Money and UX: experience challenges in an investment fintech
How we are (also) responsible for ensuring a solid, clear and objective experience when working with our users’ money.
A versão em português você pode ler aqui.
Money and taboo
Money in Brazil is still a big taboo and the lack of financial education is a huge barrier to encouraging users to have a healthy financial life. The exponential growth of fintech in the last 5 years is gradually changing this behavior, apps today educate and guide users through less tortuous paths to their financial goals through less bureaucratic experiences.
Today the role of the product is also to help users find the best journey for their money, in how to guarantee their short and long-term goals, guiding them on how to get there.
Trending Cryptocurrency Hub Articles:
1. Blockchain for Dummies in 4 minutes
2. Introduction to Cryptocurrencies: Dogecoin, the Most Bizarre Coin in the Cryptocurrency World
3. Google Enters The Blockchain Sector Through A Partnership
Product and empathy
It may seem obvious to solve day-to-day problems with design techniques and empathy, but are we 100% empathetic when we are thinking about a product that often doesn’t serve us as users? Are you really detached from what you are developing?
Today working as a product designer in a fintech, I had to learn many things that I wasn't familiar with, it was difficult (and still is!). There are incredibly many financial terms and acronyms, and the job as a designer with investments in my scope is: to simplify the investment experience for all our users.
But, who are these people? What do they understand about investments? How do these people relate to money?
Simplifying everything may not be an easy way for those who really want to know the destination of their money, see simplifying as not hiding information, but guaranteeing a dynamic and objective experience. That's why it's very important to know how to use design tools to understand our users. I’ll talk a bit more about tools in this article.
Sure, a designer in the Bay area may not understand the people in India, but people in Bangalore don’t understand people in rural India either. People may not even have been to a part of the city they live in, where people are poor or even homeless. They’ve never been there, or talked to the people, so of course, they don’t understand their problems.
Don Norman about empathy in Why I Don’t Believe in Empathic Design
We will clearly never be in the shoes of our users, but we can get closer, observe patterns of behavior and solve problems that are commonly linked between these users. Sometimes it's extensive and complex work, but at the same time instigates research on the relation between users and money.
UX as an intermediary
Speaking of design tools, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is processes. But do the processes we use really make sense in the reality of the product we are building? Processes for solving problems are endless and it's essential to understand the product and the user to adapt our processes, or even create them.
Being the intermediary between complexity and experience is the core of our role as a designer, and when the user’s money is involved, we need to be even more transparent.
But how can we make this bridge more effective in product development? There is no correct answer because the problem has a solution, but we can use what we have in hand to guarantee a user path with less noise. Here are some I use on a daily basis:
Interview with users
A little obvious, but interviewing is one of the cheapest and most effective tools to get deeper. Understanding the user’s relationship with money is a huge challenge when the person you interview is not open to talking about their finances or even life at all. Prototypes with preset amounts, or asking ranges of wealth usually are a good way to start.
Finding less invasive ways to address the issue with hypothetical situations and show confidence and transparency in the whole process can help to get closer.
Data-Driven Design
Data always reveal many things, observe the behavior of users in relation to movements in the market, observe what features users access most, and what actions they take after that. Observing data and generating hypotheses based on these actions is essential to map behaviors and feelings, consequently propose more dynamic solutions.
What are the patterns user follows to reach certain feature? Could it be a lack of information? Why are they leaving at this screen?
UX Copywriting
Finance is sometimes a boring language, let’s face it. Ensuring that the text is accessible, clear, and objective is essential for the user’s engagement with the platform. Understand the persona, the tone of voice, and how your text adapts to the experience and expectation of whoever is using it in the light of user experience.
How the brand relates to the user? How can the product translate the brand persona through effective copywriting?
PMF, NPS and App Reviews: metrics!
On the other hand, the product metrics with feedback, forms, and app reviews are a way for to users speak out. Many people feel more comfortable revealing their pain with the product by writing it. Being close to these results is an essential way to find patterns of inconsistencies in what is already in production. Observe these metrics whenever possible.
What are the most cited words? How happy are users about the product at all? Are they having the same problem?
Be in touch with the front line
Whoever is in contact with the user every day should be your best friend. After the users themselves, these stakeholders are the best people to translate the day-to-day pains and help define the product. Listen to calls, feedback and always be close.
What are users saying about the new feature? What are they complaining at? Is something working well?
UX it's an endless lab
There are several other ways to work with UX in fintech these days, experimentation is essential and the user’s behavior can always change based on several external factors. Keeping up with the financial world is sometimes important to be closer to the language of these users and can help to predict some behaviors.
— -
What are the UX and finance issues that you face today? How do you improve your research? Comment here!
Don’t forget to give us your 👏 !
