Digital Identity Manager: Upselling users without compromising trust
Company
Experian
May 2022
Role
Product Design Lead
Sole Designer
Collaborators
Product Owner
Sr. Researcher
Developers
Executive summary
Leading the design of Experian Partner Solutions' Digital Identity Manager project, I transformed a complex privacy challenge into a compelling user experience that balances trust-building with business needs. By designing an educational journey that revealed personal data exposure before requesting commitment, I achieved 40% user interaction with the free scan and an 8% conversion rate to paid services. When faced with unexpected technical constraints, I developed an innovative parent-child UI structure with inferred status logic, which maintained usability while accommodating system limitations. This trust-first approach generated millions in new revenue while establishing a repeatable framework for converting free users to paid subscribers without sacrificing user trust.
Context
Designing for trust and growth: A privacy tool that converts.
Digital Identity Manager is a privacy-focused feature developed within Experian Partner Solutions (EPS), Experian's B2B2C arm. EPS delivers white-labeled financial wellness and identity protection solutions to partner organizations through portals, APIs, or custom implementations.
People-finder sites, also known as data brokers, collect and sell personal data (names, addresses, relatives, and phone numbers), often exposing users to identity theft risks. Digital Identity Manager (DIM) helps users regain their privacy by scanning these sites for information and requesting their removal.
My roles
I advanced a trust-first user experience, user flows, cross-functional UX alignment, and interface consistency and scalability through design systems.
I executed tasks including clarifying the problem space and vendor capabilities, defining scope, writing user-facing copy, designing solutions, testing, and overseeing the hand-off process.
Project impact
The launch of Digital Identity Manager generated millions in new revenue, validating the commercial viability of a trust-first design approach. The free scan experience achieved 40% user engagement and an average conversion rate of 8% from free to paid. The results demonstrate that when users clearly understood the risks and value, they were motivated to upgrade.
Understanding
The users:
Interested in protecting their identity
As a B2B2C product, the end users were often not the direct customers. They accessed the platform via a partner-branded portal, making design consistency and white-label flexibility essential. Users varied widely in tech savviness, motivation, and understanding of privacy best practices; the design needed to accommodate the lowest common denominator.
The tasks:
Engage, understand, upgrade
Users needed to engage with the free scan experience, understand people-finder sites and their risks, and learn how the paid service could help them reclaim their privacy.
Pre-scan product page description carousel.
The tool:
People-finder description, scans, upgrades, and status
DIM is an automated privacy and identity protection feature that continuously scans for users' data on people-finder sites. This feature was powered by a third-party blackbox API that we could not modify, only design around. The product included a one-time free scan and an option to upgrade to paid continuous scans and automated removal requests.
Dashboard call-to-action (free scan) button
Scan results call to upgrade to paid.
Project Goals & Scope
The goal was to launch a modular, white-label privacy product that continuously scanned people-finder sites and automatically requested the removal of user data. The project included creating a free version with a one-time scan to demonstrate value and encourage upgrades to the paid version, as well as a variation that facilitated direct onboarding for paid users. All solutions needed to be compatible with a legacy platform used across partner implementations.
Our original plan for this product was to integrate it with our Identity Health Score feature. We intended to add data from the scans into the score calculation and present each scan as a special type of task that we completed for the user. I worked on this for a few weeks when our Stakeholder informed us that one of our partners was interested in DIM as a stand-alone product, not integrated with IHS, and we needed to pivot in that direction.
Project Task I
Designing the core free-to-paid experience
Scan results, free vs paid.
Problem
Users needed to engage with the free scan experience, but placement and messaging weren't capturing user attention effectively.
To encourage users to interact with the free scan, my initial thought was to provide a brief explanation of what DIM is and how it can benefit them. However, testing showed that 2 out of 7 participants overlooked the CTA and did not read the product description. With a more intriguing headline and button text, along with a more visually prominent button style, we saw an immediate increase in engagement. I then realized that users were more likely to read about what the product is and how it could benefit them after they had engaged with the scan.
Before
Remove your personal info from people search sites.
People search sites are marketplaces for data brokers to buy and sell personal info, making it easier for bad actors to access your data. Digital Identity Manager protects you with personal info removal assistance from, and repeated scans of, these sites.
Start scan
Learn more
1
Headline lacks context
2
The button is hard to see, and the button text is not compelling
After
See if your personal info is exposed on the web.
People finder sites are marketplaces for data brokers to buy and sell personal info, making it easier for bad actors to access your data. Digital Identity Manager scans for your address, phone number, and other personal info exposed on these sites.
Start your free scan
Learn more
1
The headline is intriguing even without context
2
Easy-to-see button and compelling button text
Problem
Users needed a general understanding of people-finder sites. Testing revealed that seeing their exposed data motivated them to learn more.
During the discovery phase, I researched the business models of people-finder sites to understand the specific risks they presented to consumers. These data brokers collect, store, and sell personal information from public records and online sources, making users vulnerable to fraud, identity theft, and other forms of harassment.
However, collaborating with a Senior Researcher over two rounds of testing revealed that users were hesitant to engage because of the identity protection paradox: to protect their identity, they needed to share more personal data. The breakthrough came during the free scan when users saw what personal data of theirs was exposed; they became intrigued and motivated to learn more about it. This research informed our strategy for using the free scan results as the primary education tool, rather than trying to explain abstract risks upfront.
Sample people-search site search results.
Problem
Test participants struggled to understand the value proposition of upgrading to paid protection.
Initial testing revealed that, despite explanatory content, participants didn't immediately grasp the difference between free and paid versions. One participant asked, "What exactly do I get if I pay?" In later testing, 3 out of 5 participants missed the information about premium benefits (automated removal and repeated scans), assuming the upgrade simply provided more details or scanned additional sites. Some believed the paid option would scan more sites or search for different types of data.
Once they learned about the benefits, participants especially appreciated the auto-removal feature. To address this issue, I reduced the amount of content, wrote a more emotional headline, and used a less abstract pain point (receiving spam calls over contacting people-finder sites for data removal). I also explicitly stated in both the content and adjacent to the CTA exactly what upgrading gets you: automatic removals. This approach worked because it shifted focus from technical features to the tangible benefits users could immediately understand.
Before
1
The headline is too abstract
2
Pain point is abstract
3
Technical features emphasized
After
1
The headline is more emotional
2
More relatable pain point
2
Benefit restated
Approach
Scanability and guiding users from awareness to action.
I designed a user flow that began with a dashboard card offering a free scan, utilizing minimal text and a clear call to action. Before engaging with the free scan, the product page contained approachable and informative content about people-finder websites and the risks they may pose. The free scan revealed users’ exposed personal data, creating a substantial emotional impact. I paired these results with upgrade messaging emphasizing the convenience, security, and ongoing protection the paid service provides.
Pre-scan risk description and free scan prompt.
Scan results with a call to upgrade to paid.
I worked closely with the Product Owner to foster a trust-first approach instead of pushing for an immediate upsell. Through my years of experience with users concerned about identity theft or aiming to improve their credit scores, I learned that nothing undermines trust faster than a hard sell. This collaborative strategy allowed our team to create a user experience that balances business objectives with user needs.
Project Task II
Scope increase: manual validation for broker networks
Problem
After explaining automated removals to users, some sites started to block them, and I had to pivot.
When we encountered a late-stage challenge, specifically when specific people-finder networks started blocking automated removals, I took the lead in designing a solution. Instead of overhauling the entire design, I developed a parent-child variation of the accordion pattern already in use. I included additional instructions that helped users understand the network concept and the extra steps they needed to undertake with these networks. This approach preserved the user experience and design system consistency while addressing the underlying technical constraints. It gave clear instructions without overwhelming users and kept the product delivery on track.
People-finder network and non-network sites
Above: No people-finder networks
Problem
I figured out a way to display the system's status, for sites we don’t control, to users.
After being relieved to devise a simple solution to distinguish stand-alone people-finder sites from networked ones, I encountered another challenge. The email validation process would occur on the people-finder sites, not in our system or the vendor's. Therefore, we would be unable to update the system status for our users. Even after a user completes the manual validation, the status message still indicates "action needed," leading to a poor and confusing user experience.
Then it occurred to me that since we frequently re-scanned the network sites, if we saw that the network had removed user data from a child site, we could infer that the network would also update the other child sites. If all data had been removed from all child sites by the network, we could update the overall network status to "completed." I communicated the importance of addressing this issue to the team and presented my idea for implementing logic to update the status accordingly. After collaborating with the Development team to assess the level of effort required, everyone was on board, and we successfully implemented the solution.
Approach
Adaptive problem-solving that balances user needs with technical constraints while maintaining system consistency.
When confronted with the unexpected challenges of automated blocking, I took a strategic approach instead of starting from scratch. I utilized existing design patterns and thoughtfully adapted them to meet new requirements. I demonstrated a strong understanding of user mental models by anticipating potential points of confusion, such as discrepancies in status messaging, and addressing them effectively. I proactively designed solutions that aligned the system’s behavior with user expectations.
My process involved close collaboration with the development team to ensure feasibility while advocating for improvements in user experience. This approach helped ensure that technical limitations did not compromise the overall user journey. Throughout this process, I maintained a holistic view that considered both the immediate needs of users and the long-term consistency of the product.
I grouped networks and their sites into hierarchical containers to underscore their relationship and help users understand that a single validation could affect multiple sites. These containers included simple instructions for users to follow, and then we applied logic to the scan updates to infer status, providing clarity and confidence in the data removal process.
Output
Final screens
Impact
Success metrics & results
40% user interaction with the free scan
8% average conversion from free to paid product
Fewer than 100 service calls for the user base
“
I like that there is an option to see what information is available for free to really demonstrate how much could be out there and the option for upgrading ... and have someone handle it for you.
P7, Complete ID user
Conclusion
This project embodied three key design principles that guide my work:
Building trust before asking for commitment, evidenced by our educational approach
Progressive disclosure - revealing information in digestible chunks at the right moment
Emotional impact as a motivator - showing users their actual exposed information created urgency without fear-mongering
Joining design, product, and development early in problem-solving has effectively addressed changes and technical constraints. I have often had to address restraints with design compromises, but I am increasingly recognizing places where they can be opportunities for innovation. My case study for the FICO Score Planner is an example of how I continue to address limitations with innovations.