Whole Bank and its traveling customers
A Design Thinking Exercise
Have you ever had trouble using your credit/debit card while traveling? Maybe you lost it, it was been damage or it wasn’t been accepted. That ruined your day or, even worst, your vacations. Because when you’re out of your country these kind of problems are often time-consuming. Whole Bank detected that, and my mission today is to find a solution that satisfy its traveling customers.
The Client:
Whole Bank started operations in the small town called Framingham, Massachusetts (United States). Its identity has been suffering a change, leaving its traditional connotations behind, wanting to project a technological and user-friendly image.
Brief and Business Goals:
They want to give customers access to a payment feature they can use exclusively when they travel, instead of using the conventional credit/debit system. A feature for its (already existing) mobile application to stand out from the crowd.
Client’s Competition:
The way we buy things is changing quickly. Nowadays there are a lot of companies struggling to offer innovative mobile phone payment services. I’ll analyze three of the most popular according to an article published online in April 6, 2016 by Investopedia. Those are Apple Pay, Android Pay and PayPal.
1. Apple Pay
Set up Apple Pay on iPhone: Go to Wallet and tap Add Credit or Debit Card. Follow the steps to add a new card. Your bank or card issuer will verify your information and decide if you can add your card to Apple Pay. When you have the information, go back to Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay and tap your card. After your bank or issuer verifies your card, tap Next. Then start using Apple Pay.
Pay in stores: To use your default card, rest your finger on Touch ID and hold your iPhone within an inch of the contactless reader until you see Done and check mark on the display.
Pros:
- It’s free to use.
- Access is restricted.
- You can add up to eight cards.
- The fingerprint scanning is the most secure mobile phone authentication method right now.
- It works with most major credit and debit cards from nearly all U.S. banks.
- Clearly disclose when additional costs may be incurred after payment authorization.
- You can earn rewards for purchases.
- A merchant will never see your credit card number.
Cons:
- You need an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus or higher.
- You can only pay in stores that accept contactless.
- Depending on the store and transaction amount, you might need to sign a receipt or enter your PIN.
2. Android Pay
Set up Android Pay on Smartphone: Open the Android Pay app. At the bottom right tap +. Tap Add a credit or debit card. Use the camera to capture your card info or enter it yourself. If you’re asked to verify your card, choose a verification method from the list. Find and enter the verification code. Start using Android Pay.
Pay in stores: To use your default card, hold the phone to the terminal for a couple of seconds (make sure it’s unlocked) until a green checkmark appears on your phone.
Pros:
- It’s free to use.
- Access is restricted.
- It works with most major credit and debit cards from nearly all U.S. banks.
- You don’t even need to open the app to purchase.
- You can earn rewards for purchases.
- A merchant will never see your credit card number.
Cons:
- You need an Android phone running Kit Kat (4.4) or higher.
- You can only pay in stores that accept contactless.
- You may be asked to enter you PIN if you paid with a debit card.
- You may be asked to sign a receipt if you paid with a credit card.
3. PayPal
Set up PayPal on iPhone or Smartphone: Open PayPal. Follow the steps to signup and add a card number or a bank account. Start using PayPal.
Pay in stores: Open the PayPal app. Select the store, pick how you want to pay, and show the cashier the app code so they can scan it as payment.
Pros:
- It’s free to use.
- Access is restricted.
- It has the option of connecting to a bank account.
- You can order ahead.
- It works with all iPhones and Smartphones.
- It has the ability to send and receive virtual money person-to-person.
- A merchant will never see your credit card number.
Cons:
- The merchant has to accept PayPal payments.
- The purchase process is time-consuming (compered with its rivals).
Empathize — Who am I designing for?
With the client and its goals in mind, and knowing what the mobile payment market is currently offering, the first step and the centerpiece of the Design Thinking process is to understand who I am designing for. I need to understand the physical and emotional needs of the users within the context of my design challenge.
I’ll start interviewing five potencial users: Coraline (21), Albert (26), Josep (41), Roser (55) and Carmen (63). They have not anything in common but they are all usual travelers and they have experimented payment systems abroad that are not cash.
The goal of the interviews is to detect the main pain-points (what are users having the most trouble with) and have a better point-of-view to find a more appropriate solution. These are some of the questions I will be asking my users:
- Which is your usual system to pay while traveling and why? How do you feel paying with this system?
- How do you control travel expenses?
- How do you change national to foreign currencies when you need cash?
- What do you think are the advantages of a mobile payment app? And the disadvantages?
- Could you explain me any anecdote related with the purchase of a product abroad?
Define — Which is the problem to solve?
From the interview patterns started to appear and I decided to create an affinity diagram to categorize the main problems.
Affinity diagram:
Basing myself on the patterns, I can start defining the behaviors of my traveling users:
- They are not as worried for the wasted time during the checkout procedure as for the confidentiality and the safety of the transaction.
- They like to have the control of their expenses at every moment, everywhere.
- They don’t like to be thinking in currency exchange when shopping.
So the main problems I’ll try to solve is the confusion with currencies exchanges, control of the money expended and safety on the purchase.
Ideate — How can I solve the problem?
To help me think about solutions to the main pain point, I’ll start drawing a small mind map based on my findings. Mind maps remind us to think in stories and narratives, and help us prioritize features based on their relevance.
Mind map:
I’ve gave a name to my payment app to internalize better its posibilites: Whole World.
Solution 1. Whole World has a tool to calculate currencies exchanges automatically, a tool to control the expenses and a notebook to write anything you want about your travel. Checkout procedure is done with a contactless system.
Solution 2. Whole World allows you to take cash at any bank, anywhere, without bank charges. Payment is done by facial recognition. It also has a tool to calculate currencies exchanges.
Solution 3. Whole World shows your balance in any currency you choose. You can add or remove money from your Whole World wallet (it is connected with you bank account). The app will receive the bill ticket automatically from the shop, and then you can accept the purchase or cancel it. All the tickets are saved.
Prototype — How does the solution work?
I’ve decided to pick the third solution to develop some wireframes. First I’ll design the UI Flows. This format is really fast to sketch, and it communicates the essentials of what needs to happen as I’m imagining it.
To complete the exercise, I’ll hand-draw low-fidelity wireframes to show a successful payment process and the expenses control screen (where all the tickets of you purchases are saved).
UI Flows:
Low-fidelity Wireframes:
This is the result of three days working all day long. I’ve realized that getting stuck in the details is dangerous and it’s also easy. It’s dangerous because it impede progress. That’s one of the reasons I decided to do hand-draws. This way you focus your attention on the white paper in front of you and on your ideas. It’s easier to get in a flowing state. Internet is a great way to get inspired if you take care, it also consumes time that maybe you didn’t prevent.
The Design Thinking exercise has taught me how really important is to know the REAL needs of your users. During the interviews, the most interesting inputs came from improvised questions. That’s why you need to listening carefully and get interested about user’s answers. But I would have liked to interview Whole Bank’s clients.
The last thing that would remains for me to do is to create a prototype and test it. I should make more wireframes of the different possibilities of my app and go out to the streets and see if it works. But we’ll leave it on for later. ;-)
Note: I do not work for Whole Bank. This exercise was done as an educational pre-work experience at Ironhack to help me start the course with a good background.
