401(k) Plans for Financial Advisors

401(k)s are a large market that many Financial Advisors seek to break into. 401(k) for Advisors is a product that allows these advisors the opportunity to manage their first 401(k). The project was a joint effort between Betterment’s sister lines, Betterment for Business (B4B) and Betterment for Advisors (B4A).

ROLE

My role in this project was to lead the product design efforts on the project, conducting user research, testing high resolution wireframes, and iterating with the team to launch an MVP.

The Problem

How do we leverage our existing 401(k) product in order to enable financial advisors to break into the market as well as expand their client base?

For launch, we targeted our existing advisors. This gave us a specific audience and focused channel for our B4B sales team. This meant that our designs had to be not only valuable to our existing advisors, but scaleable for larger market share.

Our Solution

We developed a Dashboard in the Betterment for Advisors app to showcase key metrics. It features widgets for advisors to easily see how their 401(k) practice is driving new business to their personal practice. Additionally, advisors can convert plan participants into personally advised clients directly within the app.

In a follow up release, we launched a more robust reporting feature as well as age cohort analysis based on customer feedback.

To create a sales pipeline between our B4B team and advisors, we designed a marketing page to generate interest and showcase the product's value. Additionally, a callback system was implemented for advisors seeking further information.

Learnings

Advisors were excited by the product, surpassing our sales projections. They loved the visual grades to their dashboard, fancy charts they could show off to their clients, as well as a mechanism for lead generation.

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