CONTEXT
About the Project
finEQUITY is a nonprofit digital platform offering financial coaching, debt relief, and tools for justice-impacted individuals. The platform serves formerly incarcerated people, their families, and nonprofit partners who deliver in-person reentry programs.
The team was brought in to address a critical engagement issue, 78% of users left the site without visiting a second page. Early research pointed to barriers around emotional trust, opaque service language, and navigation friction, particularly on mobile devices.
What I did
Conducted secondary and persona research to uncover language, tone, and trust cues for justice-impacted users.
Moderated usability testing with participants from partner reentry programs, analyzing barriers around tone, language, and navigation.
Collaborated with UX Designers and Content Strategists to redesign key flows and reframe sensitive content for justice-impacted users.
Role
UX Researcher
Methods & Contribution
Secondary research, Competitive analysis, content audit, Moderated usability testing, Persona Development, Journey mapping, insight synthesis, Workshop facilitation and stakeholder alignment
Team
Team of 20 Researchers, Designers, Content Strategists and PM’s
Tools
Zoom, FigJam, Notion, Google Sheets, Otter.ai, Maze, Figma
%
Reduction in homepage bounce rate after removing triggering language and clarifying value proposition
%
increase in sign-up form completion following redesign of sensitive fields and clearer CTA structure
Designing a financial reentry website that builds trust from the first click
PROCESS
RESEARCH QUESTIONS IDENTIFICATION
Goals
Understand pain points in trust, navigation, and onboarding
Identify emotional barriers in content and tone
Surface psychographic profiles that reflect real user needs
Align internal product, content, and design teams with user lived experiences
Research Question Examples
What causes users to drop off during or before sign-up?
How do users interpret “justice-impacted” or “trauma”?
What elements increase or decrease users’ willingness to engage?
How do participants describe their ideal journey with finEQUITY?
METHODS WORKSHOP
To kick off our research planning, we conducted a cross-functional methods workshop with finEQUITY stakeholders. We collaboratively mapped research statements into four key objectives focused on user backgrounds, financial access barriers, motivations, and usability pain points.
Each team brainstormed UX research questions under each objective and discussed the best-fit methods, from qualitative interviews to behavioral observation. Using dot voting, we aligned on the most actionable, ethically appropriate methods for our timeline, access constraints, and user population.
This workshop ensured shared ownership of the research plan and directly informed the structure of Sprints
Method 1: Heuristic + Content Audit of Peer Orgs
To benchmark tone, trust signals, and accessibility across similar platforms and identify strengths, weakness, opportunities and threat for finEquity.
Tools Used
Peer Platforms Analyzed
Participant demographic
Figjam and Notion were used to map content patterns, tone of voice and navigation flow.
Code for America
Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO)
Mission Asset Fund
The Marshall Project
JustFix.nyc
Clarity of service offerings
Trust-building signals (e.g., testimonials, photos, bios)
Navigation simplicity and structure
Inclusive and person-centered language
Mobile accessibility and visual tone
SWOT Chart
High Level Key Findings
Findings
Description
✅ People-first storytelling builds trust
⚠️ Jargon = friction
🎨 Calmer visuals → more perceived credibility
Sites with real user photos, team bios, and testimonials felt more legitimate and human.
Overly technical or advocacy-heavy language reduced clarity for first-time users.
Black-and-white or neutral-toned designs signaled seriousness, which users interpreted as trustworthy.
Impact
This audit led to specific design and content recommendations that were implemented in later sprints:
Added a dedicated “About Us” page with team bios and mission clarity
Simplified homepage copy to avoid emotionally triggering phrases
Integrated user testimonials to build emotional resonance and legitimacy
Streamlined navigation to reduce friction for first-time visitors
Method 2: Secondary Research + Interview Data Analysis
To uncover emotional and behavioral patterns early in the project, I led participant recruitment through finEQUITY’s partner organizations and gathered interview transcripts. I conducted secondary research into reentry challenges, digital access, and financial behaviors among formerly incarcerated individuals to ground our approach. Using this context, I analyzed transcripts and applied psychographic segmentation to identify user clusters based on emotional readiness, trust in institutions, and digital confidence.
Tools Used:
Otter.ai, Google Sheets
Outcome:
The analysis informed the development of three foundational user types that later evolved into four personas. These directly shaped our UX priorities, guided design decision-making, and framed participant recruitment for Sprint 2 usability testing.
Method 3: Persona Workshop
To align the broader product team around user realities, we hosted a remote persona workshop using the three psychographic user types developed in Method 2. I facilitated team discussions in FigJam where stakeholders from research, design, content, and product mapped challenges and emotional friction points across user journeys.
Tools Used:
FigJam, Zoom
Workshop Objectives:
Alignment on user needs and trust blockers
Identification of opportunity areas
Team buy-in on emotional and technical pain points
Outcome:
The workshop established a shared vocabulary and shifted internal mindsets toward emotional safety and digital equity. It directly informed the UX direction of the redesign.
The personas capturing diverse levels of digital access, trust, and partner involvement, clarified emotional and behavioral user segments, directly shaping our design recommendations and testing priorities for the website redesign.
Design Recommendations & Collaboration
Following our persona workshop and secondary research, I collaborated closely with the UX Design and UX Writing teams to translate emotional and trust-related findings into clear, actionable design improvements, focusing on the three in-scope high-priority pages:
Homepage
Services for Formerly Incarcerated
Partner With Us.
I collaborated closely with UX Design and UX Writing to:
Clarify copy that felt clinical or triggering (e.g., “overcome trauma”)
Simplify the intake form flow to reduce perceived friction
Highlight trust signals (bios, testimonials, transparent service explanations)
Restructure navigation to align with user mental models
These recommendations were implemented into mid-fidelity wireframes by the design team and formed the basis of our usability testing in Sprint 2.
Method 4: Usability Testing
To evaluate how well the redesigned experience addressed pain points, I conducted moderated usability sessions with 7 justice-impacted users, recruited through finEQUITY’s partner organizations. Participants were guided through key pages, Homepage, Reentry Services, and Partner With Us using a mid-fi prototype.
Tools Used:
Zoom, Notion, Figma
Evaluation:
Clarity of services and eligibility
Ease of navigation and form completion
Emotional reactions to copy, tone, and layout
Outcome:
Participants responded positively to testimonials and the homepage mission clarity. However, testing revealed urgent issues with vague CTAs, confusion around "Partner" language, and unclear service breakdowns. These findings were synthesized into 8 prioritized updates to refine before launch.
Key Findings
Metric
Pre-Redesign
Post-Redesign
Homepage Bounce Rate
Task Completion Rate
Perceived Trust Score
78%
23% Completed
3.2/5
50%
54% Completed
4.4/5
Recommendations
Metric
Pre-Redesign
Post-Redesign
Homepage Bounce Rate
Task Completion Rate
Perceived Trust Score
78%
23% Completed
3.2/5
50%
54% Completed
4.4/5
Reflections
What I would have done differently
Need for Longitudinal Testing
Our usability sessions captured only first impressions. A longer-term study would have shown how users build trust, retain information, and engage with the platform over time.
Diversity of Perspectives
Most participants were younger adults. Including older users, family members, or advocates could have uncovered deeper cultural expectations and accessibility needs.
Personal Learnings
Trust is emotional as much as functional
I learned that a platform can be technically usable but still fail if its language or visuals trigger distrust. Capturing emotional reactions became just as important as measuring task success.
Cultural design requires cultural listening
Designing for justice-impacted communities meant slowing down, listening carefully to lived experiences, and prioritizing empathy over efficiency. The most valuable insights often came from personal stories rather than usability scores.
finEquity - Official Website Redesign
Improving Trust and Usability for Justice-Impacted Users through UX Research: 28% Lower Bounce, 31% More Sign-Up
Fintech
Design Research & Strategy
B2B / B2C
Inclusive UX
Social Impact
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