Designing for new smartphone users
How do you design an app for someone who has never used a smartphone before?
That was the only question on my mind last week while I was on the plane to Nairobi. It was just what I needed as I headed to Mozilla’s Digital Skills Observatory convening, a conference to share the findings of a year long research project on low-income, first time smartphone users in Kenya.
For the past year, Mozilla worked with first time smartphone users to learn about their adoption of technology, their use of digital financial services, and the skills they need to operate their smartphones. All of these are directly related to what we’re trying to do at Numida, so I was ready to take it all in. Three learnings especially stood out, mainly because we have experienced them first hand in our work with users and have already been discussing how to address them.
First time smartphone users lack understanding of the digital world
First time smartphone users are introduced to the internet through big players like Facebook, Google, and their ISP. These organizations control users’ digital experiences and this leads to a lack of understanding about the openness of the internet. When asked “who makes the internet?” users will answer “Safaricom,” the leading mobile network operator in Kenya (Mozilla, Stepping Into Digital Life (SIDL), Pg. 60). This shows they are unfamiliar with the actors who curate online content and have limited awareness of how online content is created, developed and maintained.
Confusion is added when you try to discuss online identities. For example, it is unclear to users why they need different accounts for using different services like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. We have seen this first hand at Numida. In workshops, when we onboard our users, we’ve seen some have trouble accessing the Play Store as they try to sign in with a Yahoo account (note that Yahoo was dominant in Africa far before Google’s presence).
Generally, the things people in the West take for granted about the online world — searching, privacy and security, online ethics, online etiquette, etc. — are being introduced to people here for the first time. At Numida we are constantly reminded of the need to design to our users’ understanding of the digital ecosystem and not our own.
Users enjoy gambling
Gambling is a common activity for both men and women. It acts as a big pull factor for users to explore and learn more about their smartphones. Gambling motivated users to download other apps and websites as they had to research to improve their odds. It also created communities as users would ask each other questions and try to learn from each other. Users will even access digital financial services to finance their gambling with loans, a dangerous practice given that they do not always feel a need to pay those loans back.
However, gambling is fun and gives users the (false) sense that they are making money. It’s a practice they enjoy and it fosters community. At Numida, we’ve been trying to figure out how to add game mechanics or create a community within our app to tap into the same motivators that gambling has.
Current use of digital financial services (DFS) presents new challenges
Many users are familiar with some form of DFS, whether they have used mobile money (USSD based payment services) or popular lending apps. However, the more sophisticated the service, the more it may be perceived as being for the rich. As users begin accessing DFS there are new challenges that they face. Network problems, sending money to the wrong people, and restrictive costs can make these services difficult to use. Numida has already addressed some of these issues, through features like offline use, and by creating competitive loan terms.
However, with the increased access to lending, users may find themselves in trouble if they are unable (or refuse) to repay. Borrowing from DFS removes the human element of users’ informal lending networks (e.g. friends, lending groups) and replaces it with “one that is institutional and faceless”; therefore, users don’t believe they need to repay, not understanding the consequences (Mozilla, SIDL, Pg. 68). A common question we are asked by users is “how will Numida ensure we pay back.” Whether these individuals are concerned about Numida’s longevity or are trying to gauge the consequences if they miss a payment is to be determined. There is plenty of opportunity to improve how digital financial services are provided to users to reduce the risks to businesses and these new consumers.
Next Steps
As we continue to build Numida we have to recognize our user’s current understanding of the internet. What can we do to make Numida fit the mental models our intended users have? We’ve seen confusion with online identities, so would using login with Facebook or Google be easier for users, or can we remove accounts from Numida altogether? Users do not generally use the Play Store to find apps, but instead they rely on their friend networks to learn about new apps to try out. Numida needs to find a way to tap into these distribution channels, not rely on a system that is hardly used and not well understood. Users’ current mental models limit phone usage and app exploration so we need to continue working with our users to better learn how to design and distribute our app for them.
At Numida, we’ve been thinking of how to leverage users’ love of gambling. Implementing game mechanics would be an interesting way to encourage use of the app and train users in keeping good business records. We would also love to create a Numida community with our users and have been discussing features to do just this. For example, many businesses we work with ask if we can connect them to customers and suppliers and we would like to. We want to create a way for businesses to learn from each other and use each other’s services if they use Numida. Another way to encourage use is to reward our best users: one way we are doing this is by spotlighting our best users to the other business on the app. This will encourage others to use the app more to be the next ones to get the same exposure.
Finally, as we start giving loans to our users, we must figure out how to make our users see us as a partner and not just another faceless institution. Sure, we can improve usability and make loans easier to get. This will allow us to reach users who may otherwise see us as too sophisticated, but this doesn’t ensure repayment. To reduce default rates we must maintain the human element of lending that our users currently have when they borrow from friends and family and brick and mortar institutions. This may mean needing to visit users, or having community reps who act as the face of the company for a specified area. However, both of these solutions have big problems when you try to scale. Figuring out the human element could be key in the success of Numida’s lending.
Moving forward we will continue to work with our users, gaining insights about how they use their smartphones and how they see financial management working with their business. We are constantly trying to improve Numida and the insights we learned from the DSO are helpful in addressing the challenges we know we must overcome to meet the needs of our users.
Be sure to check out the full report, with all the learnings I talked about and more, here.
Christopher Stern is a Product Manager at Numida based in Kampala, Uganda. He spends his days figuring out how to make our financial management app easy and fun to use for our clients who are often first-time smartphone owners.
