Invest Page Redesign: Research, Pushback, and a Reversal
Designing browsing and checkout for four product types that didn't exist on this page before, for two audiences who needed completely different things from it, and reversing my own first conclusion when the second round of research said something different.
Role
Solo Designer & Researcher
Team
1 PM + 5 Devs + Stakeholders
Timeline
6 weeks
Industry
Fintech
Challenge
One page had to convert brand-new accredited investors while still serving loyal power users, across four product types the page was never built to hold, and mobile had a fraction of web's inventory to start.
Approach
Held my own first research conclusion to the same evidence bar I'd hold anyone else's. Round one said remove a shortcut CTA entirely, round two reversed that. I kept it and fixed the communication instead.
Result
The full redesign is live today, browsing, the CTA/cart fix, and the loans-page approach all shipped.
Context
- Groundfloor's business grew from one product (real estate loans) into four: loans, notes, portfolios, and specialty offerings, on a page never built to hold more than one
- The page had to convert accredited investors who'd never heard of Groundfloor, while still serving power users who checked inventory weekly, same page, two very different jobs to do
- Mobile shipped with a fraction of web's inventory and no real marketing presence, bringing it to parity was part of the scope
Before
After
Research, in two phases:
- 15 unmoderated sessions first, to catch structural problems cheaply before spending moderated time on the prototype
- 11 moderated sessions across two cohorts, 6 existing investors and 5 with no prior exposure, so a finding that showed up in both groups was a real design problem, not brand unfamiliarity
- Prototype built myself in Claude Code, since the research question was behavioral, could people find things and complete a real path, not just whether it looked right
Decision 1: Pushing Back on a Dedicated Loans Page
Proposed, the stakeholder request
Shipped
Business proposal
A separate page for real estate loans, reachable through a special “all loans” card, since loan investors need to manually diversify across multiple loans.
What shipped
Loans stayed a regular card like every other product type; diversification guidance moved in-context instead, an elevated “often invested with” pairing suggestion, plus a nudge the moment someone added their first loan.
Why
A card that behaves differently from every other card breaks the predictability the whole navigation model depends on, testing confirmed it read as confusing. The underlying business need was real, but in-context guidance solves it every time, including for power users who never needed a landing page. I brought that reasoning to the business directly, and they accepted the alternative.
Decision 2: A Reversal, Not Just a Recommendation
Add to Cart and Invest Now, shown as distinct CTAs on the investment detail screen.
Round one
- Nearly every participant defaulted to the cart, even for a single purchase
- My recommendation: remove the “Invest Now” shortcut, standardize on one flow
Round two, after the CTAs were clarified
- Investors actively valued having both paths, one for a single decided purchase, one for building a batch order
- The real problem was never that two paths existed, it was that nothing told people what each one would do before they clicked
What shipped
- Kept both CTAs, fixed the communication instead of collapsing the model
- Renamed “wallet” to “cart,” since “wallet” was consistently confusing and didn't match how people already think about a list of things they're about to buy
“The harder skill wasn't running two rounds of testing. It was being willing to change my own first conclusion when the second round said something different.”
Outcome
- Browsing layout, the CTA/cart fix, and the loans-page approach: all live today
- Every decision here traces to a specific tested finding, including the one I reversed
- I don't yet have post-launch usage numbers to share, that's the next thing I'll be watching
The current live state, web and mobile.
Want the full research, the artifacts I rejected, and the reasoning behind every smaller decision? Email me, I'd love to walk you through it.