Redesigning Questrade’s Onboarding Experience Across Business Lines
Questrade needed a new portal to support its expanding suite of products, including mortgages, investing, trading, and more. This required the design and delivery of a new signup flow for the platform itself, along with tailored account creation experiences for each product line. The solution had to work seamlessly across both web and mobile.
Year
October 2022 - October 2023
Topics
Leadership, Content Design, Patterns, Conversion, Growth
Company
Questrade
/ My Role
As UX Manager, I led a cross-functional design team responsible for reimagining and delivering the new multi-line customer portal and onboarding experience. This included everything from platform signup to individual account creation for each business line.
/ Team Structure
I assigned a senior and junior UX designer from my team of six direct reports. I also guided contributions from a content designer, visual designer, and user researcher. Together, we collaborated with multiple product lines, with their respective product managers, developers, and designers.
/ Design Challenge 1: Creating Consistency Across Product Lines
Each business line had unique onboarding requirements. Investing, for instance, had over 20 steps and complex regulatory inputs, while insurance required separating quote generation from account creation. Despite the differences, our goal was to create a shared onboarding experience that felt unified across all products.
We gathered detailed requirements from each team and developed common design patterns for navigation, content structure, legal acknowledgments, and personal information flows. These reusable frameworks allowed us to address varied needs without compromising consistency. We also introduced new design system components to ensure both designers and developers were building consistently.
/ Design Challenge 2: Navigating Legal, Regulatory, and Marketing Constraints
One of the hardest constraints was working within legal and regulatory guidelines. Legal stakeholders often presented rigid “solutions” rather than requirements. I partnered with my senior designer to decouple legal needs from UI assumptions. We rewrote the requirements in plain language and reimagined flows that met compliance while improving usability.
To validate our approach, we ran usability tests with multiple variants, showing that we could meet legal requirements with minimal impact on conversion.
I also organized a multi-day, cross-functional workshop involving 20 stakeholders. These sessions allowed us to step away from reactive 30-minute meetings and dive deeper into the user experience. By explaining our design rationale and showing early concepts, we built alignment and reduced resistance.
/ Design Challenge 3: Turning Complexity into Something Human
Our content and UX teams worked together to simplify dense, technical flows. We eliminated redundant screens, removed jargon, and made the experience more welcoming. These changes were initially met with skepticism from stakeholders accustomed to legacy patterns. Through collaborative critique and user testing, we showed how small language and flow improvements could significantly improve comprehension and reduce drop-off.
/ Design Challenge 4: Designing for Web & Mobile
Our team was responsible for designing this for both web and mobile. I empowered the junior designer to own the mobile experience, which allowed him to build domain expertise and have dedicated space to explore different interaction opportunities for mobile.
/ Leadership Focus 1: Mentorship and Ownership
This project was an opportunity to develop junior talent. I assigned one junior designer full ownership over the mobile version of onboarding. They created a project plan, led research, and presented to stakeholders—developing confidence and domain expertise. They collaborated closely with the senior designer for guidance, but the accountability was theirs. This experience played a key role in their promotion the following year.
/ Leadership Focus 2: Executive Alignment and Review Culture
When I joined, executive design reviews were unstructured, critical, and demoralizing. I raised this with senior leaders and facilitated a shift in the review process.
We ran a full day workshop to gain alignment from all stakeholders where we had the flow up on the walls where we took each step one by one.
We introduced scheduled review sessions with clear goals, aligned on design principles, and framed feedback around user impact rather than personal preference. I worked with leaders to adopt more constructive language and give space for iteration. While decisions didn’t always go our way, the tone and outcome of these reviews improved significantly, and trust in the design process grew.
/ Impact
7
min
Completion Time (from 23 min)
19.7
%
Conversion Rate
39
%
Reduced Support Inquires
1
Employee Promotion
Reduced steps in the onboarding experience by 30%
Reduced support tickets by 39%
Converted 19.7% of new customers
Consolidated onboarding patterns for current and future product lines
Delivered mobile and web onboarding for multiple new accounts
Significantly improved usability while meeting legal and compliance requirements backed by user research
Strengthened cross-functional partnerships and executive alignment
Promoted one junior designer
Established more constructive and user-centered executive review practices
Redesigning Questrade’s Onboarding Experience Across Business Lines
Questrade needed a new portal to support its expanding suite of products, including mortgages, investing, trading, and more. This required the design and delivery of a new signup flow for the platform itself, along with tailored account creation experiences for each product line. The solution had to work seamlessly across both web and mobile.
Year
October 2022 - October 2023
Topics
Leadership, Content Design, Patterns, Conversion, Growth
Company
Questrade
/ My Role
As UX Manager, I led a cross-functional design team responsible for reimagining and delivering the new multi-line customer portal and onboarding experience. This included everything from platform signup to individual account creation for each business line.
/ Team Structure
I assigned a senior and junior UX designer from my team of six direct reports. I also guided contributions from a content designer, visual designer, and user researcher. Together, we collaborated with multiple product lines, with their respective product managers, developers, and designers.
/ Design Challenge 1: Creating Consistency Across Product Lines
Each business line had unique onboarding requirements. Investing, for instance, had over 20 steps and complex regulatory inputs, while insurance required separating quote generation from account creation. Despite the differences, our goal was to create a shared onboarding experience that felt unified across all products.
We gathered detailed requirements from each team and developed common design patterns for navigation, content structure, legal acknowledgments, and personal information flows. These reusable frameworks allowed us to address varied needs without compromising consistency. We also introduced new design system components to ensure both designers and developers were building consistently.
/ Design Challenge 2: Navigating Legal, Regulatory, and Marketing Constraints
One of the hardest constraints was working within legal and regulatory guidelines. Legal stakeholders often presented rigid “solutions” rather than requirements. I partnered with my senior designer to decouple legal needs from UI assumptions. We rewrote the requirements in plain language and reimagined flows that met compliance while improving usability.
To validate our approach, we ran usability tests with multiple variants, showing that we could meet legal requirements with minimal impact on conversion.
I also organized a multi-day, cross-functional workshop involving 20 stakeholders. These sessions allowed us to step away from reactive 30-minute meetings and dive deeper into the user experience. By explaining our design rationale and showing early concepts, we built alignment and reduced resistance.
/ Design Challenge 3: Turning Complexity into Something Human
Our content and UX teams worked together to simplify dense, technical flows. We eliminated redundant screens, removed jargon, and made the experience more welcoming. These changes were initially met with skepticism from stakeholders accustomed to legacy patterns. Through collaborative critique and user testing, we showed how small language and flow improvements could significantly improve comprehension and reduce drop-off.
/ Design Challenge 4: Designing for Web & Mobile
Our team was responsible for designing this for both web and mobile. I empowered the junior designer to own the mobile experience, which allowed him to build domain expertise and have dedicated space to explore different interaction opportunities for mobile.
/ Leadership Focus 1: Mentorship and Ownership
This project was an opportunity to develop junior talent. I assigned one junior designer full ownership over the mobile version of onboarding. They created a project plan, led research, and presented to stakeholders—developing confidence and domain expertise. They collaborated closely with the senior designer for guidance, but the accountability was theirs. This experience played a key role in their promotion the following year.
/ Leadership Focus 2: Executive Alignment and Review Culture
When I joined, executive design reviews were unstructured, critical, and demoralizing. I raised this with senior leaders and facilitated a shift in the review process.
We ran a full day workshop to gain alignment from all stakeholders where we had the flow up on the walls where we took each step one by one.
We introduced scheduled review sessions with clear goals, aligned on design principles, and framed feedback around user impact rather than personal preference. I worked with leaders to adopt more constructive language and give space for iteration. While decisions didn’t always go our way, the tone and outcome of these reviews improved significantly, and trust in the design process grew.
/ Impact
7
min
Completion Time (from 23 min)
19.7
%
Conversion Rate
39
%
Reduced Support Inquires
1
Employee Promotion
Reduced steps in the onboarding experience by 30%
Reduced support tickets by 39%
Converted 19.7% of new customers
Consolidated onboarding patterns for current and future product lines
Delivered mobile and web onboarding for multiple new accounts
Significantly improved usability while meeting legal and compliance requirements backed by user research
Strengthened cross-functional partnerships and executive alignment
Promoted one junior designer
Established more constructive and user-centered executive review practices
Redesigning Questrade’s Onboarding Experience Across Business Lines
Questrade needed a new portal to support its expanding suite of products, including mortgages, investing, trading, and more. This required the design and delivery of a new signup flow for the platform itself, along with tailored account creation experiences for each product line. The solution had to work seamlessly across both web and mobile.
Year
October 2022 - October 2023
Topics
Leadership, Content Design, Patterns, Conversion, Growth
Company
Questrade
/ My Role
As UX Manager, I led a cross-functional design team responsible for reimagining and delivering the new multi-line customer portal and onboarding experience. This included everything from platform signup to individual account creation for each business line.
/ Team Structure
I assigned a senior and junior UX designer from my team of six direct reports. I also guided contributions from a content designer, visual designer, and user researcher. Together, we collaborated with multiple product lines, with their respective product managers, developers, and designers.
/ Design Challenge 1: Creating Consistency Across Product Lines
Each business line had unique onboarding requirements. Investing, for instance, had over 20 steps and complex regulatory inputs, while insurance required separating quote generation from account creation. Despite the differences, our goal was to create a shared onboarding experience that felt unified across all products.
We gathered detailed requirements from each team and developed common design patterns for navigation, content structure, legal acknowledgments, and personal information flows. These reusable frameworks allowed us to address varied needs without compromising consistency. We also introduced new design system components to ensure both designers and developers were building consistently.
/ Design Challenge 2: Navigating Legal, Regulatory, and Marketing Constraints
One of the hardest constraints was working within legal and regulatory guidelines. Legal stakeholders often presented rigid “solutions” rather than requirements. I partnered with my senior designer to decouple legal needs from UI assumptions. We rewrote the requirements in plain language and reimagined flows that met compliance while improving usability.
To validate our approach, we ran usability tests with multiple variants, showing that we could meet legal requirements with minimal impact on conversion.
I also organized a multi-day, cross-functional workshop involving 20 stakeholders. These sessions allowed us to step away from reactive 30-minute meetings and dive deeper into the user experience. By explaining our design rationale and showing early concepts, we built alignment and reduced resistance.
/ Design Challenge 3: Turning Complexity into Something Human
Our content and UX teams worked together to simplify dense, technical flows. We eliminated redundant screens, removed jargon, and made the experience more welcoming. These changes were initially met with skepticism from stakeholders accustomed to legacy patterns. Through collaborative critique and user testing, we showed how small language and flow improvements could significantly improve comprehension and reduce drop-off.
/ Design Challenge 4: Designing for Web & Mobile
Our team was responsible for designing this for both web and mobile. I empowered the junior designer to own the mobile experience, which allowed him to build domain expertise and have dedicated space to explore different interaction opportunities for mobile.
/ Leadership Focus 1: Mentorship and Ownership
This project was an opportunity to develop junior talent. I assigned one junior designer full ownership over the mobile version of onboarding. They created a project plan, led research, and presented to stakeholders—developing confidence and domain expertise. They collaborated closely with the senior designer for guidance, but the accountability was theirs. This experience played a key role in their promotion the following year.
/ Leadership Focus 2: Executive Alignment and Review Culture
When I joined, executive design reviews were unstructured, critical, and demoralizing. I raised this with senior leaders and facilitated a shift in the review process.
We ran a full day workshop to gain alignment from all stakeholders where we had the flow up on the walls where we took each step one by one.
We introduced scheduled review sessions with clear goals, aligned on design principles, and framed feedback around user impact rather than personal preference. I worked with leaders to adopt more constructive language and give space for iteration. While decisions didn’t always go our way, the tone and outcome of these reviews improved significantly, and trust in the design process grew.
/ Impact
7
min
Completion Time (from 23 min)
19.7
%
Conversion Rate
39
%
Reduced Support Inquires
1
Employee Promotion
Reduced steps in the onboarding experience by 30%
Reduced support tickets by 39%
Converted 19.7% of new customers
Consolidated onboarding patterns for current and future product lines
Delivered mobile and web onboarding for multiple new accounts
Significantly improved usability while meeting legal and compliance requirements backed by user research
Strengthened cross-functional partnerships and executive alignment
Promoted one junior designer
Established more constructive and user-centered executive review practices