Novabook Unified Onboarding — full case study

Streamlined client onboarding for a B2B accounting platform, replacing three disconnected systems with a single guided flow.

Client: Novabook

Category: B2B SaaS

Streamlined identity verification for a B2B accounting platform, replacing three disconnected systems with a single guided flow.

Metric: 40% faster onboarding

Role: Senior Product Designer (Lead)

Duration: 8 weeks

1 PM, 2 engineers, 1 compliance lead

Novabook's client onboarding took an average of 14 days and required manual verification across three separate systems. 60% of new clients dropped off before completing KYC, costing the business an estimated £120K in annual revenue.

Accountants had to re-enter client data across multiple tools, track verification status through email chains, and had no visibility into where bottlenecks occurred. The process was frustrating and error-prone.

Regulated industry requiring KYC/AML compliance with strict audit trails.
Legacy tech stack with limited API flexibility between existing systems.
6-week delivery window before a key enterprise client renewal.
Small engineering team with limited front-end capacity.

Conducted 15 interviews with accountants using the existing onboarding flow, ran a workshop with the compliance team to map regulatory requirements, and analysed drop-off data from existing analytics.

80% of drop-offs happened at the document upload step due to unclear requirements.
Accountants were manually tracking client status in spreadsheets alongside the tool.
The compliance team approved documents within 4 hours on average, but users perceived it as days due to lack of status updates.
Most accountants onboarded clients in batches, not individually.

Mapped the existing 23-step flow and identified 9 steps that could be eliminated or automated. Explored three approaches: a wizard-style flow, a checklist model, and a dashboard-first approach. Tested low-fidelity prototypes with 5 accountants. The checklist model tested best because it matched their existing mental model of tracking tasks.

Designed a unified onboarding dashboard with a checklist-style progress tracker, inline document upload with real-time validation, and automated status notifications. Added batch onboarding for firms handling multiple clients simultaneously. The design reduced the flow from 23 steps to 8.

Onboarding time reduced from 14 days to 8 days (40% improvement).
Drop-off rate decreased from 60% to 24%.
Manual verification work reduced by 60% through automated document checks.
NPS for onboarding increased from 22 to 58.

Enterprise client renewed their contract citing onboarding improvements.
Support tickets related to onboarding dropped by 45%.
Feature became a key differentiator in sales conversations.

Regulatory stakeholder alignment needs to happen early. I initially focused too much on the user flow and had to revisit designs when compliance requirements came up late. Building compliance into the design process from day one would have saved a week.

I would add more structured usability testing at the mid-fidelity stage. We moved to high-fidelity too quickly based on early positive feedback and missed some interaction details that required revision.

The work in detail

Novabook: Unified Onboarding System | Full Case Study | Nazish Mirekar

Deep dive into the complete design process, research, and outcomes for Novabook's unified onboarding system.

Title Highlight: Unified

Title After Highlight: Onboarding

Title Line2: System

Title Plain: Unified Onboarding System

A streamlined onboarding experience that brings every team and client onto one clear, connected system

Section Label: B2B SaaS

Role

Value: Senior Product Designer

Timeline

Value: April 2025 to Oct 2025

Team

Value: Product, Sales, Operations

Key outcome

Value: 40% faster onboarding

Overview

Image Alt: Novabook platform overview

Novabook is an accounting service that helps startup founders manage their finances and meet compliance requirements. The onboarding process was messy and confusing, using many different tools like emails, Google Docs, and spreadsheets. This made it hard for clients and internal teams to stay organised or see what needed to be done.
The goal of the project was to design a single, easy-to-use onboarding system that connected all steps in one place. I created a simple MVP that improved visibility, reduced manual work, and helped clients understand what to do next. The new system brought structure and clarity, saving time for the teams and giving clients a smoother, more trustworthy experience.

Context

Novabook provides accounting services to startup founders, including payroll, bookkeeping, and compliance.
The end-to-end client set-up and onboarding journey was spread across several tools: email, Google Docs/Drive, Asana, Xero, QuickBooks, and HMRC/Companies House.

Image Alt: Fragmented tools used in onboarding

This led to

Lost or duplicated information
Long handovers between teams
Heavy manual work
Low client confidence

Why it mattered

Founders are time-poor and want clarity and speed
Sales need quick handovers without chasing documents
Operations need fewer manual tasks and better visibility

Users and stakeholders

Primary users

Startup founders with low accounting knowledge who need clear, guided steps.

Internal users

Sales (set-up and onboarding), Operations/Accounting, CEO/CTO (for scaling and visibility).

Challenge

Objective Heading: Objective

Create one clear and connected onboarding system for all teams and clients
Reduce manual work by automating simple and repeated tasks
Improve teamwork and communication between sales, accounting, and onboarding teams
Give clients clear steps, helpful guidance, and progress updates
Make it easier for everyone to track progress and see who is responsible for each task
Build a process that can grow and adapt as the company expands
Improve client trust and satisfaction through a smoother onboarding experience

Responsibilities

Service and product design, discovery, workflow mapping, prototype creation, and internal testing.

Collaborators

CTO / Product Lead, Sales Lead, Operations Lead, and two developers.

Approach

Value: MVP

Constraints and assumptions

Desktop and mobile, MVP scope, and limited engineering capacity.

Discovery

Image Alt: Discovery process overview

To understand the existing onboarding process and identify key pain points, I conducted the following discovery activities:

Figjam Heading: Discovery board

Figjam Link Text: Open the board in Figma

1. Stakeholder interviews

I spoke with the Sales Lead, Operations Lead, and CTO to understand their needs, challenges, and expectations. Key insights included:

Sales teams struggled with long handovers
Operations teams spent significant time on manual data entry
No single source of truth for client status

2. Journey mapping

Image Alt: End-to-end journey mapping

I mapped the end-to-end client onboarding journey to visualise all touchpoints, handoffs, and pain points.

3. Workflow analysis

Image Alt: Workflow analysis diagrams

I analysed the existing workflows to identify bottlenecks, redundancies, and opportunities for automation.

4. User research

Image Alt: User research findings

I conducted interviews with recent clients to understand their onboarding experience and expectations.

Key findings

80% of drop-offs happened at the document-upload step, driven by unclear requirements.
Accountants were tracking client status manually in spreadsheets, alongside the tool.
Compliance approved documents in ~4 hours on average, but with no status updates, users perceived it as days.
Most accountants onboarded clients in batches, not one at a time, yet the flow assumed single onboarding.
Information was scattered across tools, so manual re-entry led to errors and delays.

Solution

Based on the discovery findings, I designed a unified onboarding system with the following key features:

1. Centralised client dashboard

Image Alt: Centralised client dashboard

A single view showing all onboarding tasks, progress, and next steps.

2. Guided task completion

Image Alt: Guided task completion flow

Step-by-step guidance with helpful tooltips and inline validation.

3. Internal team view

Image Alt: Internal team visibility dashboard

Real-time visibility into all client onboarding status and team assignments.

4. Automated workflows

Image Alt: Automated workflow configuration

Automatic notifications, task assignments, and data syncing to reduce manual work.

Outcome

The new onboarding system was rolled out as an MVP to a small group of clients. Early results showed significant improvements:

Value: 40%

Faster onboarding (14 → 8 days)

Value: 24%

Drop-off rate, down from 60%

Value: 60%

Less manual verification work

Value: 58

Onboarding NPS, up from 22

Stakeholder: Clients

Clearer onboarding journey, better understanding of progress, faster setup

Stakeholder: Sales

Faster handovers, less time chasing information

Stakeholder: Operations

Reduced manual work, better visibility, fewer errors

Business results

The enterprise client renewed their contract, citing the onboarding improvements.
Onboarding-related support tickets dropped by 45%.
The new flow became a key differentiator in sales conversations.

Reflections

What worked well

Starting with an MVP allowed us to validate assumptions quickly
Close collaboration with all stakeholders ensured buy-in and alignment
Journey mapping helped visualise the complex handoffs between teams
Simple, guided interface reduced cognitive load for time-poor founders

What I would do differently

Conduct more user testing with actual clients before the MVP launch
Build in more flexibility for edge cases and custom workflows
Plan for mobile experience earlier in the design process
Create more comprehensive onboarding for internal teams

Next steps

Roll out to all clients based on MVP learnings
Add advanced automation for document processing
Integrate with additional accounting tools
Build analytics dashboard for leadership insights