Northeastern University Health & Wellness Lab
Aralink
Bridging clinical research and design to improve patient outcomes.
AraLink is Aralia Education Technology’s unified client onboarding platform, designed to consolidate contract signing and international tuition payment into one continuous experience. In this project, I led the UX and systems architecture to transition the company from a fragmented, email-heavy process to a centralized portal for client success management.
Timeline
August 2025 - May 2026
Tools
Google AI Studio
Figma, Microsoft Clarity
Documenso API, Supabase
Problem
Research
Phase 1: Discovery & Workflow Audit
I started by mapping the existing onboarding process to pin down where clients dropped off between receiving an agreement and sending payment. My audit focused on two core tracks:
Internal & Client Workflow Audit: Traced the manual handoffs between sales reps, contract emails, and payment links to identify key points of friction and system disconnects.
Fintech & Sign-to-Pay Benchmarking: Evaluated onboarding flows in modern SaaS platforms (like Stripe, Plaid, and DocuSign) to establish best practices for multi-step verification and cross-border payment UX.
Key UX Audit Findings
Fragmented Hand-Offs & Context-Switching
Clients received contract documents and payment instructions through disconnected channels (separate emails, PDF attachments, and external links). This forced users to manage their own progress across multiple apps, leading to high drop-off right after contract signing.
Opaque Transaction Status & Zero Feedback
Once a document was signed or a wire transfer initiated, the system provided no real-time status updates. Clients were left uncertain whether their payment was received or their contract was validated, driving high volumes of manual support inquiries.
High Cognitive Load in Cross-Border Payments
The payment interface failed to account for multi-currency clarity, international banking nuances, or clear fee breakdowns. Without guided instructions for cross-border settlement, international families felt hesitant and confused during the final checkout step.
Ideation
Stakeholder Alignment & Systems Strategy
To bridge the gap between business needs and client friction, I facilitated alignment sessions with key stakeholders across Leadership, Operations, and Tech:
Translating UX Friction into Business Impact: Presented the audit findings to illustrate how fragmented hand-offs directly correlated with drop-off rates and heavy operational follow-up burden.
Proposing the Unified Sign-to-Pay Architecture: Mapped out an integrated user flow showcasing how leveraging DocuSign and Wise APIs within a single session would streamline onboarding while adhering to legal compliance and cross-border payment requirements.
Interations
Deliverables