A north star for AI-personalised onboarding
I worked on a bold concept project for Cleo's Growth Conversion squad, reimagining what onboarding could look like from the ground up.
It wasn't meant to ship exactly as designed — more a north star to inspire the team and show what's possible when we really lean into personalisation.
Intro
I focused specifically on chat ads users — people who come to Cleo after seeing an AI chat ad and just want to jump straight into chatting, not necessarily interested in our cash advance product.
I could see they converted at a much lower rate than everyone else, so I set out to build them a tailored experience.
Challenge
I tested a concept that leaned heavily into AI personalisation, a chat-like interface, and a cleaner value exchange before asking for bank connection.
To validate it, I ran 40-minute interviews with 12 people split between Gen Z and young Millennials, and built a fully interactive prototype in Origami with haptics and live animations.
Solution
The intro and intent sections landed really well — people loved the personal touch of entering their name and the friendly, conversational tone.
But I also learned where the concept overreached: the "spending roast" idea and playful copy like "your bank account just hit a pothole" confused people and made some question whether it felt credible for something as serious as their finances.
Results
This was a valuable lesson in balancing personality with trust. I found that playful, AI-driven moments genuinely delight users early on, but the tone needs to stay grounded once you're asking for something sensitive like bank details.
It shaped how I think about pairing fun, personalised messaging with clear, credible design at the moments that matter.
