There are many different pay apps in the market that offer people all different types of services. Why not research what it is that they love most about these apps and combine it into one?
What is the problem?
Pluto Pay users need a fast and low fee way to transfer money between accounts, make purchases online and be able to manage and save all while securely protecting their personal information.
My role
As a junior UX designer, this was my first project to research and design on my own, along with the help of an experienced mentor and tutor. The project was for a span of 8 months.
My goal
My goal is to create an accessible for all app that will allow users to easily and conveniently get banking done without having to physically go to the bank. In order to reach this goal, I must study users, their behaviors and reasonings with similar products that are already in the market.
Research
To better understand users’ behaviors and feelings about using pay apps, I conducted interviews with three people asking about the current pay apps they use. I made sure to focus on trying to figure out what are their likes and dislikes. What are some pain points that they are experiencing? What features are most useful? and what could be improved? After the interviews, I still wanted to get a better understanding of the user. I ran a survey to research deeper into the minds of users to get a better understanding of their behaviors.
Surveys
How often do you make transfers & payments?
Which of the following features would you find useful in a pay app?
What age group best describes you?
Some quotes from interviews
Do you currently use any pay app? If so, what are your likes and dislikes about them?
“I like Zelle. That is the preferred app that I go to, mainly because it is linked with my bank account. I feel safer using it over any other. If something happens with my money, I know that my bank will help me, and they don’t charge sending and receiving fees like the other guys do."
— Marianne
How would you describe what you expect in a pay app?
"I expect pay apps to be convenient. I want to have access to all my contacts who already use the app, to make it easier for me to send to them. I need this app to work for me with or without cellphone data and if there must be fees, I would love it if they lower the fees. Lastly, I want to know that my money is safe at all times."
— Samwel
Do you enjoy making payments at the palms of your hands? Or do you think it’s safer to only bank the traditional way?
“I enjoy the ease of barely having to go into physical banks anymore. It has made life so much easier. Especially during the times of covid. it is great that we have pay apps which offer most services for those who are always on the go like me.”
— Shakeera
Mapping the thoughts out
Who it matters to the most
After conducting initial research, I can now introduce you to my personas for Pluto Pay. Sandra is a single mom and team lead for a property stagging company. She makes a lot of sales and purchases in her role at work, and she is constantly having to give her boys money. She needs an app that can help her manage and keep track of all spending. The other persona is Christina. The college student who just wants an easy way to send money to friends and room mates to split bills.
Version 1: Low-Fi-
After creating the low-fi paper sketches, I did test them out with four people in my circle just to make sure if it makes sense to users. It was hard for users to understand their way through tasks. This was of course due to the paper sketches only being the first sketches for the idea of this app. They struggled to understand where to click in order to get to the next screen. For example, in the on-boarding, they were not sure to swipe left or right, and suggested it would be helpful to have some way to keep up with what page they are on to know how far away they are from the sign in screen.
Version 2: Mid-Fi-
With the issues that I noticed the testers having from the Low-Fi, I was able to make a few changes with this version. I originally scheduled to have three friends test it for me. One of my testers couldn’t make it at the last minute, due to catching the Covid-19 virus. This led me to only be able to test with two people. It was a challenge losing a person, so I had to make sure I really understood the behaviors and thoughts behind the two that agreed to test. I have a better understanding of how people are feeling about the product so far. This version was a lot cleaner for the testers to understand because it was easier for them to read the text.
Results:
Some of the issues that they encountered were some buttons caused confusion due to where they were placed and makes it hard to access the keyboard. The other issue was that some screens contained too many steps, which only confused the user. They suggested that it would be a lot easier if steps are separated into separate pages.
Version 3: High-Fi
After designing the High fidelity wireframes, I was then able to conduct usability tests with six different users and have them walk through all three main tasks of the app. I was able to have a better understanding of users’ thoughts and behaviors with Pluto Pay. I got a better understanding of what changes users expected, which led me to be able to make the changes. It made it a lot easier for users to see the raw product and I recorded their actions while they were going through the tasks. This allowed me to be able to go back and play their reactions as many times as needed to get a better understanding of how they truly feel while using the product.
Usability test findings
The back button is a necessity on certain screens
Text boxes need to be made more visible to make it easy for users to find where they need to type
Signup and login options in onboarding were very confusing. Users weren’t sure to slide through or click to sign up
More testing & continuous iterations
I noticed that testers were confused about what to do during the onboarding process. Some weren’t sure to slide to the next screen or to just go in and get started.
This led me to create a few different versions of the screen, then run preference tests to help with some final decisions.
Which onboarding screen do you prefer?
10 people participated.
70% of the testers liked the blue screen better and agree that onboarding makes more sense. It was easier to understand.
Since there is a big gap between the ratio of the two, I will proceed with future iterations using the new version, where they are able to go through the entire onboarding and still have the option to skip it.
Newest Iterations
Challenges and final results
After taking into consideration all of the users’ and testers’ insights & thoughts while testing, I notice that there are more features that the user would love to have access to in a pay app. Of course, to make this all possible, I would need a full dev team. I look forward to continuing testing iterating to add more to Pluto Pay, and make it a one-stop-shop for everyone to be able to handle all of their banking needs in one convenient place.