Designing for friction to achieve 80% creator verification
I owned the redesign of Fanspark's creator verification experience, transforming a mandatory compliance requirement into a trust-building experience. By strategically staging friction and increasing transparency, the redesigned flow achieved an 80% verification completion rate after launch.
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
2 Months
Team
1 CEO, Co-Founder
1 CPO, Co-Founder
1 CTO
3 Engineers
Context
Creator verification shifted from social verification to ID verification
Fanspark, a sports creator platform, needed to verify creators before they could post content and monetize. When business requirements changed, we moved from social authentication to Stripe ID verification to prevent fraud and maintain compliance. This meant creators would now need to provide more sensitive information.
The Problem
ID verification introduced significantly more friction by asking for sensitive personal information
Identity verification required creators to submit a government ID and take a selfie, introducing significantly more friction than social authentication, which is familiar and low-friction.
The Challenge
Make identity verification easy to complete while meeting compliance requirements
With ID verification now required, I had to balance competing needs: make the experience feel trustworthy and easy to navigate for creators, while preserving the verification requirements needed for fraud prevention and compliance.
Constraints
Designing with fixed requirements
Third-party dependencies
Stripe owned the identity verification experience limiting what could be designed
Narrow scope
Scoped to the verification flow only, though testing suggested trust issues existed across the broader onboarding experience
Non-neogtiable requirements
Identity verification was required and could not be removed or bypassed
Short timeline
Shipping an improved experience first, with planned measurement and iteration post-launch
Current State Audit
Identifying opportunities to reduce friction
I audited the existing flow from the creator's perspective, focusing on moments that could create hesitation, confusion or unnecessary effort.
Build trust before requesting sensitive information
Creators needed more context around why each step was required and how their information would be used
Reduce percieved friction
Dense, text-heavy screens made it difficult for creators to quickly understand each step.
Give creators control
Forcing creators through the process could make the experience feel restrictive
Design Decision 01
Staging the experience using progressive disclosure
I strategically re-ordered verification steps so creators would encounter low-commitment asks first before higher-stakes asks like identity and banking requirements.
Impact: Reduces early exposure to high-stakes asks, easing creators into the process
Design Decision 02
Increased transparency around sensitive information
Ambiguity increases perceived risk when users are asked to provide sensitive information. To address this, each step clearly explains what information is required and why it is needed.
Impact: Increased clarity and perceived legitimacy
Design Decision 03
Allow creators to skip steps and complete at their own pace
Creators could skip verification and return later, allowing them to maintain control while still communicating that all steps in the process were required.
Impact: Adds transparency, reducing anxiety and unknown effort
Outcome
Two rounds of testing, pre and post launch
Before launch, I tested the experience with creators to validate the overall structure and identify areas where additional explanation or guidance could improve the experience.
Pre-Launch
participants completed verification in beta testing
Post-Launch
80%
completion rate
Key Research Insight
Creators who dropped off during verification rarely returned to complete the process
The 80% completion rate was a strong outcome, but post-launch data revealed that drop-off was permanent. Creators who didn't complete verification weren't returning to the platform.
Next Steps
A/B test a 3-phased verification experience
To address permanent drop-offs, I proposed a more flexible verification flow that allows creators to complete requirements progressively over time rather than upfront during onboarding. This updated flow is planned to be validated through A/B testing in a future release.
Reflection
What I Learned
Sometimes friction is necessary. When you're asking users to provide sensitive information, the design opportunity is to make that friction clear, intentional, and trustworthy without treating the user experience as an afterthought.