Redesigning the Smallcase home page for improved discoverability
Made for
smallcase, an Indian fintech company with ~10 million users, providing baskets of stocks to reduce the barrier of entry into the stock market.
Made in
3 months
Responsibilities
User Research, UX Design, Competitive Analysis, Wireframing and Iterative Prototyping
Why redesign the home page
The existing home page lacked clear tools to guide discoverability of relevant investment products.
Original dashboard of smallcase.com
Limited & static suggestions
Niche and complex feature
Unpersonalized & repetitive options
So I made
A personalized home page that guides product discovery through
relevant investment options.
What we aimed for
This overhaul aimed to drive more traffic through the website leading to...
20%
increase
in new user investments on the website
15%
increase
increase in subscriptions through this channel
20%
increase
in watchlisted portfolios
Decoding user research
After conducting 8 user interviews, I found users, like Josh, wanted better guidance that facilitated their investment journey.
This is Josh
A 27 year old engineer, can invest ₹20k per month
Started investing with Mutual Funds
He wants to build wealth for his future, for which…
He wants to diversify with stock baskets that give high returns
He would like know popular trends and themes to invest in
He needs guidance on how to start investing with the platform
Areas of focus
The goal of the redesign was to address the evolving nature of users' investment needs by providing options for each stage.
Explore
Diversify
Maintain
Learn about the market
Start with basic low-risk investments
Go for higher
returns
Invest in niche
themes
Maintain portfolio regularly
Update ratios according to goals
Most impactful areas to address to increase revenue
Let’s see how the new home page aids Josh in his
product discovery process
On logging in, Josh is looking to start with something with low stakes.
The first fold of the website contains portfolios that are simple bets to begin investing with.
According to user research, new users trust smallcase’s suggestions, so we showcased a pre-set list of beginner-friendly investments.
Why these portfolios are suitable for beginners
Social proof to highlight the popularity amongst new investors.
Users nudged to start with watchlisting, which is a low friction action.
He explores various portfolios and even watchlists some to track their progress.
When he revisits the website, he will be able to track portfolios that he has engaged with and can choose to invest in them.
Placed in first fold, most relevant suggestions
The portfolio’s growth since interacting to track performance for faster decision making.
More concrete actions shown as the user is familiar with these products.
After Josh is comfortable with the platform, he wants to know the most in-demand portfolios.
I added a “Trending” section that ranks the top portfolios of the platform based on their performance and popularity.
Tabs to let users interact and look at multiple lists
Progressive disclosure used to spark interest in trending smallcases
Tabular layout allows easy comparison of returns
Josh has recently learned that India’s infrastructure boom is a great theme to invest in for the future.
For exploring specific investment themes or ideas, I introduced a “Collections” section that aids categorical discovery of investments.
Tabs to allow quick navigation for easier comparison
Nudges that highlight the unique features of the portfolio.
All portfolios shown up front instead of hiding them behind a touchpoint.
Josh has also started following some investment managers who provided portfolios on smallcase.
Surfacing star-managers makes their followers’ discovery journey much smoother.
Investment advisors in India often garner a big following on social media. Marketing analysis informed us that their followers follow them to the platform and look for their products.
Other additions to the page
This redesign also gave the team an opportunity to better surface other product offerings.
We showcased the platform’s various affordances to a user in a way that's most relevant to them.
This helped promote products like external investment tracking, loans alerts , etc. to a broader audience.
User new to the website
Loan offerings are prioritised from a business perspective.Tools to make first investment are shown.
Invests in portfolios and tracks external investments
Takes a loan from smallcase
Loan instalment coming up
1
2
During research, I also found that new users generally struggled to make sense of the platform.
So, I created a step-by-step guide to acclimatise new users to the concept of portfolio based investing.
Results and reflections
A phased rollout was planned for this redesign.
While this continued to be a prioritized project, I was not able to see through the execution of the whole redesign as I left the company to pursue my masters degree.
The end
Let’s create together!
Arnav Sharma 2025
Last updated on May 24, 2025