Wealthfront's Growth team aimed to boost referral sending rates among clients, which dropped during the pandemic due to shifting market conditions and resulting changes in client behavior.
Timeline
From explorations to final company-wide presentation in less than 2 weeks while working with multiple projects at the same time.
Background
Referrals are a critical driver of client growth at Wealthfront, particularly among knowledge workers. The pandemic led to fewer organic conversations, impacting referral rates. The challenge was to redesign the referral program to better align with current client behaviors.
This category outlines the step-by-step approach I took while leading this project. Several details are intentionally being excluded due to confidentiality.
Planning
Kick-Off Meeting: The research planning began with a kick-off meeting involving key stakeholders, including the Product Manager, Engineering Manager, Consumer Insights Researcher, Data Scientist, UX Designer, Content Designer, and Marketing Manager to align on research objectives, constraints, and deliverables.
Research Plan: Developed a plan outlining business context, research goals, methodology, participant criteria, and analysis plan.
Stakeholder Alignment: After drafting the research plan, I shared it with the team for feedback and to ensure alignment. This step was crucial for generating excitement and encouraging active participation from all team members.
Methodologies
Survey Data: Analyzed previous survey results to identify trends and insights about client referral behavior.
1:1 In-Depth Interviews: Conducted with 10 clients to explore their comfort levels with discussing finances and sending referrals, both in and out of the workplace.
Key Insights
After completing a thematic analysis of the qualitative data and reviewing the quantitative data, several key insights emerged. Some of those insights included:
Referrals are context-dependent: Clients are more likely to send referrals during organic conversations, especially when financial topics arise naturally. This suggests that referral programs should align with moments when clients are already discussing financial matters, rather than pushing unsolicited referrals.
Comfort levels vary: Clients feel varying levels of comfort when discussing finances, particularly in professional settings, indicating that referral strategies should account for different comfort levels.
Impact of external factors: The stock market’s performance significantly influences client behavior. Referral strategies should be adaptable to market conditions, promoting relevant products that resonate with clients' current financial concerns.
Deliverables
The deliverables for this project included:
A detailed research report with findings, insights, and recommendations.
Presentation decks for stakeholders summarizing key insights and proposed referral program strategies.
The insights gained led to a strategic shift in Wealthfront’s referral program, prioritizing the context of referrals and addressing client hesitations.
Growth roadmap prioritization
The redesigned program became a top priority for 2023, targeting more effective growth through refined referral strategies.
Inhibition Framework
Developed the “Inhibition Framework” to help the team understand and strategize around referral barriers.
Referral program redesign
Informed the redesign of the referral program to focus on leveraging employee networks and offering group rewards, aligning with the nature of workplace financial discussions. Prior to launching, I also completed several rounds of concept testing to refine the referral program and assess client comprehension of the referral program offering and terms.
