BillGO is a B2B2C bill payment platform used by major banks, including Capital One and US Bank. The product allows end users to manage, pay, and track bills across multiple providers in one place.
As a Senior Product Designer on a tight-knit team of designers and UX researchers, I led key design initiatives to address churn, improve user clarity, and rethink the emotional experience of bill pay.
Our primary users were middle-class elder millennials of all genders, though the platform served a wide demographic spectrum. Gen Z was our smallest group, and we made a focused effort to improve retention and relevance for that segment.
Multiple clients had reported high user drop-off within the first week of using the platform. Our team was tasked with identifying the root causes of churn and improving engagement and retention.
I approached this challenge with the hypothesis that money is inherently emotional and stressful — and that many fintech tools fail because they overlook this emotional layer. Our goal was to reduce friction, build trust, and help users feel in control of their financial lives.
We launched a month-long mixed-method UX study, asking participants from various demographics to journal their daily money habits. This included bill-paying behaviors, routines, emotional triggers, and interactions with other platforms.
To enrich the insights, we also ran internal walkthroughs — asking employees to talk through their own experiences with competing bill pay products.
The research uncovered specific breakdowns in communication, onboarding, and UI expectations that led to user drop-off. Key issues included:
Lack of feedback or confirmation around payment success
Confusing language around due dates and auto-pay
Anxiety-inducing UI patterns that implied penalties or urgency
Inconsistent data display between institutions
From there, I worked closely with engineering and product to map high-friction user flows, rework system copy, and simplify complex interactions — especially around payment tracking, scheduling, and alert customization.
The redesign helped reduce early churn rates across key client platforms and increased overall user engagement. While full retention metrics are confidential, usability testing showed:
Faster task completion times in payment and scheduling flows
Increased user confidence in payment status (fewer support tickets reported)
Positive feedback around clarity, tone, and feeling more “in control”
Internally, our design decisions also influenced broader platform initiatives — including updates to the CRM dashboard and support workflows.