Problem Solving and UX Thinking.

Rethinking Onboarding Through UX Strategy

The hyper-personalisation operating system for financial services to behaviourally profile and engage consumers.

When Planda an intelligence platform that maps customer patterns with money approached us, their onboarding was long, rigid, and non-interactive. It was split into three stages, offered no way to pause or skip, and lacked clear motivation for users to complete it.

Our goal was to turn onboarding from a blocker into a flexible, engaging experience—without sacrificing the client’s goal of collecting important user data.

From Static to Smart

The original onboarding flow was designed in Figma but lacked interactivity and flexibility. Users had to complete all three stages in one sitting, which created frustration and drop-off.

We redesigned the flow to be:

  • Skippable, with visual indicators encouraging users to return

  • Modular, broken into 3 separate experiences

  • Motivating, using gamified elements and subtle behavioural nudges in the app itself

Our redesign added choice: users could either go through a full quiz or Chat to AI and complete any data gaps in the quiz later.

Mobile app screen for onboarding experience with options to chat with PAI about finances or complete a questionnaire, featuring a panda icon in the center.
Mobile screen showing a financial decision-making question with multiple choice answers, including options like reviewing savings, trusting flow, and thinking about impact.

Making  Data  input Feel  Playful

Mobile screen displaying a quiz interface titled "Matching your Money Personality" with options to take a quiz or select a coach.

The money personality test was a critical part of the onboarding—it determined the tone of voice, coaching style, and content a user would receive. But as a static 11-question sequence, it felt like a chore.

We turned the quiz into an interactive, visual journey:

  • Users unlock 6 hidden “money personalities” as they progress through the quiz

  • Each screen introduces a small reveal animation (a lock, an icon, a reward)

  • A redesigned progress bar doubles as a motivational mechanism

Giving Users Options

Not everyone wants to commit to a long onboarding experience right away. So we designed a choice-first flow:

  • Option A: “Take the full quiz to discover your personality type”

  • Option B: “Choose a coach yourself and complete the quiz later”

To support this, we developed a coach–personality matching system. Each Money Personality is intuitively paired with a Coach Archetype, so even users who skip the quiz get a semi-personalised experience from day one:

Without  Losing  Engagement.

Mobile screen displaying a financial personality quiz app with options to take a quiz or choose a coach.

  • Free-Spirit → Energiser

  • Saver → Strategist

  • Protector → Guardian

  • Avoider → Comforter

  • Rainmaker → Visionary

  • Spender → Motivator

Mobile screen displaying a Money Personality quiz on a website, with options to take a quiz or pick a coach.
Mobile app screen showing a profile named Jennifer Henson with options to discover personality and test knowledge. Contains a Money Personality Quiz with a progress bar, a 3D hexagonal shape, and icons at the bottom and top for settings, notifications, help, sharing, and user account.

If they user chooses their own coach, the app adapts its tone of voice based on the coach archetype. However, the Money Personality section remains blurred, creating a subtle but effective motivation to complete the quiz later for full personalisation.

Mobile app screen showing a profile page for Jennifer Henson with a money personality analysis, a 3D graph of a heart shape, and three icons at the bottom including a personality symbol, a graph, and a globe.

When the quiz is completed and all the required information gathered, the app displays a satisfying overview of the user’s Money Personality Type.

The same principle was applied to all 3 stages of the onboarding process.

with reminders and nudges throughout the app, to encourage users to fill all the relevant data for a fuller experience without overwhelming them.

Mobile banking app screen showing financial overview with sections for income, savings, spending, net worth, assets, and liabilities, featuring 3D spheres and graphs.
Mobile app screen with title 'Let's understand Your Money'. Options to 'Fill in the form' or 'Chat to PAI' with a 'Take the Quiz' button and a 'Start Chat' button.
Mobile app screen displaying financial overview, including cash flow, net worth, assets, and liabilities with graphical charts and icons.

This approach respects the user’s time, while using

behavioural psychology, curiosity and completion bias

to gently draw them back in, on their own terms.

Mobile phone screen showing the Money Coach app with an Educational Panel that includes a Knowledge Quiz, a Learn section with Pensions 101 and Understanding New ISA Rules, a Review section, and a Quiz section. Navigation icons at the bottom.
Mobile screen displaying a quiz app with a header 'Determining your Knowledge', icons for different levels of knowledge, options to take a quiz or give an estimate, and a slider for self-assessment.
Mobile app interface called Money Coach with sections for educational content, review games like flashcards and memory match, and a quiz feature.

By focusing on user psychology and flexibility, 

we transformed a heavy onboarding 

experience into an engaging, guided journey.

The client kept the depth they needed and 

users gained the freedom to explore on 

their own terms.