New York, NY
Bank relinking
Ensuring users can quickly relink their bank accounts after broken Plaid connections is crucial for fintechs. When users experience disrupted access, prompt relinking helps maintain transaction continuity, supports accurate financial tracking, and prevents payment failures. This seamless experience strengthens user trust, reduces churn, and fosters a stable, reliable relationship between users and the fintech platform.
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Problem statement
50% OF PLAID LINKS ARE BROKEN
We have a bank relinking experience, but it hasn’t been reviewed since 2021, we are skeptical it’s working correctly because of the high number of broken plaid links.
Why is this important? Increasing the % of active plaid links will help us determine when to retry payments aligning with users paycheck date.
Problem UX
OUR MAIN PROBLEM IS THE MODAL UPON LOGIN. THIS IS NOT A UX BEST PRACTICE AND NATURALLY IS MALFUNCTIONING.
A more effective solution would be to implement a clickable design, such as a card or full-screen option, to enhance user interaction. Additionally, the deep links in both email and push notifications are failing, requiring further investigation and adjustments to ensure proper redirection and a seamless user experience.
New UX proposal
WE HAVE A TIME CONSTRAINT OF 1 WEEK IMPLEMENTATION. WE NEED TO ACT FAST AND THIS PROBLEM IS AN EASY FIX. UNLIKE OTHER PROJECTS WE DECIDED TO BE FIX THE PROBLEM WITHOUT USABILITY TESTING. EMPOWER KNOW HOW IT WASN TO ACT BY CREATING BEST PRACTICE UX PATTERNS AS THIS IS A CRITICAL ACTION ITEM.
Given the critical nature of this action, we decided to implement an undismissable card upon login, directly linking users to Plaid, eliminating the need for an introductory modal. This approach will also be applied to the accounts and payments pages for consistency across key areas. Furthermore, we will trigger deep links in push notifications and emails that will direct users to a full-screen Plaid SDK, streamlining the process and improving user engagement with the experience.
Design consideration
THIS LED TO A KEY CONVERSATION THAT MANY DESIGNERS OFTEN FACE. HOW FORCEFUL CAN WE BE IN PROMPTING CRITICAL ACTION WITHOUT NEGLECTING USER EMPATHY?
In this case, presenting Plaid immediately could feel too abrupt, especially given our members’ concerns about linking their bank accounts. Understanding these fears, we decided that a more user-friendly approach was necessary. We opted to test a solution that aligns with industry standards by introducing an 'intro screen' that highlights the benefits of linking accounts while offering security reassurance, creating a more approachable and less intimidating experience for our users.
Additional intro screen explorations below
Results
We were able to restore 28% of broken Plaid links. Although a great number we still have 22% of users to account for. Could this be a results of a more forceful critical action? My recommendation would be to take next steps by A/B testing the new Bank relinking experience with the design consideration.