Why Your Application Flow Might Be Costing You Customers (And What to Do About It)

Let’s be honest: the way most financial brands handle digital applications still feels like it’s built for 2005.

You know the drill—long forms, irrelevant fields, weird questions too early in the process, and the dreaded “submission error” screen that sends your potential customer straight to a competitor.

Here’s the truth: Your onboarding experience isn’t a form. It’s a trust test.

And many brands are failing.

The Customer Already Said Yes. Don’t Make Them Regret It.

By the time someone hits “Apply,” they’re already mentally committed. They’ve done the research. They want the product. In fact they already think of themselves as your customer.

So when they hit a wall—an unnecessary question, a clunky UI, or a step that feels wildly out of place—you break that momentum. And broken momentum means abandoned applications.

Think of it this way: if people can order dinner, refill prescriptions, and sign up for a streaming service in a few taps, why should opening a savings account feel like filing taxes?

Outdated Assumptions = Lost Conversions

Here’s what’s hiding in many financial flows:
– Legacy underwriting logic no longer needed up front
– Internal-only field requirements that confuse users
– Jargon and labels that make sense to your product team—not to your customers

– Missing information that makes customers hesitate

These aren’t just small UX misses. They’re barriers to revenue.

And what’s worse? Every drop-off from a bad flow didn’t just cost you a conversion—it may have cost you a lifetime customer.

What to Do Now

Want to stop losing customers in your application flow? Start here:
– Audit your onboarding for dead weight. If a question doesn’t need to be asked at that moment—cut it or move it later.
– Watch someone complete your application cold. Don’t explain anything. Just watch. And then act to remove all of what they stumbled over.
– Rewrite your flow for comprehension, not compliance. People should understand every field at a glance.
– Prototype and test like your conversion rate depends on it—because it does.

If your application doesn’t feel like a seamless extension of your brand promise, it’s not just a design issue. It’s a business risk.

If you don’t fix your flow, your customers will find someone else who already has.