NovaPay came to us with a product that was genuinely better than the high-street bank alternatives it was competing against — lower fees, better rates, faster transfers. Their problem was not the product. Their problem was that nobody believed them. Opening a bank account with a company you've never heard of is an enormous act of trust, and their website was not earning it.
The Trust Deficit
NovaPay's acquisition funnel looked healthy from the outside: strong paid traffic, competitive CPCs, reasonable landing page engagement. The problem was invisible until you looked at where users were dropping off in the onboarding flow. 62% of users who clicked 'Open an Account' abandoned before completing Step 2 of a 5-step identity verification process.
Session recordings were illuminating. Users were not confused about what to do — they were hesitating. Long pauses before entering their bank details. Reading the same compliance section three or four times. Hovering over the back button before committing to each step. This was not a UX clarity problem. This was a trust problem.
Core Finding
62% of users who started the account opening process abandoned at Step 2 (identity verification). Exit surveys showed that 71% of those users cited concern about the security of their data, not difficulty using the form.
Redesigning the Acquisition Page
Before addressing the onboarding flow itself, we rebuilt the acquisition page from first principles. The original page led with product features: fee-free transfers, instant notifications, 1% cashback. These are compelling benefits — but they are irrelevant to a user who has not yet decided whether they trust the institution holding their money.
We restructured the page to address trust first: FCA authorisation prominently in the navigation, FSCS protection explained in plain English above the fold, 140,000 account holders mentioned in the hero headline. The features section moved to position three, after trust establishment and after a social proof section featuring video testimonials from named customers.
Rebuilding the Onboarding Flow
The original onboarding flow had five steps, presented as a numbered progress bar with no context about why each step existed or how long it would take. Users arrived at the identity verification step with no preparation, were asked to photograph their passport and take a selfie, and frequently abandoned at this point — because they had no idea why a bank app was asking to access their camera.
Trust Anchors at Every Step
We added a trust anchor to every step of the onboarding flow — a brief, contextual explanation of why this information is needed and how it is protected. 'We need your address to send your card and comply with FCA regulations. Your information is encrypted and never shared with third parties.' This added approximately 30 words to each step. Drop-off rates fell by 31% at every step it was applied.
The Camera Permission Explanation
The identity verification step was redesigned to include a 15-second pre-explanation screen before requesting camera access. It explained: (1) why identity verification is required by law, (2) exactly what the selfie is used for, (3) how long the process takes. This single change reduced abandonment at the camera permission step from 47% to 18%.
Progress Reframing
The progress bar was redesigned from a numbered sequence ('Step 2 of 5') to a named milestone model ('Identity confirmed — 2 steps to go'). Each completed milestone was named and celebrated briefly. The psychological shift — from counting what remains to celebrating what is done — measurably reduced abandonment in the second half of the flow.
Onboarding completion rate
Before
38%
After
91%
Camera step abandonment
Before
47%
After
18%
Mobile completion rate
Before
29%
After
58%
Dispute/complaint rate (wk 1)
Before
9%
After
2%
The Bigger Picture
Every intervention we made in this engagement addressed a trust deficit, not a UX efficiency problem. We did not make the flow faster — we made the user feel safer at every step of it. The total time to complete onboarding actually increased by approximately 45 seconds because of the trust anchors and explanation screens.
That is a counterintuitive result. The conventional wisdom in checkout and onboarding optimisation is to reduce time and steps. In high-stakes contexts — opening a financial account, sharing medical data, committing to a significant purchase — some friction is reassurance. A process that takes your personal data in 90 seconds with no explanation is not efficient. It is alarming.
“Kairo challenged our entire framework for thinking about conversion in FinTech. We were optimising for speed. They showed us we should be optimising for confidence. It was the right call.”
— Priya Mehta, Head of Growth, NovaPay