Western Union prepared for the first-market launch of a new digital wallet in Canada—one of its most critical growth initiatives. With millions in transaction revenue and brand trust at stake, failures in the mobile-web experience posed significant conversion and reputational risk ahead of global rollout.
As CoE Director at Testlio, I founded and led the Usability Center of Excellence, owning UX research for both client services and the Testlio platform. Western Union became the CoE’s largest strategic account, where I served as their primary UX research partner for launch readiness and continuous improvement.
Overview
I designed and led an end-to-end usability research program to validate Western Union’s mobile-web transfer experience before launch.
The work identified 157 usability issues—including three catastrophic blockers—and delivered a severity-ranked roadmap that directly informed redesign priorities for high-impact flows such as Check Fees, Login, Receiver Selection, and Review & Send.
The Problem
Users felt overwhelmed despite a simplified UI
• Duplicated inputs and unclear fee breakdowns increased cognitive load
• Unpredictable flow order reduced user confidence
• Users could not anticipate next steps, undermining trust
These issues directly threatened conversion, trust, and launch success.
The Goal
• Validate end-to-end usability before first-market launch
• Identify conversion- and trust-blocking issues
• Reduce cognitive load and improve predictability
• De-risk global rollout through independent UX validation
Discovery & Insights
Quantitative
• 157 findings categorized by severity (45 major, 3 catastrophic)
• SUS score: 77 (Good but with clear weaknesses)
• Task-level satisfaction ratings exposed key drop-offs around Check Fees, Login, and Review screens
Qualitative
• Strong frustration with repeated inputs
• Confusion around fee structure, exchange rate, and edit affordances
• Low predictability: users were surprised by unexpected screens (Log in, Complete Profile, Address Info)
• Trust issues around personal data collection timing
The findings revealed that usability breakdowns—not feature complexity—were the primary drivers of abandonment. Confusion around fees, repeated inputs, and unexpected steps significantly eroded trust in a high-stakes financial flow.
Strategy & Concept Development
User research revealed a clear, evidence-based path forward centered on:
Reordering the flow to match user expectations (login first, no duplicated steps)
Increasing clarity around fees, exchange rate, and editable fields
Reducing cognitive load through better grouping and more transparent screen titles
Adding predictability via progress indicators and consistent CTAs
This strategy directly informed redesign decisions and launch readiness confidence.
Execution Highlights
Visual & Structural
• Merged Receiver + Address screens
• Reordered flow to avoid late-stage interruptions
• Improved hierarchy for fees, totals, and emphasis
• Standardized sender → receiver mental model
Interaction & IA
• Clarified CTAs (“Continue to log in”)
• Added indicators for fastest / cheapest options
• Improved hamburger menu IA
• Identified and escalated a critical “Edit & Resend” payment bug
Design Principles
1. Predictability: Remove surprises and make upcoming steps obvious.
2. Transparency: Clarify fees, totals, and why personal info is required.
3. Cognitive Ease: Reduce repeated fields and unnecessary screens.
4. Trust & Reassurance: Clear labels, better grouping, and contextual explanations.
Results
Business outcomes
• Identified and resolved 3 catastrophic blockers pre-launch
• Reduced high-risk drop-offs at Login and Check Fees
• Improved task efficiency during re-test simulations
Operational Impact
• Delivered a severity-ranked backlog (0–4 scale)
• Enabled teams to eliminate duplicated steps
• Provided a clear redesign roadmap before go-live
Usability Outcomes
• Higher clarity around fees and exchange
• Lower cognitive load and fewer surprises
• Improved comprehension of payment/delivery options
• More intuitive menu structure
Broader Business Impact
• Established reusable research frameworks for future flows
• Aligned teams on UX quality standards
• Elevated testing and experimentation maturity
• Strengthened collaboration across UX, PM, and Engineering
Takeaways
Outcome
Early UX validation prevented costly launch failures and improved trust in a high-stakes financial flow
• Leadership: Independent research accelerated alignment and confident decision-making
• Strategy: Predictability and transparency are critical for money-transfer UX
• Future: Progressive onboarding and real-time fee indicators can further reduce friction
