Kikoff
Usability Testing for Kikoff's Mobile Credit-Building App, Used by 1M+ Users.
Year:
2025
Timeframe:
10 Weeks
Tools:
Figma
Category:
UX Research
01 / OVERVIEW
Usability Testing for Kikoff, a Mobile Credit-Builder App with 1M+ Users
Kikoff is a mobile credit-builder app with 1M+ active users. As the company looked to expand into the student market, I led a usability study evaluating how well the app worked for college students unfamiliar with credit-building — and what was getting in the way of trust and adoption.
02 / PROBLEM
Onboarding overwhelmed users before trust was built
Many college students find credit-building confusing or simply irrelevant to their current lives — often unaware of how much it will matter later. Kikoff's early users felt the same friction: onboarding was overwhelming, key features like the Credit Builder Loan were unclear, and sensitive steps like entering an SSN felt risky without enough explanation. Trust wasn't being built early enough to carry users through the rest of the experience.
03 / SOLUTION
Usability testing uncovered exactly where trust broke down
I led recruitment and session facilitation for 7 participants across majors and backgrounds, ran 4 scenario-based tasks covering onboarding, Rent Reporting, and the Credit Builder Loan, and synthesized findings with the Kikoff team through weekly working sessions and a FigJam severity board. The recommendations we delivered — and Kikoff later implemented — simplified onboarding with interactive visuals, made high-value tools like Dispute Resolution and Rent Reporting more prominent, clarified sensitive steps like SSN input and autopay, and reordered flows to put plan selection before sign-up.
04 / OUTCOME
Increased trust converted users to higher-tier plans
Once participants got past onboarding, they completed 100% of core tasks successfully — the features worked, once people understood them. The real barrier was trust: 4 of 7 said they'd choose a higher-tier plan once they understood what they were paying for, which reframed the fix around building trust early rather than just simplifying screens.