Using data-driven design to cut onboarding time by 4× and boost engagement by 26% for a fintech platform

Role

Senior Product Designer

Team

Product Growth

Duration

Jul 2021 – Sep 2022

Summary

During Aspire’s transition from Series A to B, I joined as the 4th designer and helped scale the product experience and internal operations. I was embedded within the Product Growth team, where we owned the complete funnel—activation, adoption, and monetization.

My work included redesigning onboarding, homepage, and bill pay, launching the first subscription plans, and leading multiple UX enhancements across login, personalization, and team management.

These initiatives reduced onboarding time by 4x (from 2 weeks to 2–4 days), improved feature adoption by 26%, and laid the foundation for scalable UX across Aspire’s web and mobile experiences.

The challenge

Aspire was rapidly evolving—new features launched monthly, but core UX infrastructure lagged behind. New users struggled with onboarding and discoverability. Key growth levers like pricing, personalization, and notifications were fragmented. As product complexity grew, we needed scalable, data-informed UX to drive real outcomes.

My role

  • Part of the cross-functional Product Growth pod (Design, PM, Eng, CX)

  • Full ownership of scoping, designing, and validating solutions

  • Drove UX execution for growth experiments, bill pay MVP launch and monetization

  • Mentored 2 designers, interviewed 15+ candidates, and supported hiring scale from 4 to 12

My Process

I followed a consistent end-to-end process across most initiatives:

  • Audit friction points using analytics (Hotjar, Smartlook) and user session replays

  • Triangulate with CX tickets, CSM insights, and support logs

  • Map user mental models, edge cases, and lifecycle stages

  • Sketch and prototype multiple approaches, validate via internal reviews and user calls

  • Collaborate with PMs and engineers to scope and launch MVPs

  • Measure impact post-launch and iterate for polish

Key projects

Project 1

🧭 Onboarding Revamp

What Was Broken

Users took 1–2 weeks to complete onboarding. Major drop-offs occurred during selfie-based KYC steps, especially on desktop. Business KYB steps often required multiple people, but the app only supported a single user. The static final screen gave no reason to return, relying entirely on CX follow-ups.

What I Did

  • Audited the funnel using analytics and replays to pinpoint key drop-offs

  • Interviewed drop-off users to uncover reasons: missing documents, confusion about roles, webcam issues

  • Designed a modular, role-based onboarding flow with inline help

  • Added a collaborative application feature, so two admins could fill info in parallel

  • Enabled read-only mode on concurrent pages to prevent accidental overrides

  • Replaced the static completion screen with a live status tracker + dashboard preview

Impact

  • Reduced onboarding time from ~2 weeks to 3–4 days (sometimes within a day)

  • Provided instant dashboard access, increasing return logins

  • Eased CX load with fewer follow-ups

  • Design foundation reused across KYC and vendor onboarding flows

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Project 2

🏠 Homepage & To-do Lists

Problem

Aspire’s homepage lacked structure. Users didn’t know what to do next, and often missed key features unless hand-held by a CSM. Heatmaps showed low scroll depth, low CTA clicks, and repeated bounce backs.

What I Did

  • Conducted user journey audits and heatmap reviews

  • Introduced a smart To-Do list that surfaced tasks by priority and context

  • Embedded in-context feature explainers for modules like Bill Pay and Budgets

  • Made homepage modules adaptive to user lifecycle (e.g., “Activate card” shown only to new users)

  • Partnered with CX to align onboarding and post-signup triggers

Impact

  • 26% increase in feature adoption

  • Higher scroll depth and module interaction

  • Support tickets for onboarding queries dropped noticeably

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Project 3

🧾 Bill Pay Launch

Problem

Users had to manage vendor invoices outside Aspire, missing a major opportunity to centralize spend. Adding Bill Pay could drive retention, increase engagement, and give Aspire a competitive edge in B2B fintech.

What I Did

  • Designed flows for uploading, forwarding invoices, OCR parsing, and payment scheduling

  • Created reviewer flows and notification systems for approvals

  • Scoped fallback logic with backend and compliance teams

  • Designed responsive web + mobile experiences with edge case handling

Impact

  • Successfully launched in pilot

  • Gradually rolled out to all users

  • Still live as part of Aspire’s core offering: 🔗 Product Link

Project 4

💰 Launching Usage-Based Pricing Plans

Problem

As we kept on adding new features, we needed to shift Aspire from transactional fees to usage-based, predictable, recurring revenue through a thoughtful pricing and subscription model.

What I Did

  • Collaborated with product and leadership to explore pricing options

  • Designed flows for plan selection, upgrade prompts, usage limits, and trial handling

  • Integrated pricing selection into onboarding

  • Covered edge cases like overages, auto-renewals, and downgrades

Impact

  • Enabled switch to recurring billing

  • Supported 12+ pricing experimentation and iteration

  • Upsell flows aligned with feature unlocks and lifecycle stages

Project 5

✨ Micro UX Wins

Why It Mattered

Even small frictions in daily workflows can lead to user frustration and a lack of trust. Fixing these minor, but important, issues was crucial for enhancing the day-to-day product experience and showing our commitment to quality and polish.

What I Did

  • Multi-business switcher → Seamless transitions between accounts

  • Preferred Name support → Localized name preferences (e.g., Chan Kong-sang → Jackie Chan)

  • Granular notification settings → Role-based email/SMS preferences

  • Login + password reset UX → Fewer drop-offs across sessions/devices

Impact

  • These were small fixes, but they had a big impact on polish, trust, and NPS scores

The difference it made

Product

  • Cut onboarding time by 75% - from ~2 weeks to 3–4 days (sometimes within a day)

  • Boosted feature adoption by 26%

  • Enabled Aspire’s shift to monetization

Team

  • Freed up CX bandwidth by reducing manual follow-ups

  • Contributed to hiring & mentoring as the team grew from 4 to 12 designers

Process

  • Advocated and ran groundwork for Design System adoption

  • Led the transition from Adobe XD to Figma for better collaboration

  • Flagged and resolved licensing issues across design assets and mobile font use

It’s rare to find someone who blends product thinking, design craft, and business impact the way Uday does. At Aspire, he led several high-impact projects that improved both user experience and engagement. He was also instrumental in shaping our design team culture as we grew from a scrappy few to a well-structured org.

Hammad Jilani, Head of design, aspire

What I learned

⏱️ Speed ≠ shortcuts

Working in lean sprints taught me how to prioritize and align quickly—while still delivering clarity and polish.

💵 Monetization UX = business understanding

Pricing isn’t just UI—it’s value perception, timing, and trust.

🥹 User feedback > Data

Personalization features like Preferred Name stemmed from a user’s frustration when support team members pronounced the name wrongly. Such things can never be identified just from data.