Account Management

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Account management experiences in fintech products must balance security, clarity, and ease of use. For product designers and managers, the challenge is ensuring users can manage settings, preferences, and financial information without confusion or friction.

Fintech Account Management Testing uses a design stack of UX metrics: usability, success, and effort to measure how effectively account settings support user control and confidence. This approach replaces subjective opinions with measurable insights.

With these findings, designers and managers can make informed design decisions, prioritize improvements, and demonstrate the impact of changes on business outcomes. For example, testing Bank of America’s mobile app settings revealed strong comprehension but weaker satisfaction, showing where layout and navigation adjustments could simplify management tasks and improve overall trust.

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Define Goals for Your Account Management

A fintech account management experience should balance user needs like security, reliability, and control with business goals such as retention, compliance, and engagement. Users want confidence that their personal and financial information is safe and easy to manage, while businesses aim to provide a seamless self-service experience that builds trust and reduces support costs. Measuring usability and satisfaction ensures the account management area supports both user autonomy and operational goals.

Audience:
This concept was tested with bank members and banking consumers in the United States who interacted with the settings page of Bank of America’s mobile app. Participants were asked to explore key account management features — such as security settings, notifications, and personal info updates — and share impressions of ease, trust, and control.

User Needs
As a customer managing their financial account settings, the five most important needs would be:

1. The experience should feel protected, ensuring personal and financial data remain safe (the app should feel Secure).

2. Account settings and preferences should update accurately without errors or lag (user experience should feel Reliable).

3. Menus, options, and forms should be easy to understand and navigate without frustration (settings should be Usable).

4. Tasks like updating contact info or changing passwords should be fast and simple (actions should be Efficient).

5. Users should feel confident and in control of their account and privacy preferences (account management should feel Empowering).

These five ensure account management feels safe, smooth, and empowering, giving users peace of mind when maintaining their financial profiles.

Business Goals
Here are the five most important business goals for fintech account management:

1. Strengthen Customer Retention – Keep users engaged and satisfied by providing reliable, easy self-service tools.

2. Ensure Security & Compliance – Support regulatory requirements (like authentication and privacy standards) while maintaining user trust.

3. Reduce Support Costs – Minimize customer service requests by enabling users to manage preferences independently.

4. Promote Product Engagement – Surface relevant tools or features (e.g., credit alerts, new card options) during account interactions.

5. Gather Behavioral Insights – Analyze usage patterns to refine features and enhance the customer experience.

These goals help the business build loyalty, reduce operational overhead, and enhance trust through a secure, intuitive account management experience.

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Choose Metrics to Test Your Account Management

For Banko’s account management dashboard, a design stack of three UX metrics was chosen to measure how effectively the experience supports confident and efficient money management. This stack — Usability, Success, and Effort — was established by mapping user needs directly to measurable outcomes:

• Usable & Reliable → Usability

  Account settings and financial tools should work consistently and be easy to operate. Usability measures whether participants can locate and manage account functions smoothly without errors or confusion.

• Efficient → Success

  Routine tasks like transferring funds, setting alerts, or updating information should be quick and intuitive. Success evaluates whether participants can complete these core actions on their first attempt.

• Empowering & Secure → Effort

  Managing finances should feel safe and under control. Effort measures how easy or difficult participants found it to accomplish tasks, reflecting whether the dashboard design promotes confidence and reduces friction.

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Establish Hunches to Direct Your Testing

Managing account settings is a moment of both trust and control for users. They expect clear organization, predictable pathways, and confidence that sensitive information is handled securely. In Bank of America’s app, the structure and hierarchy of the Settings interface reflect how well users can manage key tasks without hesitation. The following hunches explore where users might feel empowered—or uncertain—within that experience.

Example: Bank of America Mobile App – Account Settings

<table xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" style="min-width: 75px;"><colgroup><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><th colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>Hunch</p></th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>Question</p></th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>UX Metric</p></th></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>The Settings page hierarchy is well-organized, but users may struggle to know which section (Profile, Login, Feature, etc.) contains the option they need—especially when multiple categories sound similar.</p></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>How easy was it to find the setting you were looking for?</p></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://glare.helio.app/define/ux-metrics/behavioral-metrics/usability">Usability</a></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>The dense text and multiple tap layers might make frequent tasks (like password changes or enabling paperless billing) feel slower or less intuitive than expected.</p></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>How quickly were you able to complete a common setting change, like updating your contact info or enabling paperless statements?</p></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://glare.helio.app/define/ux-metrics/behavioral-metrics/success">Success</a></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>The search bar with Erica integration suggests strong support, but users might not realize how much it can help—or may not trust AI assistance for personal account management.</p></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>Would you use the search bar or Erica assistant to find specific settings, or would you navigate manually?</p></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://glare.helio.app/define/ux-metrics/behavioral-metrics/usability">Usability</a></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>The Login Settings group is visually clear and reassuring, but it might not immediately convey how security is maintained (e.g., encryption, authentication layers), leaving cautious users uncertain.</p></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>How confident did you feel about the security of your login and authentication settings?</p></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://glare.helio.app/define/ux-metrics/behavioral-metrics/effort">Effort</a></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>The visual style and spacing align with the brand’s broader mobile experience, but may come across as utilitarian rather than user-friendly or personalized—impacting perceived usability.</p></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p>How visually approachable and easy to read did the Settings interface feel?</p></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://glare.helio.app/define/ux-metrics/behavioral-metrics/success">Success</a></p></td></tr></tbody></table>

These hunches help evaluate whether Bank of America’s account settings experience successfully balances security, efficiency, and clarity, and whether users feel in control of their personal information when managing their accounts on mobile.

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Turn Hunches into Test Questions

Turning these metrics into participant questions transforms design assumptions into measurable signals. Each metric uses a specific question type paired with a clear example from Bank of America’s account settings experience:

• Success **(Click test directive)**

  Question type: Task-based click test.

  Example: “Where would you tap to update your personal contact information in the account settings?”

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• Usability **(Click test success across multiple directives)**

  Question type: Multi-task click test.

  Example: “Where would you tap to change your password?” followed by “Where would you tap to manage notification preferences?”
 (Success rate is averaged across tasks)

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• Effort **(7-pt scale of difficulty)**

  Question type: Difficulty rating scale.

  Example: “How easy or difficult was it to locate and update your settings in the app?”
 (1 = Very Easy → 7 = Very Difficult)

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Calculate UX Metric Scores from User Feedback

For Bank of America’s mobile app account settings, user responses were analyzed and converted into UX metric scores to measure how effectively customers can manage their accounts on mobile. The design stack focused on Success, Usability, and Effort — metrics that reflect how easily users can complete key actions, navigate settings, and resolve tasks with minimal friction. Each metric was scored on a 0–100% scale using the following benchmarks:

• Very Good = 90% and above

• Good = 70%–89%

• Average = 50%–69%

• Poor = 30%–49%

• Very Poor = below 30%

Once the individual UX metric scores are calculated, the average of those scores are used to determine the overall score for the user experience.

Bank of America’s Results

• Success (79% — Good): Most participants successfully located and completed key actions, such as updating profile information or viewing contact details, demonstrating strong task completion flow.

• Usability (92% — Very Good): Users found the layout highly intuitive, with clear labeling and straightforward touch interactions that made navigating account settings easy and predictable.

• Effort (92% — Very Good): Participants described the experience as “quick” and “simple,” indicating minimal cognitive or interaction effort required to complete tasks.

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These outcomes resulted in an overall test score of 88% — Good, showing that Bank of America’s account settings experience delivers on efficiency and clarity. The design’s straightforward navigation and well-labeled structure foster user confidence and reduce friction. Future opportunities may include integrating helpful prompts or shortcuts for less common tasks, further optimizing the experience for repeat and advanced users.

Click here to check out the raw survey data and UX for BofA’s account settings page.

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Draw Signals from Your Design Stack

1. Focus on poorly scoring metrics

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Bank of America’s account management experience achieved a strong overall score of 88%, driven by high Usability (92%) and Effort (92%), with slightly lower Success (79%). The design performs well in helping users navigate and complete key actions, but there’s still a small amount of friction in finishing specific tasks like updating personal details or managing settings.

2. Identify patterns across metrics

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The high scores in both usability and effort indicate that users feel confident and capable using the settings interface—it’s structured, clean, and consistent with expectations for a major bank. However, the small dip in success suggests that some actions might not feel fully confirmed or complete, such as waiting for updates to process or needing more visible feedback after saving changes. The data paints a picture of a strongly trusted system that could enhance assurance and clarity in final step interactions.
3. Determine if user needs are being met

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• Secure: Met — users feel safe and confident managing their financial data.

• Reliable: Met — the settings page performs dependably without notable errors or lag.

• Usable: Fully met — clear hierarchy and visual organization make navigation intuitive.

• Efficient: Partially met — some task flows require small improvements to reduce redundancy or confirmation steps.

• Empowering: Met — users feel in control of their information and preferences.

**4. Compare outcomes to your business goals
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• Strengthen Customer Retention: Supported — high usability and ease-of-use promote satisfaction and ongoing engagement.

• Ensure Security & Compliance: Fully achieved — the design instills confidence and meets user expectations for privacy and control.

• Reduce Support Costs: Supported — the intuitive interface minimizes dependence on customer service for basic updates.

• Promote Product Engagement: Limited — while settings are easy to use, the experience doesn’t surface relevant offers or adjacent tools.

• Gather Behavioral Insights: Supported — strong completion rates can provide reliable data on how users interact with key settings.

5. Surface signals & establish a direction
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Signals derived from the data:**

1. Bank of America’s settings experience feels stable and trusted — users can complete updates confidently with minimal confusion.

2. Efficiency gaps reveal opportunities in micro-interactions — minor friction occurs at confirmation or feedback points.

3. Task focus outweighs engagement opportunities — while functionally strong, the experience misses moments to connect users with value-added tools.

Direction based on business context:
 To align with the goal of strengthening retention and reducing support costs, design refinements should focus on:

• Improving confirmation feedback to reinforce success after updates or preference changes.

• Introducing contextual engagement opportunities (e.g., “Manage credit alerts,” “View savings tips”) to boost awareness of adjacent tools.

• Continuing to maintain clear visual hierarchy that reinforces trust and transparency.

Based on the signals and design direction, we created an updated version of the design with the expected UX metric improvement:

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The signal is clear: Bank of America’s account management settings feel secure and effortless, but small interaction refinements and contextual prompts could turn a reliable experience into a relationship-strengthening one.