The Funded Trader's website, our brand's digital face. Crafted to educate users, streamline their journey, and drive conversions, it stands as a beacon in the competitive world of retail proprietary trading.
The Funded Trader grew from a small retail proprietary trading firm to the largest in the space at an exponential rate. However, with this growth came the challenge: our WordPress site, vital to our brand, was outdated and lagging. With me being the only Product Manager on the team behind our two co-founders we faced several major problems I’ll outline below.
Navigating Technical Challenges
Problem: Our website faced constant outages (at least one per week), slow load times (F on GT metrix), and persistent bugs, affecting user experience and trust.
Action: As the Product Manager, I worked closely with co-founders and bridged communication with our development team. I facilitated a detailed report from the developers outlining the problems and their suggested remedies. Together, we diagnosed the core issues and I did a cost-benefit analysis. After that, I was set on a full backend overhaul and once I presented the analysis to leadership they were too. This task was then moved to the top of the product road map and executed.
Impact: Post-overhaul, website downtime was reduced by 99%, enhancing user experience and trust. Driving conversion up 15%.
Digital Migration: Preserving Identity
Problem: Our vast data migration posed the risk of losing unique IDs, crucial for continuity. We needed to think of every angle in which the process could go wrong, or the company could lose data.
Action: I meticulously planned this migration, ensuring the seamless transition of essential data while minimizing downtime. I wrote up the plan for the migration, handled communication to customers, and even scheduled a war room meeting with key stakeholders which in actuality lasted 6 hours.
Impact: We retained 100% of unique IDs, ensuring consistent user experience post-migration and only sustained >5 min of actual site down time.
Symbols Page for Transparency
Problem: Users needed a reliable way to compare our asset prices with real-time market benchmarks. The best way to judge a retail prop firm is based on their ability to stream price data through a trading platform.
Action: I helmed the Symbols Page project, delivering live price feeds for each tradable asset with a savvy UI. This included finding sources of all of the relevant data, working with developers to integrate price data into the page, and even designing the page.
Impact: A reliable page with 1000+ unique visitors a day driving conversion upward.
CBD Project: More than a Redesign
Problem: Our website needed more than functional changes; it required a performance boost. We wanted the site to make users feel like they just stepped into the number one retail prop firm. We partnered with a group of designers called CBD to bring this vision to life.
Action: Overseeing the CBD project, I facilitated collaboration between the founders' vision and our designers. I wrote requirements, held sprint planning meetings, and QA’ed all work coming out of the project. Together, we rolled out a site focused on creative design, speed, and functionality.
Impact: An impactful and well-designed site with animation, creative backgrounds, and a professional look and feel.
Closing Thoughts
My time at The Funded Trader has been about identifying problems, facilitating collaborative solutions, and driving tangible, positive outcomes. It's this commitment to growth and improvement that positions us as industry leaders.