RegTech
SaaS
B2B
Workflow Optimisation
UX Strategy
Optimising Review Flow: Evolving the Applicant Profile Page
Sumsub, Head of Product Design
2021-2024
The applicant profile page is the most frequently used part of Sumsub’s platform, central to verification and compliance. As the company pushed for a self-service model, the page became critical: it had to be clear and transparent, while still supporting the complexity of manual reviews.
Problem
The old page was confusing and inconsistent, with unclear statuses, hidden rejection reasons, and missing analytics. This slowed down reviews and created heavy reliance on support.
Goal
Redesign the profile page to optimise the review flow — making it transparent, scalable, and self-service ready.
Challenge
The business priority was to scale self-service without losing the functionality enterprise clients relied on. But migrating clients was not straightforward: sales and CSMs kept using the old version, adoption lagged, and new features often shipped only to the legacy page.
My Role
Led the first redesign effort, shaping research, scope, and principles.
Enabled in-depth UX research for the next iteration.
Delegated leadership of the second redesign to a staff designer working directly with founders, while I focused on other strategic priorities.
Supported the team, ensuring alignment with the design system and long-term scalability.
Applicant page before redesign
Approach
Clarity is key
We planned the redesign around these priorities:
Restructure navigation for clarity.
Surface rejection reasons upfront in plain language.
Support independent client checks while meeting compliance needs.
Lay the groundwork for analytics and future reporting.
Anchor design in principles: clarity, transparency, scalability, efficiency, self-service.
Iteration 1
MVP
01
Hypothesis
If we made the profile page clearer, more transparent, and better aligned with real user workflows, clients would adopt it, reduce reliance on support, and migrate from the legacy version.
02
Execution
Redesigned navigation and page layout for clarity.
Surfaced rejection reasons upfront, in plain language.
Anchored design in principles of clarity, transparency, and self-service.
03
Outcome
After successful validation through usability tests, the page was released with limited functionality covering the most common use cases for self-serve clients. The adoption strategy was to transition clients with only basic needs while gradually adding more functionality to the redesigned page.
However, adoption stalled — as self-serve was deprioritised at the business level, new features continued to be shipped only to the old version, widening the gap. CSMs kept onboarding clients on the legacy page, while product projects and sales teams relied on the old flow. Clients and internal teams stuck with the legacy version, which still offered the most complete functionality.
Result: the redesign was underused, even though the concept was sound.
Iteration 2
Continuous Learning
01
Hypothesis
If we built the new profile iteratively inside the old version, informed by deeper research into all user roles and JTBD, clients would transition smoothly and adoption would increase.
02
Execution
Researched all roles and jobs-to-be-done, mapping workflows and edge cases.
We pivoted to an iterative transition approach — updating blocks of the old page step by step, even though the UI was inconsistent during migration.
Balanced speed with systemisation, prioritising functionality first, then harmonising patterns.
03
Outcome
The second iteration turned the applicant profile into a systemised, scalable foundation for growth. By redesigning block by block inside the legacy page, we reduced migration friction, kept functionality intact, and gradually harmonised everything into a new design system. Clients could review faster and with fewer errors, while internal teams finally had a consistent platform for building new features.
Result
Average manual profile verification time decreased by 8.5%, from 71s to 65s.
Built a scalable design foundation that supports future product growth and iteration.
Streamlined delivery across product teams, improving collaboration and release speed.
Reflection
This case taught me that design leadership means staying flexible to business-level shifts and adjusting quickly when priorities change.
The first iteration wasn’t wrong — it met user needs, but it didn’t cover all use cases, and the business strategy moved away from self-serve. What made the difference was stepping back to invest in deeper research and then moving forward iteratively, aligned with both business direction and user workflows. That combination allowed us to avoid another false start and deliver a redesign that was systemised, scalable and corresponded to user needs, making adoption smooth.