Project Overview

Project Description

In 2023, JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought First Republic Bank, a financial institution that had been serving high net-worth individuals and businesses for nearly four decades. After a run of uninsured deposits, First Republic Bank shortly followed suit in the collapse of regional banks, including Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

My role as a content lead on this project involved overlooking and updating web and mobile content for First Republic users as they transitioned to JPMorgan Chase, as well as updating content on behalf of JPMorgan Chase for their onboarding. From an industry experience perspective, this project encapsulated how the cyclical nature of businesses and users affects content practices.

Challenges

The challenges First Republic faced in this merger and acquisition ranged from investment losses, transferring multi-account clients, decreased customer retention, increased call-center traffic, and a lack of trust in regional banks from their client base. JPMorgan Chase was responsible for rebuilding clients’ sense of structure, stability, and trust.

An additional layer of complexity to overcome in this merger and acquisition was the demographic transition for First Republic’s client base. Service marked, “It’s a privilege to serve you®” First Republic had a long established reputation for attention to exceptional customer service. With their leading cause of new business being customer referrals, First Republic attracted a specific market of high net-worth individuals and small-medium sized business seeking personalized services, tailored banking solutions, and white-glove treatment. These clients were in for a mildly rude awakening transitioning into an all-inclusive bank like Chase; my role was to ensure my content reflected empathy for these clients through clear, concise, and informative language.

My Role

As the content lead for this merger and acquisition, my role entailed the following responsibilities: 

• Own content for Login, Private Wealth Management, Personal Banking, Business Banking, and FAQs on behalf of First Republic Bank.

• Own content for Asset & Wealth Management, Consumer & Community Banking, and Commercial Banking on behalf of JPMorgan Chase.

• Coordinate content quality assurance and documentation across, product, marketing, and legal. 

• Collaborate with marketing to efficiently update content on the FAQ page. 

User Research & Testing

User research for this project was not as planned and hands-on as I would have anticipated. My role typically entails active participation, engaging with users through questions pertaining to their circumstances, preferences, and scaling the user-friendliness of the content in testing. However, the content team did not have a strong hand in what user testing would look like for this project. Weeks before final content was due for the Personal and Business Banking segments of First Republic Bank, I was informed that user testing would be taking place shortly, and to hold on finalizing content. A slurry of questions and blockers start flooding my mind, such as:

As the lead content strategist on this project, it was important to remained honed in on my mission: telling users a clear and transparent “story” of how First Republic will now be a part of JPMorgan Chase. Understanding my user pool through avenues of user testing and personas would help me drive important pillars in my content strategy, such as the tone of the written language and the reading-level of my audience.

While user research is not my expertise, I believe an ideal pool of users for testing on behalf of First Republic Bank would have consisted of internal employees and users on their end and external employees and users from JPMorgan that would be impacted by the merger. If I were to go back and alter the way we conducted user testing for this project, I would have benefitted from having resources such as user personas and a structured strategy to ensure well-rounded team involvement.

Where was the content team’s involvement in this user research? Was there no consultation with the content team about what content will be presented during research? That doesn’t seem… throughout.

Content Takeaways from User Research

It was later revealed to me that there was no original intention of conducting user testing for this merger and acquisition; this was an attempt to “squeeze in” user testing for the remaining areas of uncertainty in the user flow that were deemed high priority. I know – a moment of silence for the users.

User research was conducted in the form of user interviews between two First Republic users enrolled in Personal and Business Banking, respectively. The research team and project managers were permitted to be present during user research. During team debriefs, I received a recap of user research with key content strategy takeaways, including:

• The background of users banking relationships.

  1. 64% of clients had an online banking profile with First Republic and Chase.

  2. 20% of clients had an online banking profile with First Republic and no online banking profile with Chase.

  3. 13% of clients had client relationships with both banks but no online profiles.

  4. 3% of clients did not have an online banking profile with First Republic and had no relation to Chase.

  5. The term “migration” was confusing and lacked stability.

     • While drafting content for sections that communicated the transition to Chase, alternative verbs such as, transfer, transition, and join were received well by leadership.

     • After user testing and approvals with legal and marketing representatives, the language was finalized with, “Now a part of JPMorgan Chase”.

Enroll now vs Sign up

An area of turbulence when it came to content strategy was addressing the smallest pool of users - First Republic clients who did not have an online banking profile and/or a relationship with Chase. In order to ensure these clients could access the digital documentation of their accounts transitioning to Chase, the login pages for web and mobile were redesigned.

I wanted to achieve as much consistency as possible across the First Republic and Chase login screens, with an inclination towards how Chase would honor content strategy and design considering First Republic users would soon join Chase. From a content perspective, “Enroll” is a verb better suited in the context of a user committing to exclusive services or products; such as bill-pay, early-pay, or credit monitoring services. “Sign Up” is better suited for inclusive services, such as online banking, marketing emails, and notifications.

Upon communication with leadership. legal representatives from the First Republic side informed me that since First Republic was a private banking institution, unlike Chase, First Republic clients must have their finances invested in their accounts prior to having online banking access. Legal representatives on the Chase side confirmed that their requirements for creating an online account did not require that users carry a balance with the bank. With a private and financially vested client base, a financial institution like First Republic was better suited with “Enroll” versus “Sign Up”.

Content Strategy

Due to the sporadic and ephemeral nature of this merger and acquisition, gathering pre and post merger flows for the sake of comparison was challenging. A common theme throughout this project was balancing the appropriate amount of time and effort between content that would dissipate alongside First Republic and content that would remain standing with JPMorgan Chase. The content I was drafting for First Republic, while fleeting, was equal in priority to the content I was drafting for JPMorgan Chase.

The company lifecycle of First Republic was in decline while JPMorgan Chase was basking in company renewal. From a perspective of company prosperity, it made sense to allocate resources to the growth of JPMorgan Chase as opposed to the dwindle of First Republic. However, if this merger failed in terms of user satisfaction, there could be grave repercussions that put JPMorgan Chase’s reputation in jeopardy.

The content being crafted for First Republic users was sensitive in nature; streamlining accounts and financial services from one bank to another leaves a lot of room for potential error. Legal representatives frequently swayed towards sharing less information with users regarding their account transfer. Initially, this could be viewed as a hurdle between legal and creative; the cliche of legal representatives prioritizing the well-being of the organization while creatives prioritize the well being of the user. However, as a proponent for the user and team-player, putting heads together and working towards the same goal achieves a balance between user and organizational needs.

First Republic Bank | Mobile & Web Wireframes

The screen to appear in sequence is labeled, “Your account status”. Strategically speaking, keeping this section dedicated to recent account updates would ease the intake of information and capture users attention early in the flow with relevant updates.

In this comprehensive web view, the user has multiple commercial accounts with First Republic that would transition to JPMorgan Chase.

JPMorgan Chase | Mobile & Web Wireframes

When users select “More” on the mobile Home screen they are directed to their services with First Republic. In this example, we have what would appear for a credit card holder.

Tools

Figma

Confluence

Jira

Evergreen

User Interviews

A/B Testing

QA Testing

Team

Content Writer

Project Manager

Legal Representatives

Marketing Partners

UX Designers

Developers

These are sample personas made for this case study. A glimpse into the life of First Republic’s users grounded my sense of empathy throughout content strategy.

Hadn’t I asked about user research during onboarding? They said it was already complete. Maybe they’re interviewing internal colleagues as an attempt at last-minute thoroughness?

Through which avenues of user research are we presenting content strategy and design to users? A/B testing, focus groups, or user interviews? This feels poorly planned, incredibly rushed, and I would love some answers.

First Republic “Enroll now”

After successfully logging in to their online account, First Republic users are greeted with a message with the latest updates to their account. To learn more about the status of their accounts, users select the “Get the latest” CTA.

The redesign of the online banking originations flow took into consideration First Republic clients transitioning to JPMorgan Chase by assigning predetermined, but changeable, usernames.

Example of the post-merger and acquisition screen. First Republic Login screen after the mobile app was decommissioned.

Conclusions & Takeaways

The Final Product

The final product of this merger and acquisition was the acquisition of First Republic Bank by JPMorgan Chase. As the content lead on behalf of First Republic and JPMorgan Chase, I updated sections of content regarding logins, account updates, and updates to products and services that would be impacted by the merger and acquisition.

Results & Impact

JPMorgan Chase’s acquisition of First Republic Bank was a significant move in the banking industry. Here are some key outcomes from the experience as a whole:

Strengthened Position for JPMorgan Chase.

• JPMorgan Chase solidified its position as one of the largest banks in the United States, adding to its already extensive customer base and assets, with 90% user retention.

Expanded Wealth Management

• The acquisition bolstered JPMorgan's wealth management business due to First Republic’s known focus on high-net-worth clients.  

Stabilization of the Market

• This merger and acquisition aided in stabilizing the banking system following the banking crisis of early 2023, as it prevented the collapse of another major bank.

Reflections

I remember when I began onboarding, my manager warned me that this project would be the equivalent to “hair on fire”. While it certainly felt this way at times, I learned an abundant set of skills in a short period of time. This project encapsulated how the cyclical nature of businesses and users affects content practices. Serving as the content lead for two financial institutions has left me with:

• Sharpened organization habits

  • Keeping track of approval processes, the evolution of content and designs, and building multiple networks to streamline progress through First Republic and JPMorgan Chase required taking the extra time and effort to organize my work efficiently.

• Stronger leadership initiative

  • Between managing various content teams within JPMorgan Chase and ensuring my teammates from First Republic were aware of the latest updates, leaning into my knowledge and experience of working in agile spaces was crucial for success.

• Grounded expectations

  • After having the chance to experience working in these two distinct yet prominent financial institutions, this merger and acquisition was not as streamlined or efficient as I had hoped. Potential areas of improvement to optimize workflow and efficiency include prioritizing the planning of user testing and a structured process for legal approvals.