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 authentication 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 Identity to prevent fraud and maintain compliance.
This meant asking creators to provide significantly 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
Re-ordered steps from least to most sensitive
I strategically re-ordered verification steps so creators would encounter low commitment asks first, allowing creators to build trust incrementally before asking for a government ID and selfie.
Design Decision 02
Surfaced the benefit before the ask
Led with what verification unlocks for creators, reframing the flow from obligation to value.
Design Decision 03
Added context at the point of each request
Added explanations at the moment each piece of information was requested, replacing uncertainty with reasoning.
Outcome
80% completion rate at 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.
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.