It's time for me to get back into it.

Financial Accounts: Reinventing the Client Website

This was one of my favorite projects. Financial Accounts was the name of the secure Ameriprise (then American Express Financial Advisors) client website. Before my redesign, the site organized data strictly by individual account ownership—even though our financial plans and paper statements were structured by household. The mismatch confused clients, frustrated advisors, and hurt trust. Usage remained low, with just 25% of registered clients logging in.

We started with client focus groups, where we tested early prototypes I had helped create. The next day, our small team debriefed and discussed new ideas. I was then asked to lead the redesign—one that would mirror the household structure of paper statements, support all American Express relationships (Brokerage, Banking, Cards, and 401(k)), and incorporate a reimagined version of our data aggregation tool.

I spent five days offsite developing a new concept. When I returned, I shared a full sitemap and 18–20 high-fidelity mockups that demonstrated exactly how the site should look and function. These visuals served as a foundation for the requirements and showed a household-based design, prominent advisor contact info, referral and messaging features, and easy ways for clients to add both internal and external accounts. The site also included a net worth summary—with the option to share it with an advisor—which later helped uncover assets advisors hadn’t known about.

Crucially, I secured legal and compliance approval to show household data online by demonstrating that our approach exactly matched the approved process used for printed statements. This removed a major roadblock that had stalled earlier efforts.

Once funded, we moved into development. I worked closely with our tech team to address challenges and created a prioritized backlog—a first for the group, and one of several Agile-like practices we adopted before we even knew the term. After a bumpy start, delivery smoothed out. Thanks to my team’s marketing, communications, and advisor training efforts, adoption soared. Within a year, we enrolled 5 times as many clients as the old site, with strong engagement and positive feedback.

Features continued to roll out, including the company’s first client-facing ACH money transfer tool—a success story in its own right. Two years later, Ameriprise spun off from American Express and began evolving the site further. By then, I had transferring to London, but I like to think I helped lay the foundation for what came next.