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Otivo Digital Advice Experience
Organisation: Acenda
Project type: Customer testing of a digital advice platform using algorithm‑informed recommendations alongside AI chat support, UX research, service design, and concept and prototype evaluation
The challenge
Acenda needed to understand how customers perceive and use the Otivo digital financial advice experience; its clarity, usefulness, trustworthiness, and ability to support behaviours across debt, super, retirement, and life insurance.
The goal was to identify usability barriers, value gaps, and opportunities to strengthen product‑market fit before launching a pilot.
Research approach
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A 6‑day remote diary study (n=5) captured users’ real‑world interactions with the platform, followed by 45‑minute debrief interviews.
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Participants shared expectations, daily reflections, usability feedback, perceived value, emotional responses, and behavioural outcomes across modules.
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Synthesised patterns in desirability, trust, personalisation, decision confidence, and readiness to act.
Key learnings
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Full insight report summarising platform appeal, usability, and trust drivers.
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Module‑level findings across debt, super, retirement, and life insurance.
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Behavioural patterns showing how users interpret and act on digital advice.
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Clear design implications and prioritised recommendations to improve personalisation, transparency, and decision support.
My role
I led the end‑to‑end research design, execution, and synthesis as Incubation Lead. This included crafting the diary study, coordinating participant recruitment, guiding analysis across multiple data sources, and translating findings into actionable design recommendations. I also collaborated with innovation and product stakeholders to align insights with strategic priorities.
Impact on the business
The study revealed users want digital financial advice but require deeper personalisation, transparent reasoning, and scenario flexibility to trust recommendations.
Insights directly informed business requirements, workflow design, and prioritisation decisions for Acenda, which is exploring embedding or redirecting users to Otivo, ensuring the experience feels seamless, supportive, and trustworthy. The work also considered enhancements to scope clarity, AI assistant capabilities, and hybrid human‑digital support.
The research strengthened Acenda’s ability to position digital advice as both a value‑add service and a strategic complement to life insurance and retirement offerings.