METLIFE PERSONAL FINANCE
Revealing Unnoticed Spending
Our team identified an opportunity through user feedback and support data: customers were struggling to track recurring subscription expenses across multiple payment methods. As lead designer, I collaborated with product, engineering, and research to design a comprehensive subscription management experience.
Challenge: Design solutions within existing technical constraints while addressing complex user behavior around subscription tracking
User Flows & Wireframes to Explore Opportunities
We developed comprehensive user flows exploring three key areas based on the opportunity our product team identified through user research and support ticket analysis.
Users Underestimate Their Subscription Costs
Key Research Findings
Organizing Transaction Details
Information Architecture
Working within our technical infrastructure, I built a streamlined information architecture after analyzing user needs. This structure creates clear pathways between different views of subscription information, ensuring intuitive navigation throughout the app while respecting our existing data structure and API limitations.
Screen flow ideation
Before / After comparison
Usability testing revealed users prefer canceling subscriptions themselves rather than through our app. I redesigned the cancellation flow to provide necessary information and direct links to service providers, working within the constraints of what our engineering team could implement with existing integrations.
Subscription Details
Essential views
These screens showcase our core functionality through intuitive information design. Users can easily view monthly spending, track upcoming subscription payments, and access detailed information about individual services.
Flexible Classification
User-defined organization
Our classification system balances automation with user control, designed to work within our current transaction processing capabilities. I designed an interface that allows users to review and adjust how their subscriptions are categorized, ensuring spending data remains accurate and personally relevant while minimizing the technical complexity for our engineering team.
Streamlined Cancellation
Simplified management
Our consolidated view reveals previously overlooked recurring charges. The streamlined cancellation process guides users with clear instructions and pre-populated information, helping eliminate unwanted expenses.
The Impact
Since this project was deprioritized before launch, I can't share usage metrics. However, the design work created significant impact for our product strategy:
Design Validation:
User testing validated our approach to subscription visibility and management, with [X% improvement in task completion] for subscription-related tasks compared to existing flows.
Strategic Influence:
The research revealed deeper opportunities in predictive financial planning. By understanding how users manage recurring expenses, we helped shape the product roadmap to include cash flow planning and broader spending pattern analysis.
Technical Learning:
Working within our existing infrastructure taught valuable lessons about designing for constraint-based innovation. The solutions we developed influenced how our team approaches similar integration challenges.
This project laid the groundwork for more sophisticated financial planning features, even though the specific subscription management tool didn't ship. The insights and design patterns became foundational to our broader product strategy around recurring financial obligations.
Credits
UX Research
Lauren Todd
Product
Sri Beniki, Jorge Beltran
Tech Lead
Tom Hartsgrove