FINTECH
A redesigned onboarding flow. Measurably fewer drop-offs.
PayGlocal is an RBI-licensed cross-border payment aggregator — its onboarding can't skip KYC, but every extra screen before a merchant saw real value was costing activations. Brandhero rebuilt the flow to get merchants into the dashboard sooner while compliance completes alongside them: 20% fewer drop-offs before activation, 2x faster time to first transaction.
Industry
OVERVIEW
PayGlocal is an RBI-licensed cross-border payment aggregator, letting Indian exporters, freelancers and enterprises collect payments from customers in 33+ currencies across 180+ countries, and letting global merchants accept Indian payments through UPI and cards. Getting a merchant live means clearing mandatory KYC and compliance checks before they can process a single transaction - a real regulatory requirement, not a design choice.
Brandhero partnered with PayGlocal to redesign the onboarding experience end to end - restructuring the flow so merchants reach the dashboard earlier while completing compliance steps progressively, rather than treating verification as a locked gate before any product value.
The mission was simple:
Build an onboarding flow that meets every compliance requirement without making merchants wait for it.
Product Strategy
Onboarding UX
Product Design
MISSION BRIEF
As an RBI-regulated payment aggregator, PayGlocal can't shortcut KYC - every merchant has to clear it before processing payments. But the old onboarding flow treated compliance as a single, front-loaded gate: lengthy verification screens before any dashboard access, no visibility into progress, and no way to explore the product while documents sat in review. For a merchant deciding whether to trust a new payments partner, that gate was often the last thing they saw before dropping off - not because the requirement was wrong, but because the experience made it feel like the whole point of using PayGlocal.
The goal was to build a product that felt:
Simple
Guided
Efficient
Motivating
Compliant by design
THE CHALLENGES
01
Compliance that reads as a wall, not a step
KYC is mandatory for any RBI-licensed aggregator — that isn't negotiable. What was negotiable was whether it felt like the first step in a relationship or the price of admission before one existed.
02
No visibility into a multi-stage process
Verification for cross-border payments involves checks that can't complete instantly. Merchants had no way to see what stage they were at, so a normal review delay read as a stalled application.
03
Zero product access before full activation
Merchants couldn't see the dashboard or explore multi-currency accounts until compliance fully cleared - asking for trust before showing anything worth trusting.
THE SOLUTION
01
Progressive onboarding instead of a single gate
Dashboard access earlier, remaining compliance completed alongside it, not in front of it.
02
Visible progress through a multi-stage process
Status indicators turn a normal review window into a visible, finite process instead of a black box.
03
Product value made visible before full activation
Merchants explore the dashboard and currency accounts early, so the compliance they're completing has a visible destination.
KEY MOMENTS
Every interaction was focused on helping users reach product value faster while making mandatory compliance feel easier and less overwhelming.
We designed:
Progressive onboarding flow, dashboard access before full compliance clears
Verification status and progress indicators
Early product exploration inside onboarding
Compliance-as-background-process, not as gate
How can onboarding become the fastest path to product value instead of the biggest barrier?
DESIGNING FOR CLARITY
Multi-stage progress visibility
Plain-language compliance messaging
Reduced cognitive load per screen
BUILDING FOR ACTIVATION
Early dashboard access
Progressive compliance completion
A path from sign-up to first transaction, not just sign-up to approval
MISSION COMPLETE
Turning onboarding into a competitive advantage
PayGlocal demonstrates how thoughtful UX can turn onboarding from a compliance process into a growth strategy. By combining progressive onboarding, intuitive navigation, and motivation-driven interactions, we created an experience that helps users reach value sooner while improving completion rates and reducing friction throughout the journey.
Because the best onboarding flows don't just clear compliance.
They make the wait for it feel worth having.
