Problem

The existing deposit flow at Underdog Fantasy created unnecessary friction at the moment of payment. Customers faced decision overload and unclear next steps, directly impacting conversion in a business-critical flow.

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The challenge

We needed to simplify the deposit experience without sacrificing trust, clarity, or deposit value. The flow had to reduce cognitive load enough to improve conversion, while still supporting both first-time and repeat deposits in a real-money context.

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Decision 1: Reduce cognitive load at the moment of payment

I redesigned the deposit flow as a focused, full-screen experience to remove competing choices at the moment of payment. By sequencing decisions instead of surfacing everything at once, the flow optimized for completion rather than exploration.

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Decision 2: Optimize for conversion before deposit size

I prioritized improving deposit conversion even when early results showed slightly lower first-time deposit amounts. Rather than reverting the design, we ran follow-up experiments to validate long-term value, which ultimately proved higher overall conversion was the more impactful lever.

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Decision 3: Isolate experimental UI to protect the design system

When leadership requested a visual identity refresh, I avoided modifying the core design system and instead created an isolated exploratory UI library. This allowed us to test new components safely within the deposit flow without introducing global risk or design debt.

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Outcome

The redesigned deposit flow increased registration-to-deposit conversion within one hour by 4.6%, confirming that reducing cognitive load at the moment of payment improved conversion. While first-time deposit amounts initially dipped (–5.1%), follow-up experiments validated the tradeoff, resulting in a 4.3% projected lift in total deposit value over 12 months. The final solution also delivered an 18% relative lift in Apple Pay deposits among first-time customers.