SIRo makes navigating the stock market effortless by being the guide that every investor needs. Trading doesn’t have to be difficult.
SIRo is a mobile website that allows users to invest in the stock market while maintaining an investment portfolio. Many young adults are afraid of the risks that come with investing. SIRo’s vision is to take the fear out of trading. Our goal is to provide a platform for trading while educating our users. SIRo provides an extensive library of video tutorials to guide users through the process of buying and selling stocks. This is what makes the company different from its competitors.
Young adults make up the smallest demographic of stock market investors. The average investor is over the age of 60.
Young adults admit to being afraid of the risks that come with trading. They also don’t know where to begin learning about the process, especially if they did not grow up in a household that taught financial literacy. Our goal is to address young professionals entering the job market for the first time and here’s why:
When beginning my journey, I hypothesized that young professionals would look for ways to financially prepare for their future and be open to taking financial risks.
However, what I hypothesized and what I found through my research were profoundly different.
Competitive analysis helped me determine which features and content needed improvement. I also took a look at business practices and company reputation.
Interviews were used to explore brands and apps participants engaged most. Participants were asked about their financial habits and literacy.
I think one of the main takeways I observed was the difference between newer platforms such as Robinhood and Webull and platforms that had been around for some time, such as Fidelity and Charles Schwab. The learning curve varied on each of the sites, but overall the companies catered to the new and experienced investor. However, the newer platforms had interfaces that were more intuitive, sleek and easier to navigate.
Before beginning my interviews I needed to re-examine my initial hypothesis, which was, young adults are more open to the risks that come with investing. I coupled this with my later findings stating, most investors are over the age of 60. Clearly these viewpoints were divergent. I was now going into the interview process wondering, why aren’t young adults investing in the stock market? What I found made me do a 360. Below are my results:
My results helped me figure out what I could do to give my website a fresh perspective and stand out from competitors. I also knew I had to address the fear factor.
When creating the user flow I referred to my interview results and came up with flows that used as few screens as possible to make navigation less complicated. Below is an example of one of the user task flows that demonstrates selling a stock.
I created a low fidelity wireframe for the mobile version of SIRo based on interviews and additional research. I pulled together all of my findings and developed a design that emphasized features such as:
Ultimately, I chose a modern design in an effort to appeal to my target audience, which is the young adult. The color palette was specifically selected to highlight the companies core values embracing compassion, innovation, trust and a global perspective. The design also integrates functionality and accessibility.
I performed remote, moderated testing on a prototype. I had each of the nine participants attempt to complete three tasks which included:
After each participant went through the three user flows, I asked them questions about their experience. My goal was to find out where they had problems and what parts of the process were successfully intuitive.
As a result of the feedback, I implemented changes such as the following:
This project was challenging in that there is so much information about the topic that I contemplated including. One of my main concerns was that there are several platforms already on the market. I had to continually ask myself, how is what I’m producing different from my competitors?
I also had to constantly remind myself of my reason for creating an investment website. I hoped to appeal to the younger adult, a demographic that has not been fully tapped into. Ultimately, my goal was to create a platform that would get young investors exited about trading while educating and encouraging them to invest early. I feel that I’m approaching success, but still have room for growth.
In the future I would like to expand the website and include additional forms of investing.
