PruAdviser – Case Study

Project Background

PruAdviser is Prudential’s digital platform for financial advisers. It provides access to:

• Product information
• Tools and calculators
• Research and insights
• Support services

The platform is a critical touchpoint for advisers, enabling them to make informed recommendations to their clients and streamline their advisory process.

However, the legacy platform had become outdated and fragmented, with advisers reporting:

• Difficulty finding information quickly.
• Limited usability of calculators and research tools.
• A disjointed visual experience.

The redesign aimed to modernise the platform, improve usability, and strengthen adviser engagement with Prudential’s services.

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My Role

The project team included:

• Project Manager
• 2 UX Designers – one in-house, one consultant
• UI Designer
• Development Team

As a UX consultant I was brought in to support the in-house UX designer assigned to the project. I was responsible for the entire UX lifecycle:

• Developing the UX strategy aligned with Prudential’s business objectives.
• Facilitating workshops with internal stakeholders and financial advisers.
• Conducting user interviews and contextual research to understand adviser needs and workflows.
• Mapping user journeys and identifying pain points.
• Designing wireframes and interactive prototypes to test solutions.
• Running usability testing sessions to validate designs.
• Iterating and refining based on user feedback.
• Delivering validated UX designs for handoff to the UI designer.

This role required me to act as a bridge between business stakeholders, developers, and advisers, ensuring the platform balanced both business requirements and user needs.

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Project Objectives

🎯 Understand Adviser Workflows

• Gain a clear understanding of how financial advisers use the platform daily.

🎯 Improve Usability

• Create a more intuitive, accessible, and task-oriented experience.

🎯 Streamline Tools & Content

• Redesign calculators, tools, and resources to reduce friction.

🎯 Enhance Visual Consistency

• Provide a modern, cohesive design that aligns with Prudential’s brand.

🎯 Support Business Goals

• Increase adviser engagement and strengthen trust in Prudential’s advisory services.

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Research

Quantitative Research

Analytics data was reviewed to identify:

• Which tools and calculators advisers used most frequently.
• Drop-off points in key user journeys.
• Areas of the site with low engagement.

Qualitative Research

We conducted:

• Interviews with financial advisers to capture their workflows and challenges.
• Workshops to prioritise features and align with business goals.
• Contextual inquiries to observe how advisers worked in practice.

This helped uncover usability issues such as cluttered navigation, complex tool flows, and inconsistent layouts.

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Data Analysis

Insights from research were consolidated into:

• Personas representing different adviser archetypes.
• Journey maps outlining how advisers accessed information and tools.
• Affinity diagrams to identify recurring pain points and opportunities.

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Personas

We created representative personas to guide design decisions:

• Independent Adviser – balancing multiple providers, needs quick comparisons.
• In-house Adviser – working exclusively with Prudential, needs depth and accuracy.
• Senior Adviser / Manager – oversees a team, requires reporting and oversight tools.

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Ideation & Design

Through brainstorming sessions and sketching workshops, we explored multiple solutions.

We produced:

• Wireframes – low-fidelity layouts to validate structure and flows.
• Interactive prototypes – tested with advisers for feedback.

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Prototypes & Testing

We built clickable prototypes to simulate user interactions and ran usability tests with advisers.

This allowed us to:

• Validate navigation improvements.
• Refine calculators and tools.
• Ensure information architecture aligned with adviser workflows.

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Iteration & Design System

Consistency was ensured by creating a design pattern library including:

• Navigation structures
• Component guidelines
• Responsive layouts

This reduced ambiguity, accelerated development, and created a unified experience across the platform.

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Conclusion

The PruAdviser redesign:

• Improved usability and navigation, making it easier for advisers to find and use tools.
• Provided a modern and cohesive design aligned with Prudential’s brand.
• Supported advisers in serving clients more effectively, strengthening engagement with Prudential.

By centering the redesign on adviser needs, the project delivered a platform that was both strategically aligned and user-friendly.