When I joined Atomic Invest as the first designer in 2021, my first project was to design a white-labeled onboarding experience for a brand-new investing app — from the ground up. With no existing user base or flow to build on, we had to move fast, stay lean, and get it right.

Create a frictionless, user-friendly onboarding system that:

Complies with KYC and regulatory standards

Builds trust with first-time investors

Drives account funding and long-term engagement

Achieves a 50%+ completion rate from the start

We conducted 10 interviews with users of apps like Wealthfront and Betterment. Key insights:

Takeaways: Ease, transparency, and trust signals are critical.

We also analyzed top fintech competitors to identify proven UX patterns, trust-building techniques, and copy strategies — especially around when and how to collect sensitive data.

We created multiple low- and high-fidelity prototypes and ran six rounds of usability testing. Key discoveries:

Early screens matter most → Clean, focused UI helped keep users engaged

Minimal upfront data → We removed optional fields to reduce friction

Give before you ask → Users saw a recommended portfolio before being asked to fund

Sensitive data last → Trust signals and placement reduced drop-offs

We worked closely with compliance and engineering from day one — holding daily syncs to align on backend logic, ID verification flows, and legal requirements.

Early screens in any onboarding flow are often the most frequently abandoned because new users aren’t yet committed. To address this, we designed visually appealing, streamlined pages for basic data collection. We also captured contact details early to facilitate re-engagement if users dropped off.

It’s tempting to collect as much data as possible upfront, but our tests showed that longer funnels lead to higher abandonment rates. As a result, we removed any optional fields that could be collected later in the post-onboarding experience.

To motivate users to fund their accounts, we made the portfolio-building process interactive: users answered a set of questions to generate a recommended portfolio. Immediately afterward, they were offered one-time or recurring deposit options, alongside projections of how their account might grow. This step turned out to be the most engaging, with users frequently experimenting with different deposit amounts before ultimately deciding to fund their accounts.

People are cautious about sharing personal information with services they haven’t fully vetted. Trust signals - such as lock icons, encryption assurances, and clear explanations of legal requirements, are key to alleviating these fears. Additionally, collecting the most sensitive data (like a Social Security number) later in the process ensures that users are already more invested and therefore less likely to abandon the flow.

47% completion at launch — near target

Post-launch tweaks (copy improvements, screen order) raised it to 52%

Average: $55/month in recurring deposits

Raising the default amount over time lifted the average further

Drop-off hotspots included address entry, employer info, and legal screens. Fixes included:

Address autocomplete

Streamlined employer input

Shorter, scannable agreement content

Together, these changes lifted completion by an additional 8%

This project was a crash course in designing for trust under regulation. Working closely with compliance, engineering, and leadership helped me:

Translate complex legal flows into intuitive UI

Balance business goals with user empathy

Launch a white-label product that now powers multiple fintech apps

Above all, I learned that clear communication, thoughtful defaults, and iterative design are key to making fintech feel effortless.