Seamless Onboarding for Qonto Bank Migration

Penta Bank was acquired by Qonto, which defined our next goal: to ensure a seamless user migration process through a dedicated registration flow and data automation designed to enhance the overall user experience during the transition.

Research
User Testing
User Interviews
Metrics Analysis

18k

New accounts created

92%

Users moved funds

36%

Migration conversion

Qonto banking onboarding screen welcoming a user, listing account setup benefits, and showing partner logos

Interface screen prompting user to create a secure password with data protection and security information.

High-level Picture

The French startup Qonto acquired its German competitor, Penta. Both companies provide business bank accounts for freelancers, small and medium-sized companies.

Informational graphic introducing Qonto and Penta, describing their roles in digital financial management and their merger.

Project Overview

Problem: Migrating 50,000 Penta customers to Qonto posed a risk of frustration and customer churn if the process felt complicated or handled in a pushy way.

Solution: We designed a user-friendly migration flow with automated data handling to simplify the transition, overcoming technical and legal constraints.

Result: 52% of users started the migration process, and 76% of them successfully completed it, with 92% transferring their funds.

Qonto welcome screen for migrated Penta users and subscription plan selection page with pricing options.

Task Scoping

In a group brainstorming session, we defined the feature's scope and broke it down into three main components, each with a deeper level of granularity.

Diagram outlining Qonto’s main goal for migrating Penta Bank clients, detailing communication, seamless migration, and transition steps.

Process Timeline

Team involved: Product Manager, Product Designer, Copywriter, PMM

Timeline showing Qonto migration project tasks including research, team syncs, design work, and user interviews.

Research & Analysis

Striving to collect valuable insights, we conducted research that allowed us to identify potential challenges, understand user needs, and make informed decisions.

Overview of Qonto vs Penta features, target audience demographics, and legal constraints on contacting Penta clients.

Customer Interview

Managing the merger of two companies is a highly delicate process. If handled in a pushy way, the users might choose another bank in the end. We talked to a couple of people who had a similar experience in the past:

Customer quote about negative bank migration experience, citing aggressive communication and poor service.

User Preferences

We conducted five interviews with Penta clients, telling them about the upcoming migration. The following analysis revealed three key preferences that are expected for a seamless migration.

Customer concerns grouped into reassurance & trust, proactive guidance, and seamless onboarding categories.

Competitors Teardown

To support the ideation process, we researched relevant products to analyze their structure and approach to handling similar features.

Slide showing reassurance strategies for migration: value proposition, social proof, and education, with examples from Boursorama and Agicap.

Guidance strategies for migration, including transparent information, customer support, and user-centric content, with examples from Pennylane and Ramp.

Compliance strategies highlighting legal obligations, security signals, and certification proof, with examples from Dropbox and Revolut.

User Flow

We aimed to build a user flow that has a minimal number of steps to ensure a maximum number of customers reach the end of the funnel.

Step-by-step Qonto migration flow from Penta, covering notification, upsell, guidance, reassurance, credentials, pricing plans, contract signing, and account closure.

Prototyping

Guided by customer insights and competitor analysis, we created wireframes for transitional pages that seamlessly integrate with the existing product experience.

Wireframe screens for Qonto migration: reassurance by presenting benefits, guidance on migration steps, and compliance via user consent request.

Design Solution

The transition from Penta to Qonto was designed to be as seamless as possible, given the technical and legal constraints as friction.

Qonto welcome screen for migration from Penta, showing personalized greeting, key benefits, and call-to-action to open an account.

Qonto email confirmation screen for migrated Penta users, prompting them to enter a 6-digit code to verify their address.

💡 Reassurance

Throughout the migration process, users are reassured by social proof and compliance badges, reinforcing trust and credibility

Qonto password creation screen for migrated Penta users, featuring security tips and assurances of GDPR compliance and strong authentication.

Qonto pricing plan selection screen for SMEs, Teams, and Associations, showing Essential, Business, and Enterprise options with features, monthly costs, and a 4-month free trial offer.

Qonto plan confirmation screen showing the selected Business plan, payment terms, and an option to accept terms and confirm the plan.

💡 In-app Onboarding

The onboarding cards help newcomers explore the new interface

Qonto dashboard showing a migration success notification, options to order the first card or access IBAN, and recent transaction history.

User Testing

Once the solution was ready, we tested it on a small batch of 10 users to uncover pain points and iteratively enhance the experience.

Customer archetype and journey map for a coffee shop chain owner in Germany migrating from Penta to Qonto, outlining user actions, quotes, feelings, pain points, and improvement ideas across migration steps.

Next Improvement

Based on user feedback, it was not quite clear what to do after the account migration. To address this issue, we developed a Transition page that contains an action list with instructions necessary for finalizing migration.

Flowchart showing post-migration actions from Penta to Qonto, starting from email or in-app link, leading to a transition page with options to manage business information, payments, integrations, fund transfers, and account closure.

Design Refinement

We introduced a list of clickable cards on a dedicated page, allowing users to navigate easily and keep track of the necessary actions to complete their Penta account migration.