‍The Problem‍

‍

One of Australia's largest financial services organisations was redesigning the front-end experience and information architecture of its public website to simplify navigation across banking, superannuation, investments, retirement and financial advice. The existing site had evolved into a highly complex ecosystem spanning multiple audiences, products and legacy structures.

‍

Our Approach

‍

• Analysis of existing behavioural analytics & data
• Open card sorting
• Moderated and unmoderated interviews
• Tree testing
• Navigation validation studies
• Competitive IA benchmarking
• Mental model analysis across multiple audience cohorts
  ‍

Key Insights
‍

• Users consistently grouped content by product category rather than audience type
• Product-led navigation structures outperformed audience-led structures
• Superannuation users demonstrated the least consistent mental models
• Participants prioritised direct task completion and terminology familiarity over internal organisational structures
• Navigation sprawl and content fragmentation were negatively impacting discoverability.
  ‍

Recommendations included
‍

• Development of a flatter, product-led information architecture
• Rationalisation of overlapping navigation pathways and duplicate content structures
• Improved integration between superannuation, investments and retirement content experiences
• Simplified navigation focused on task-based journeys
• Enhanced advisor and employer pathways
  ‍

Results
‍

• Delivered a validated future-state information architecture grounded in customer mental models and behavioural evidence
• Reduced ambiguity across core product and audience pathways
• Improved confidence in navigation terminology, hierarchy and discoverability prior to implementation
• Provided a scalable IA framework capable of supporting future digital expansion initiatives.

‍