Building trust with accessibility
and alignment.

Client

Forge Trust

Industry

Fintech

Role

Product Design

Forge Trust is a self-directed IRA and Custodial service and is a separate business entity owned and operated by Forge Global.

Forge Trust is a self-directed IRA and Custodial service and is a separate business entity owned and operated by Forge Global.

Overview

Forge Trust specializes in self-directed retirement accounts, providing administrative and custody services to individuals, financial advisers and investment issuers.

The legacy client portal and platform was clearly outdated, putting strain on users and the business alike.

Implementing new features was difficult and users had grown overly reliant on customer service calls to resolve their issues.

Project Goals

To bring the Trust business fully into the fold of Forge Global, post acquisition, the existing client access portal required a complete refresh. This accomplished numerous goals for the company:

•

Properly associate Forge Trust within Forge Global as a separate but connected entity

•

Unlock new feature development using modern tools and methods

•

Improve client self-service options, communication and address accessibility needs for a mature user base (40s - 70+)

Solution approach

Our strategy to meet the user and business needs was to leverage the existing Forge Markets design system married married with the Forge Trust brand to create a new flexible component-based design system with increased contrast ratios and text sizes to improve accessibility for the mature Trust user base.

User Considerations

People using self-directed IRAs take a more hands-on approach than the average investor and frequently log into the client portal

People using self-directed IRAs take a more hands-on approach than the average investor and frequently log into the client portal

Users trend older, ranging from professionals in their 40s to retirees 70 and above

Users trend older, ranging from professionals in their 40s to retirees 70 and above

Users often have multiple accounts and a wide array of asset types

Users often have multiple accounts and a wide array of asset types

Many personally manage their holdings while others engage with advisory professionals. The system has to work equally well for both.

Many personally manage their holdings while others engage with advisory professionals. The system has to work equally well for both.

Business Considerations

Enable faster development speed for new features via process and system integration

Enable faster development speed for new features via process and system integration

Create flexibility for the business to quickly address user, growth and service opportunities

Create flexibility for the business to quickly address user, growth and service opportunities

Reduce strain on customer service calls via improved user experience

Reduce strain on customer service calls via improved user experience

User Considerations

People using self-directed IRAs take a more hands-on approach than the average investor and frequently log into the client portal

People using self-directed IRAs take a more hands-on approach than the average investor and frequently log into the client portal

People using self-directed IRAs take a more hands-on approach than the average investor and frequently log into the client portal

Users trend older, ranging from professionals in their 40s to retirees 70 and above

Users trend older, ranging from professionals in their 40s to retirees 70 and above

Users trend older, ranging from professionals in their 40s to retirees 70 and above

Users often have multiple accounts and a wide array of asset types

Users often have multiple accounts and a wide array of asset types

Users often have multiple accounts and a wide array of asset types

Many personally manage their holdings while others engage with advisory professionals. The system has to work equally well for both.

Many personally manage their holdings while others engage with advisory professionals. The system has to work equally well for both.

Many personally manage their holdings while others engage with advisory professionals. The system has to work equally well for both.

Business Considerations

Enable faster development speed for new features via process and system integration

Enable faster development speed for new features via process and system integration

Enable faster development speed for new features via process and system integration

Create flexibility for the business to quickly address user, growth and service opportunities

Create flexibility for the business to quickly address user, growth and service opportunities

Create flexibility for the business to quickly address user, growth and service opportunities

Reduce strain on customer service calls via improved user experience

Reduce strain on customer service calls via improved user experience

Reduce strain on customer service calls via improved user experience

Outcomes

Deploying a flexible system of reusable components had a direct impact on revenue, call center demand and speed of new feature deployment. This also brought the Trust business into alignment with the other Forge product experiences, setting the stage for further cross-product integration and growth opportunities.

$4M

Increased revenue

Increased revenue

-30%

Reduction in call center volume

Reduction in call center volume

6 Weeks

To deploy new features via components

To deploy new features via components