THE PROBLEM
Cadre's goal is to simplify the complex processes of CRE Investing and democratize access to retail investors. Currently, users experience high friction and confusing steps when trying to make an investment, which involve two processes:
Creating an entity (of multiple types)
An investing entity is the vehicle that makes an investment in a commercial real estate offering. This includes verifying your identity and submitting tax documents to verify your status as an accredited investor. Investors can set up different entity types such as an Individual, Joint Tenants, LLC, Trust, and even through an IRA plan.
Submitting an allocation
Once an investor has created an entity, they will be able to submit a dollar allocation for a CRE offering using that entity vehicle, which further requires document signing and an approval period. Each allocation may have different questions and requirements, which depend on the type of entity the investor chooses to use.
THE DATA
Solving for low intent shown in largest areas of drop off - Entity Creation & Investor Verification.
We consistently observed a high rate of drop offs due to low intent users and a high friction experience in verifying investors at the beginning of each investor journey.
Research shows that high intent investors see the investment process as straightforward, indicating the problem areas to be at the point of creating an entity - a daunting task for any user new to CRE.
In a survey earlier this year, we asked investors what the core investment process was like for them. The weighted score was 3.6 (1-hardest, 5-easiest). This told us that we didn't need to spend most of our efforts optimizing the questions to create an entity and make investments, but rather focus on entry/de-entry points as well as a guidance system for entity creation.
PROBLEM ALIGNMENT & HYPOTHESIS
De-couple the entity creation and allocation experiences, which are the two largest points of drop-off. By doing so, we will be able to capture investors with higher intent while also improving conversion with an enhanced and guided investment process.
Design Principles
Optimize to clarify investing requirements
Communicate clear and guided steps while embedding opportunities for CRE education.
Eliminate as much friction as possible
Design multiple entry points into entity creation, build seamless saved states for re-entry, and simplify investing.
Strive for product & design excellence
Overdeliver on user expectations and implement smooth transitions between each step.
BUILDING A NEW ONBOARDING EXPERIENCE
1. Introducing guided steps and progression
In order for new users to make an investment, they need create an account, create an investing entity, and link their bank account. To make sense of an otherwise unconventional set of requirements, I designed a nudge banner categorized with three steps for a new user to follow. These banner states will live on top of the user's page until all tasks are completed.
2. Creating multiple entry points for entity creation
Entity creation requires intention and dedicated effort due to the requirements ranging from Identity Verification, Tax Document Upload, and Suitability affirmation. Not every user may be fully prepared to complete an entity in a single session. Not only that, investors have the ability to create multiple entity types to invest in different deals.
Introducing multiple entry points and the ability to save was a crucial principle in executing this new design flow.
I designed an elevated dialog that can be opened from any of these entry points with the ability to save and return whenever the user needs.
3. Designing a framework to support more complex entities
While approximately 60% of our investor base create individual investing entities, the rest of Cadre's investors have allocated into deals using entities such as LLC and Trusts, which have more complex requirements to create and finalize.
Pulling in design system components and introducing a large action dialog, I was able to design consistent experiences for all entity types without causing increases in engineering scope and development time.
4. Optimize making an investment, to quickly convert an investor after entity creation.
With the entity creation experience separated, that gave us room to significantly reduce the number of steps an investor would go through to submit an investment.
I took this opportunity to redesign the entire investment flow, following the design principles to build a clear, frictionless, and elegant experience.
User Testing & Validating Signal
To gain qualitative data on the Nudge Banners and Entity Creation cover pages, I used the UserTesting tool to facilitate a group of users through a series of questions.
Words from leadership
Our work and presentation to senior leadership were met with positive reactions and was recognized as an effective way to really move the needle.
"I love this nudge feature, onboarding users successfully with the complexities of CRE has always been a challenge; We've even considered a similar approach with email campaigns, but having touch points in the product is much smarter."
- Chief Marketing Officer
"This is really exciting to see. When it's released to market, Cadre will be fully revamped and prepared to bring on a whole new user base [retail investors]."
- Head of Product
