Northwind Banking
Re-imagined the core onboarding for a challenger bank in MENA, lifting day-30 retention by 38%.
The brief, in plain terms.
Northwind launched into a crowded MENA market with a strong brand but a leaky funnel. 47% of users who downloaded the app never completed account opening — and most dropped at the document-capture step.
Cut onboarding drop-off without compromising on regulatory KYC requirements, in a region where document quality and connectivity vary wildly.
How I broke down the problem.
- 01
Shadowed 18 first-time users in three cities to map the real flow, not the spec.
- 02
Re-sequenced KYC so users start with the smallest commitment (phone + name) and earn into harder steps.
- 03
Designed a forgiving document-capture experience: edge detection, retake hints, offline queue.
- 04
Localised the flow Arabic-first, then mirrored to English — not the other way around.
- End-to-end onboarding flow (iOS, Android, Web)
- KYC + liveness UX
- Component contributions to the design system
- Localized Arabic-first experience
“The biggest win wasn't a screen — it was a sequencing change. Onboarding is a psychological contract, not a form.”