Competitor Analysis
To identify gaps between competitor business banking platforms, I analyzed data from Curinos to view each platform in the authenticated space.
01
KeyBank KBBO+
AI insights and a comprehensive redesign of the Key Business Banking Online (KBBO) platform.
Background
The KeyBank Business Banking Online (KBBO) platform serves KeyBank’s small business clients. KBBO is integrating AI-powered insights (through Personetics, a third-party integration) to deliver more personalized, actionable dashboard experiences.
This project was conducted as part of an internship with KeyBank to kick off KBBO+, a larger-scale improvement upon KBBO’s platform.
Overview
Problem
1. Lacks a comprehensive financial health view.
2. Limited personalization of the banking experience.
3. UI lags behind leading fintech competitors.
User Goals
1. Transfer money, access support, and receive information quickly and reliably.
2. Customize dashboard layouts.
3. View detailed analytics of accounts.
Limitations
• Due to business-specific Personetics widgets being not yet available, we had to rely on taking cards from retail banking and reworking blue-sky versions to tailor to business owners.
• Since UserTesting and UserZoom had not yet been integrated into one platform, we were unable to conduct heat map click tests on our main study, and had to rely on written response tasks to evaluate findability of information.
Results
1. Integrated AI-powered insight widgets and data visualizations of advanced analytics, customization of insight widget and accounts layout, financial alerts and notifications, and improved scalability of account summary dashboard.
2. Achieved a 92.52% task success rate across 7 findability and navigation tasks in unmoderated UserTesting studies with 19 participants, along with a SUPRQ score of 4.29, which sits around the 88th percentile in comparison to a benchmark of hundreds of other digital experiences.
Research
Target Audience
Business owners of the KBBO platform.
Research Methods
Market Research
To understand small business owners’ experiences with different banks, I combed through forums such as Reddit and Quora. I also utilized Gemini to create a comprehensive overview of existing market research.
Previous Research
- User Interviews with KeyBank business owners
- UserZoom studies testing prototypes
- UserZoom surveys
- FullStory analytics from KBBO Users
- Personas representing businesses of different revenues
Key Findings
- Users expect speed and reliability.“Opening the account took me less than 10 minutes” (Reddit).
- Users are frustrated by lack of information transparency.“Don’t go with Chase. [They’ll] find every way to screw you on fees” (Reddit).
- Users expect quick and clear routes to receiving support.“24 hour customer service is one thing that is invaluable the few times you need it” (Quora).
- Users expect intuitive money movement.“Traditional banks are great until you actually need flexibility on moving your money” (Reddit).
- Users want to be able to customize their dashboards.93% of survey respondents indicated at least some interest in being able to customize the dashboard (UserZoom).
Prioritization of Insight Elements
- Must-Haves
- Cash flow overview
- Upcoming bills and recent transactions
- Customization of dashboard
- Expanded analytics
- Important-Haves
- Spending insights and categories
- Credit card balances
- Easy access to customer service
- Nice-to-Haves
- Projected future analytics
- Financial recommendations
- Easily definable terminology
Design Process
Account Summary – Lo-Fi Iterations
Account Summary – Hi-Fi Iterations
Insights – Lo-Fi Iterations
Insights – Peronetics Card Sorting + First Hi-Fi Iteration
Because the business-specific Personetics cards were not yet available, we sorted through retail consumer-facing Personetics cards, selecting the ones that would be relevant for business owners, and sorted them into 4 different categories, along with a dream-state selection of cards.
Insights – Hi-Fi Iterations
Usability Tests
Overview
Prototype testing helped us understand how users engage with the Account Summary and Insights Dashboard.
Unmoderated
Test Type
19
Participants
UserTesting
Platform
4
Comprehension Tasks
Screen & Audio
Recording Methods
4
Usability/Navigation Tasks
Goals
- Are users able to navigate and find insight data points?
- Can users easily understand the information and data visuals presented?
Quotes
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience using this dashboard?
- “Overall it is highly productive and I could see myself using it often. It is organized and valuable.”
What other insight cards would you have liked to see on the dashboard?
- “Recommendations... it might notice my activity and give me advice (use the extra income from this month to pay off your credit card bill or replace this subscription with this one).”
Results
- 95% of users easily navigated to and understood the purpose of the insights tab
- 63.2% of users thought Recent Transactions and Cashflow were the most valuable widgets
- 4.29 SUPRQ score (89th percentile), a set of standardized questions that measure users’ perceptions including usability, trust, credibility, appearance, and loyalty
- 89.47% of users had difficulty understanding cashflow widget
- 20% of users suggested alerts/notifications on account activity, even though we have insight alerts
Usability Test
Takeaways
Takeaways Overview
- Emphasize the purpose of the “Your Insights” section
- Improve the Cashflow Widget layout and terminology to be more intuitive
“Your Insights” Wording Follow-Up Research
Goal
Improve clarity around the wording for the “Your Insights” section, where users can find updates on their recent activity.
We tested three headlines – “Recent Insights,” “Latest Alerts,” and “Key Takeaways.”
Unmoderated
Test Type
31
Participants
UserZoom
Platform
Click Test
Recording Methods
70% of users correctly identified “Recent Insights” as the headline for the section, which was higher than any other headline.
What would you expect to find under the headline "Recent Insights"?
- “I would expect recent insights to show timely updates and useful observations about my business account such as unusual transactions, upcoming payments, cash flow changes, delayed deposits, large expenses, and other activity that may need my attention.”
Cashflow Data Interpretation Refinement
Before
After
Goal
Improve the Cashflow Widget layout and terminology to be more intuitive.
Key Adjustments
- Month labels on the x-axis were moved under their corresponding columns instead of the vertical lines.
- Label within hover state allowing users to view a specific month was changed from “Feb-Mar” formatting to “Mar 2026”.
- Cash flow overview to the right was updated from “Net Change” to “Total Balance”
Final Designs
Account Summary
Account Summary - Customize Dashboard View
Insights Dashboard
Insights Dashboard - Continued
Conclusion
Reflection
Although I’ve done design work in the context of professional clubs, freelancing, and other areas, this was one of the first projects I’d completed end-to-end in a corporate setting. It’s an example of how a myriad of different teams, including UX writing, UX research, compliance, and product owners approach a singular product together and influence the end-user’s experience.
As a more complex financial dashboard, it was challenging simplifying all of the necessary information into an easily digestible format. There were many instances in which we had to take into consideration so many different problems, such as how to allow for free customization of the dashboard and knowing how large each widget needed to be.