27-point CSAT uplift and $240M in super transfers through a redesigned member acquisition experience.
Who are we?
Australian Ethical Investment is a purpose-driven superannuation and investment company, trusted by over 120,000 investors and managing more than $10 billion in assets with a strong ethical focus.
My experience
At Australian Ethical, I led a performance visualisation project that redefined how investment data was communicated. Over the course of nine months, I conducted user research, uncovered 10 key insights, and iteratively validated solutions. I collaborated cross-functionally to improve the public website and investor portal, enabling Product and CX teams to shift how AE communicates fund performance.
Case#1 - Superannuation Ethical performance strategy
Overview
Australian workers invest at least 10% of their lifetime income into superannuation. Australian Ethical needed to build trust in ethical investing and help customers feel confident about their retirement goals.
However, many investors chose Australian Ethical for its values, but values alone weren't enough to keep them. Without clear visibility into where their money was going and how those ethical investments were performing, investor confidence began to waver.
My Role
I collaborated closely with the Product Manager, Marketing, Engineering, and Compliance to:
Led discovery research
Analyse data to extract insight themes
Designs and User Testing
Align experiences across multi-channels touchpoints
UX Impact
Enabled Product and CX teams to shift how AE communicates fund performance
+27 Point uplift in CSAT
$240M Super transferred to AE
Helped shape roadmap priorities for both logged-in and public experiences
Problems
Challenges Faced by Australian Ethical Investments
#2
Risk of losing Trust:
Without clear visibility into where their money was going and how those ethical investments were performing, investor confidence began to waver.
#1
Customer Churn:
Many investors chose Australian Ethical for its values, but values alone weren't enough to keep them. Lack of performance visibility led to increasing churn rates.
#3
Demand for Transparency
A lack of accessible, easy-to-understand performance data led to a spike in support calls and CRM inquiries, highlighting both confusion and a growing risk of churn. 2-3% Contact centre surveys were concerned about the AE investment performance.
Design process
Phase 1 - Stakeholder Discovery
Understanding member needs and competitor landscape to redesign performance communication
Conducted 12 internal interviews across Investment, Fund Accounting, Design & Dev, Product, Customer Success, Content, and BA/PMO teams to understand existing constraints and opportunities.
Key Stakeholder Insights
#2
🎯 Benchmark Confusion
Members find competitor performance easy to grasp, but often overlook that results are after fees—this detail needs clearer emphasis.
#1
📈 Long-term Performance Gap
AE has achieved consistent growth long-term, but the website lacks visualization to show performance in an easy-to-understand manner.
#3
💻 Technical Constraint Discovery
The CMS struggles to manage large data volumes efficiently, with most workflows still handled manually by three separate teams.
Design process
Phase 2 - User Research
Most members fit the Ethical Advocate profile, though participants ranged from Balanced to Traditional. Two were advised members.
Conducted mixed-method research, including usability testing on both competitor and current website, across two segments—current customers and prospects—to understand expectations, needs, and behaviours when exploring super fund performance.
Users problems
#2
Will I have enough to retire?
With an average balance of $63K, many questioned whether their investments would generate enough returns to support a comfortable retirement.
#1
Is this really ethical?
Investors wanted to trust that every company in their portfolio met high ethical standards—but without transparency, they were left guessing.
#3
Why is it so hard to find answers?
Some users felt the lack of clear, accessible information was intentional, like Australian Ethical was hiding something, which eroded trust even further.
The goal is to uncover how investors interpret performance and use that understanding to guide their investment decisions.
The goal was to understand how investors interpret performance and what drives their decisions. By uncovering their mental models, we aimed to build trust and clarity around AE’s ethical investment performance—turning transparency into a driver of customer satisfaction and long-term retention.
Discovery Phase
Who are we solving for?
#1 Persona outline
Paul - Prospect customer
Interviewed +5 Prospects
Considering switching to a new fund, with ethical investing as a top priority
User goals:
Wants a balanced return, competitive performance and fair fees, especially for retirement
Needs to compare returns easily with other funds to make informed decisions
Has limited time and doesn’t want to deal with complicated financial terms or deep research
Believes that where he invests matters—he wants his money to reflect his values and contribute to a better world
Feels discouraged when information is hard to find, making him question the trustworthiness of the provider
#2 Persona outline
Elena - Existing customer
Interviewed +8 Existing member
Who raised some complains about performance of investments in AE
User goals:
Wants a balanced return, competitive performance and fair fees, especially for retirement
Needs to compare returns easily with other funds to make informed decisions
Has limited time and doesn’t want to deal with complicated financial terms or deep research
Believes that where he invests matters—he wants his money to reflect his values and contribute to a better world
Feels discouraged when information is hard to find, making him question the trustworthiness of the provider
Analysis
analysis
Customers Interviews
s
What do our other__ do better?
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What do our customers want to share with us?
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Delivery Phase
Design and Development
Based on our research, we developed the following strategy for this project.
Validation Phase
From the prototype to the finished product
We followed a structured validation process to ensure usability and product-market fit:
Rollout Phase
Business Outcome
#1
#2
#3
“quote”
Rollout Phase
Business impact
#1
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#3
Learnings