Must develop new channels of customer acquisition
– Create new experiences on axismf.com that do not rely on existing channels of customer acquisition
– Turn happy customers into brand ambassadors

Appeal to digital natives i.e TG of tech savvy 25-35 year olds
– Overhaul of current purchase and transaction journeys to match the ease and convenience of ecommerce solutions

Develop self service experiences for all user personas
– Self service experiences for consumers will reduce their dependence on hand-holding by Axis distribution agents
– Self service experiences for distributors will empower them in low penetration markets to more easily sell axis mutual funds
– Ease of use will make it the prefered option for investors as well as distributors

After having substantial understanding about the product and the users we started brainstorming concepts to make this entire process of investing in mutual funds super fun.

We came up with a number of concepts for the new website, but after much discussion with the stakeholders and testing designs for market fit, we settled on the following.

The Axis Tree — a novel, approachable way to explore
mutual funds for investors of all maturity levels.

Next step in the process was to start making wireframes to actualize our concepts and strategy. Our wireframes were quickly sketched out and begun testing almost immediately, to quickly identify what works for our users. We had limited to no access to real users for this round of testing so we decided to test with potential users from within our own design studio with our fellow designers and non designing staff. I know this is not ideal but some testing is better than no testing…
Here are a few examples of the wireframes we made to get quick approvals and feedback

First impression matters. When we perceive beauty with more of our senses we feel deeper pleasure from the design. Aesthetic design gives users pleasure from the start! It makes them form a bond with the design, bond that goes beyond the initial interaction.
Aesthetic design is perceived as more friendly, usable and valuable.

Below are some of the highlights of our design solutions

Gamified landing page
First thing we wanted to display was something that user almost immediately engage with.

Simplified home page
The new website features few but prominent entry points into the most used functionality. It has a focus on easy discoverability of
products and services.

The simplest investment calculator ever
Most investment calculators in the market have too many variables that many customers do not often know what to do with. We simplified things for them and made a calculator that speaks their language. When a user wants to know how to get a certain amount of money in so many number of years, we show them which funds to invest in to help achieve their goals.

Cleaner product display
The new fund browsing experience optimizes for letting new investors find the key data points that they will likely need to understand what fund they are looking at. The Revamped product cards made it easy for new as well as experienced investors to make decisions about where to invest.

Unconventional Dashboard
Dashboard is the first screen an investor sees upon logging in. Moving away from boxy dashboard, we wanted to create something fun and to the point.

A guided investment journey for new and experienced investors alike
We made a journey that allows experienced investors to directly zero in on the mutual fund they want, while still allowing inexperienced investors identify the funds they want based on fund types.

A guided investment journey for new and experienced investors alike
We made a journey that allows experienced investors to directly zero in on the mutual fund they want, while still allowing inexperienced investors identify the funds they want based on fund types.

Overall I’m happy with the live results, even though I know we could have done few things better. I learnt a lot while designing this app, including deeper design skills and also more about the art of investing.

I learnt how to build a product right from the start until the development stage and still continue iterating on it. When creating AXIS MF I had to re-visit the flow multiple times to get the user experience right.

Design can always be improved; it’s important to know when to ship and wait for user feedback in order to make further iterations.

Axis MF’s new website has introduced a simplified, easy to understand and use experience for mutual fund investments in India.