Challenge

I was an external partner of a stock company that would launch an updated version  of its online trading platform. The challenges were to investigate the company’s  customers’ needs and to improve the “feels-like” of the trading platform, so as to  increase the number of members of the updated platform and moreover company’s  share in the online trading stock market.

The team of this project was composed by fifteen members. The team included  financial analysts, IT design experts and employees from company’s online  marketing department. The available resources from company’s side were limited,  since its employees should at the same time serve the existing customers and  participate in the development of the new platform. Fortunately, the employees of the  external partner were fully dedicated to the project and thus the timeframe of six  months that we had, till the launch of the new platform, was feasible.

Our main concern was to discover customers’ needs and the most effective and  appropriate ways to serve them. Also, we had to design a user friendly trading  platform.

Selection

We have selected the learning launch design thinking tool, since it is a methodology  for testing quick and with low cost an idea and prototyping. This tool could be  described as a learning experiment that is conducted quickly and inexpensively to  gather reliable data from the appropriate market place. We believed that with the  selection of this tool, we would gather data from a sufficient sample of company’s  existing customers, that would lead us to the right conclusions.

Application

The first challenge that we had to face was to investigate the customers’ needs. With  the use of learning launch tool, we tested our assumption that the existing trading  platform was outdated and did not cover effectively the customers’ needs. Our team  in cooperation with the company prepared a questionnaire, which was sent to the  whole company’s existing clientele. In addition, we conducted a survey to online  financial newspapers and magazines and internet sites, so as to discover the needs  of potential customers. Moreover, we asked the company’s salespersons to complete  this questionnaire, since they have a personal relationship with customers and know  very well what the Market wants. The questionnaire included demographic questions  and questions about the trading products, the variety, the commissions that  customers were willing to pay and the gains/ losses that they were willing to accept  from their investments. The surveys were conducted within a one-month timeframe  and had as a prize ten free subscriptions in the updated platform for one year.

The second challenge that we had to face was to improve the “feels-like” of the  trading platform, that is to design a user friendly trading platform. More specifically,  we used the learning launch tool so as to test our assumption that the environment of  the platform was complicated and required a good knowledge of the products and the  Market. Our team members searched a lot in the Internet for similar successful  trading platforms and became members to them. As we used these platforms, we

discovered what we did and did not like and what was and was not efficient in their  environment. From our experience, we obtained a completed view of what we  wanted to be included in the updated platform and we started prototyping.  Furthermore, we conducted some meetings with the company, so as to understand  how the company had thought about the environment of the new platform and if our  prototype was feasible with the limited available resources. Finally, we have  concluded to a prototype and we launched a demo version of the new platform. To  this demo version only the company’s employees and some “good” customers had  access, so as to test it and submit their proposals for improvements.

Insight

With the use of learning launch tool, we ended up with our assumptions and through  the learning experiments that we conducted we tested these assumptions. More  specifically, with the surveys that we ran and the research that we made, we have  confirmed the accuracy of our original assumptions and we managed to design an  efficient prototype of the trading platform. With the use of the demo version of the  platform and the improvement recommendations that we received from the test  users, we ended up with the final full version of the trading platform. Through this  methodology we designed an efficient platform, within the minimum timeframe and  with the minimum cost, and we minimized any potential future losses.

Approach

I believe that the learning launch was the most appropriate design thinking tool,  based on the challenges that we had to face. As it is already mentioned, our original  assumptions were accurate and the gained insight was reflected in the demo version  and in the final full version of the updated trading platform, that was launched from  the company.

