TD Bank | Easy Trade
Market News &
Research Feature
Easy Trade was launched by TD Bank in 2020 to provide novice investors with a simple, low-barrier entry to stock trading.
When I joined the Easy Trade design team in early 2022, one of my first projects focused on creating a market news and research feature. At the time, the app was highly streamlined, primarily functioning as a platform for buying and selling stocks, with minimal tools to help users explore investment options or navigate market conditions. This project aimed to equip novice investors with the ability to identify trading opportunities and stay informed about market trends.
The Market News & Research feature on Easy Trade.
Discovery
Understanding our Customers
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Desire for Personalization: Participants expected tailored, personalized content based on their activity or chosen preferences.
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The user persona we developed to summarize key findings.
Discovery
Competitive Analysis
I analyzed various investment apps to explore how competitors handle market news and stock analysis. While some excelled in delivering tailored content based on user-selected topics, many lacked integration with users' existing holdings and watchlists. This gap highlighted an opportunity to provide personalized news that dynamically tracks portfolio activity and watchlist securities, offering more targeted and actionable insights.
Discovery
Problem Framing & Brainstorming
I facilitated workshops with business partners to gather requirements, ask questions, and gain insights. These collaborative sessions were crucial in aligning on our problem-solving objectives while keeping the goals and pain points of our target users at the forefront.
The key outcomes of these workshops included: agreement on high-level requirements, alignment on the core problem and identification of design opportunities and initial ideas to explore.
Ideation
User Flow Mapping
Having grasped the problem and prioritized potential solutions, I developed a user journey to map key interactions and touchpoints. Our hypothesis involved introducing a Market News entry point after a user deposited funds, guiding them through research, stock evaluation, and ultimately encouraging actions like making a trade or adding an asset to their watchlist.
The Market News & Research user journey.
Ideation
Identifying Entry Points & Integration
The user journey helped identify which pages required Market News integration. I then mapped these pages onto Easy Trade's existing information architecture to determine which screens needed redesigns or updates. This process also informed the conceptualization of the Market News feature's structure and its placement within the app hierarchy.
Net new screens and pages that would have Market News integration.
The Prototype
Usability Testing with Novice Investors
I created a high-fidelity prototype showcasing the full user journey of an Easy Trade customer discovering the Market News feature and adding a stock to their watchlist. We tested the prototype with 16 novice investors to evaluate if integrating market news met expectations for personalized content and encouraged actions like adding to watchlists or initiating trades.
Journey Phase
Discovery & Personalization
Upon logging in, users are notified about the new Market News feature and can personalize their experience by selecting investment topics of interest. News from these selected topics is then displayed in the "For You" tab on the Market News page.
Journey Phase
Researching & Evaluation
Searching for a stock displays trending financial news, while the stock details page shows related news and similar trending stocks for additional inspiration.
Journey Phase
Adding to Watchlist
Adding a stock to a watchlist will provide news alerts and personalized, curated content based on the selected stocks.
The Prototype
User Testing Results and Design Refinement
The prototype received positive feedback, with users appreciating its role as a “one-stop shop” that centralizes information currently spread across multiple sources. The availability of learning content, such as articles and videos, and other educational features resonated well. Participants also valued the balance of personalized content tailored to their interests alongside broader market news. Based on user feedback, we refined certain aspects of the feature to further enhance the user experience.
Refinements made to the prototype based on user testing feedback.
The MVP & Future Releases
In April 2023, the team launched the Market News MVP, providing users with news tied to their portfolio holdings and watchlist, despite API limitations.
While personalization and categorization features from the Northstar vision are planned for future releases, the MVP was monitored for user engagement and feedback to guide ongoing improvements, aiming to become a valuable resource for investors.
The Results
After launch, the Market News feature was closely monitored to assess user engagement. The results revealed a significant increase in user interaction with the app, contributing to a boost in the app's overall rating on the App Store.
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90,000+ page views per month
Consistent engagement on the feature, doubling the number of visits recorded on other engagement pages.
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Overall increase in the number of completed orders for successfully executed trades.
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The launch of Market News in addition to other improvements on the app, helped to significantly improve the app's rating from a previous 3 to 4.2.
