Overview

A leading global bank partnered with Entropik to evaluate and refine its digital onboarding ecosystem at the prototype stage. The platform was designed to support both front-office bankers initiating customer onboarding and operations teams responsible for verification and approval.

While the workflows were functionally robust, the bank needed to ensure that the experience was intuitive, efficient, and scalable across roles. Using Decode, deep behavioral and cognitive insights to optimize the journey before launch were discovered.

The Challenge

The onboarding journey spanned multiple stakeholders, complex data inputs, and compliance-driven steps. Even minor usability gaps had the potential to slow down onboarding, increase errors, and impact user confidence.

The bank needed to understand how users navigated the system, where friction emerged, and how effectively users transitioned across key stages—particularly between banker and operations workflows.

Approach

The study was conducted using unmoderated prototype testing on Entropik’s Decode platform, capturing real user behavior across both roles.

Key elements of the approach included:

• Participants: UK-based bankers and operations professionals (25–34 years)

• Method: End-to-end task-based prototype testing across onboarding and review journeys

• Data captured: Eye gaze, emotional response, click behavior, and survey feedback

• Measurement framework:

  • Usability score

  • Time to first fixation (discoverability)

  • Task completion time

  • Misclick rate

This multi-layered approach enabled a comprehensive understanding of both what users did and why they did it.

Understanding the Experience

A clear pattern emerged across both banker and operations journeys.

Users were generally able to complete their tasks, and satisfaction levels remained high. However, the journey revealed distinct phases of friction - particularly at the beginning and during complex mid-journey stages.

For bankers, the onboarding process was slowed by an unclear starting point. Users struggled to identify the correct entry into the workflow, leading to delays and multiple misclicks. Once inside the flow, usability improved significantly, especially in later stages such as review and submission, where interactions were smooth and intuitive .

The middle of the journey, however, introduced cognitive strain. Data-heavy sections required users to process large amounts of information, resulting in longer completion times and occasional rework. Some users attempted to move forward prematurely, indicating gaps in flow clarity.

In the operations journey, similar issues were observed in the early stages. Critical actions such as “Claim Case” were not immediately discoverable, leading to inefficiencies in task initiation. However, once users progressed into structured workflows, the experience became significantly more efficient, with near-frictionless completion in final stages .

Findings

The Decode analysis highlighted several high-impact, measurable insights:

• Delayed task initiation due to low discoverability: Users took ~13–14 seconds on average to identify the correct entry point, driven by unclear primary actions and competing visual elements

  
  

• Cognitive overload in mid-journey stages: Key onboarding sections recorded the highest time spent (up to ~38 seconds), indicating heavy information processing and decision fatigue

  
  

• Misclick-driven inefficiencies in early steps: Poor CTA visibility (e.g., “Claim Case”) led to repeated misclicks and delayed progression, directly impacting usability scores

  
  

• Strong usability in final stages of the journey: Later steps achieved near-perfect usability scores (~90–100) with completion times as low as 1–3 seconds, reflecting high clarity and confidence

  
  

• High overall satisfaction despite friction points: Over 90% of users reported satisfaction and rated the experience as easy or extremely easy, indicating strong foundational design with optimization opportunities

Key Insights

The findings revealed that usability challenges were not evenly distributed but concentrated at critical moments in the journey.

The first interaction emerged as a decisive factor. When users struggled to identify where to begin, it created immediate friction and reduced efficiency across the entire flow.

Mid-journey stages introduced the highest cognitive load. Screens with dense information and weak visual hierarchy required greater effort to process, slowing users down and increasing the likelihood of errors.

In contrast, clearly defined and visually prominent actions significantly improved usability. When users could easily identify what to do next, they progressed with speed and confidence.

Transitions between steps also played a crucial role. Even when individual screens performed well, unclear progression cues disrupted the overall flow and created avoidable friction.

Impact

The insights from Decode enabled the bank to make targeted design improvements that directly enhanced user experience and operational efficiency.

By improving CTA visibility, simplifying complex screens, and strengthening visual hierarchy, the bank reduced friction in critical stages of the journey. Enhancing transition cues further streamlined task flows across both roles.

These changes contributed to faster onboarding cycles, fewer errors, and a more intuitive experience for both bankers and operations teams.

Conclusion

This study highlights the importance of understanding not just usability, but user behavior at a deeper level. With Decode, the bank was able to identify hidden friction points, validate design decisions, and optimize the experience before launch.

The result is a more intuitive, efficient, and scalable onboarding system—designed to support users in completing complex tasks with clarity, confidence, and speed.