CMC Markets

Overview

CMC Markets is a global digital trading and investing platform with an annual revenue exceeding $600 million. However, their current Australian website presents challenges: complex navigation, overwhelming information, and a lack of differentiation between brands and product offerings. While it effectively served existing clients, its potential to educate and engage diverse traders remained untapped.

In the realm of trading, clarity is the compass. We embarked on a journey to revamp the website, proposing an information architecture based on Google Analytics, conducting competitive analysis, and usability testing. The work delivered high-fidelity designs focusing on content hierarchy, consistency, and branding alignment, creating seamless experiences for new and existing users.

ROLE

Project Lead

DEVICES

Desktop, Mobile

TIMELINE

July - Oct 2022

What's the problem?

The current CMC website experience suffers from several key issues:

🕸 Complex navigation

Users struggle to find what they need as the site features duplicated pages with inconsistent financial terminology.

🤔 Brand confusion

The distinction between share and CFD trading isn’t clear, leading to users signing up for the wrong services.

🛤️️ Inefficient user journeys

New and experienced traders face confusion and struggle to explore diverse product offerings and their respective features.

📱 Mobile usability

Given the significant number of mobile traders, the current website lacks a mobile-friendly approach, impacting user experience.

What did we do?

Our journey to transformation involved the following key stages:

IA review, workshops and refinement

Comprehensive analysis of the website's IA

Persona creation

Refining CMC user personas to inform design decisions

Existing website audit

Evaluating the current site to identify issues

Mid and high-fidelity wireframe designs

Creating visual representations of the redesigned site for business approval

Stakeholder shareback and feedback

Involving stakeholders and integrating their input from the beginning

Prototyping and usability testing

Iterative testing with various persona groups

Outcome

Validated simplified navigation for all users

Lowering friction points, simplifying key journeys by redesigning IA for intuitive navigation

Designed a unified trading hub

Clearly differentiating CMC's two major product offerings - CFD and share investing, building synergy and avoiding confusion between the two brands

Optimising engagement and simplying complexity

Enhancing clarity in CMC product offerings, providing easily digestable information related to investing

Consistent, simple, responsive design

Validating mobile designs through testing to ensure important information can be easily legible and accessed all screen sizes

Project challenges

Complex IA reform

Undertaking a information architecture reform demanded meticulous analysis and a deep understanding of page content, user journeys coupled with the need to navigate differing stakeholder opinions. This is conquered by IA audits, sitemaps creations, external workshops.

Making finance simple

Finance is complicated, concepts are hard to grasp, and uses highly specific vocabulary coupled with business marketing terminology and offerings, our challenge was to make all content valuable and easy to understand for all personas.

Old CMC Markets website

PROCESS DEEP DIVE

Curious about the process? Read on!

Information architecture review

Objective: To improve findability of the site through easy navigation

We facilitated information architecture (IA) workshops with stakeholders to uncover initial IA concerns. Leveraging Google Analytics data, we analysed high-traffic pages, drop-off points, and overall user flows to pinpoint critical areas for improvement. We found that:

1. Inconsistent categorisation

Pages are not categorised logically, with outliers and duplicated pages to be reorganised and removed.

2. Confusing labels

Labels are confusing for users, with inconsistent terminology used to refer to the same items.

3. Inconsistent breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs are used inconsistently and inaccurately, creating navigation differences that may confuse users.

Based on these findings, we developed an initial IA recommendation and then tested it with users through iterative card-sorting exercises, gathering feedback and making refinements along the way. Engaging stakeholders throughout this process allowed us to align the evolving IA with both user needs and business goals, leading to a more intuitive and effective structure.

Refined sitemap after iterative testing

User personas

Objective: To understand key user segments and their needs

We developed three user personas - High Value Alphas, New Wave Traders, and Potential Investors, through a combination of stakeholder discussions and market research.

These personas provided insights into each group’s goals, behaviors, and preferences, allowing us to tailor the design to meet their specific needs and improve overall user engagement.

3 user personas defined for CMC Markets

Website audit

Objective: To assess the website’s current state and identify improvements

We conducted an audit of 16 primary pages, examining elements such as page hierarchy, structure, headings, and layout.

This audit enabled us to pinpoint areas for enhancement, which informed the creation of low to mid-fidelity designs for usability testing.

Website audit including sticky notes to critique site page, such as inconsistent headings, CTAs that are not obvious

Conclusion

Through user-centered design, we transformed CMC Markets’ website to better meet the needs of its diverse user base, including High Value Alphas, New Wave Traders, and Potential Investors.

By conducting thorough audits, refining information architecture, and creating intuitive user flows, we addressed key usability pain points and enhanced navigation. Iterative testing and stakeholder collaboration ensured that every design decision aligned with business goals and user expectations.

The final outcome is a streamlined, user-friendly website that offers an improved, cohesive experience, enabling users to easily access essential tools and information, ultimately supporting their trading and investment journeys.