User Experience Case Study of "Let's Save" Application
Overview
The Let’s Save app serves as a platform to centralize multiple bank accounts for users, irrespective of the number they may possess. This application goes beyond mere consolidation, offering assistance in fostering proper saving habits. It incorporates alert features, notifying users when they approach or exceed preset limits, providing essential financial guidance and support.
User research and analysis were conducted in the form of face-to-face user interviews, customer journey maps, and user personas to unveil deeper insights into their goals, behaviors, and attitudes when it comes to saving/budgeting and tracking expenses. It was ascertained that users can be segmented into two types based on their income and spending habits; Short-term and Long-term saver.
My Role
As a UX consultant, researcher, prototype designer, and tester, I reported to the Product Manager while working on a three-month project to initiate the platform’s user experience.
Problem Statement
Many individuals have their methods of saving money or tracking expenses, often resorting to traditional approaches like using spreadsheets or notebooks, believing these to be the most effective. However, it’s crucial to emphasize the power of applications in making savings goals more achievable. This is attributed to their ability to incorporate finance formulas, mathematical precision, and an inexhaustible memory.
Given the reluctance of users to trust third parties with their financial details, it is imperative to make such disclosure optional. Users should have the flexibility to manually enter their daily expenses using receipts or bank statements, though this manual input can make the saving process tedious and challenging to maintain discipline and motivation.
User Research Summary
A total of 8 in-depth face-to-face user interviews were conducted over a 2-week period. The participants included 3 full-time employees, 2 part-time employees, and 3 students aged between 26 and 55. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed, with the transcriptions attached in the Appendices. The user interviews were structured with open-ended questions, aiming to reveal user behaviors, attitudes, and goals regarding their savings and expenses. The objective was to gain insights into their processes and identify both pain points and moments of satisfaction throughout their budgeting and saving experiences, as well as to understand their overall understanding of expenses.
Assumptions:
- Most individuals habitually save for emergencies or unforeseen situations.
- Individuals with higher incomes tend to save more than those with lower incomes.
- Users typically require the security assurance of their banks or established institutions to trust third-party financial services.
Findings:
The interviews yielded insights that largely aligned with the aforementioned assumptions. Six out of the five interviewees reported saving more than 10 percent of their income, with two relying on past accumulations for spending. Even among the three candidates who didn’t save consistently, there was a shared belief in the intention to save seriously once they begin earning. Almost all participants expressed the expectation that their saving behavior would become more earnest as their income levels rose. Additionally, a common understanding was observed regarding the significance of having backup funds.
Full-time employees set more substantial and long-term saving targets in comparison to their part-time counterparts, while students exhibited saving targets akin to a piggy bank. One interviewee expressed no reservations about sharing financial details with the application, but the majority indicated a preference for using the application if recommended by their bank. Finally, all participants unanimously agreed that restricting discretionary spending and adhering to discipline posed the greatest challenges in their saving endeavors.
Persona and Journey Map
Information Architecture Summary
Addressing the significant pain points listed below is crucial. The platform not only needs to alert users about these issues but also establish infrastructure to proactively resolve them. “Let’s Save” will prioritize the MVP outlined on the right to effectively tackle these identified challenges.
Main pain points
- High secure and easy Login method.
- Staying disciplined throughout the period to not splurge on discretionary goods or services.
- Monitoring and tracking more than one set of income and expenses.
- The difficulty in staying motivated when saving for the long-term or something specific.
Minimum viable product
- Code generator /fingerprint login method
- Upfront notifications
- Target multiple saving goals
- Reminding the spending limit (daily – fortnightly – weekly)
- The option of Interrupting payment leads the user to think twice
- Visualized and detailed finance status
- Saving habit progress log
- Interactive tips to save effectively
Therefore the key goals of the app will be to ensure that users are:
- Able to create specific saving goals and are reminded of them via periodical notifications and/or emails.
- Visualize and understand both their savings and expense progress through graphs and categorization.
- Able to create shared accounts that track independent sets of income and expenses for those that share finances.
- Updated through notifications on the status of their budget.
- Given forecasts on cash availability for upcoming periods based on average expenses and recurring bills to help them manage finances accordingly.
- Able to backtrack track historical performance of previous periods to compare progress and gain additional insight.
- Provided period overviews to summarise spending behavior and saving progress so that users can adjust for the next period.
Entity Attribute Breakdown
Addressing the significant pain points listed below is crucial. The platform not only needs to alert users about these issues but also establish infrastructure to proactively resolve them. “Let’s Save” will prioritize the MVP outlined on the right to effectively tackle these identified challenges.
| Entity | Attributes |
|---|---|
|
Sign Up |
|
| Entity | Attributes |
|---|---|
|
Bank
Account |
|
| Entity | Attributes |
|---|---|
|
Budget |
|
| Entity | Attributes |
|---|---|
|
Profile |
|
| Entity | Attributes |
|---|---|
|
Income and Expenses |
|
| Entity | Attributes |
|---|---|
|
Login |
|
| Entity | Attributes |
|---|---|
|
Budget General view |
|
| Entity | Attributes |
|---|---|
|
Transaction Log |
|
| Entity | Attributes |
|---|---|
|
Expenses
Category |
|
Marketing Site
A responsive marketing page prototype was created in Axure for desktop, tablet, and mobile screens. The app aims to showcase the app’s features and functionality to encourage potential users to download the app. This is a low-fidelity wireframe providing a basic structure of what the landing page may look like. The scrolling responsive marketing landing page has been shared here.
Interactive Wireframe Prototypes
Designing and constructing interactive wireframe prototypes is a crucial aspect of UX design. It is also essential for delivery-focused processes, such as Lean and Agile, to provide programmers with a prototype in the later stages of the procedure. Here is a video explaining the manual for the prototype:
Usability Summary
Usability Tasks
Test Plan:
the usability task contains 4 scripts for both type of personas.
| Task Script | Designed Solution path(s) |
|---|---|
|
Script 1: Sign Up You want to make a new account in this app, |
Signup-> Fill the form-> Sign in submit-> Enter mobile number-> Submit to get the verification code-> Enter the code-> Submit the code verification-> Welcome page Signup-> Fill the form-> Sign in submit-> Skip code verification-> Welcome page |
|
Script 2: New Target you aim to save some part of your income to buy a new car next year, |
Targets->Add New Target->Fill the form-> Save |
|
Script 3: Pay for the first Installment Now you want to put aside the first share of your car price, |
Target Overview->Transfer this week’s Instalment->Choose the bank Account -> Transfer |
|
Script 4: Logout If you want to exit the application. Please show me through what process you will do that. |
Profile photo icon in the header->Log Out |
Key Findings:
The main problems identified are related to the test log:
- Inappropriate usage of words such as “Target” and “Transfer” respectively “Goal” and “Pay” are the better alternatives.
- The sequence of putting aside some money to save for a specific goal is not clear enough. The link leading to payment must be bolder
(a full-width button) and shouldn’t be in the section of other less important links. - Lack of details in the payment form. the source account and money destination need to be specified in detail and confirmed by the user.
- Manual paying doesn’t make sense for users after making a goal they expect just to specify the source account and the rest of the process
happens automatically, of course, the need to be able to change it through an editing link.
The next steps involve performing a second round of testing to validate the changes made to the prototype and assess whether the functionality
and level of fidelity have improved.
Site Map
Annotated Wireframes
Wireframe:
Notes Of Explanation:
0.0 Global Menu:
The header appears on all pages
0.1 Logo:
Let’sSave Logo appear in all pages
1.0 Email field:
Username input field, validation on text-change
1.1 Password field:
Password input field, validation on text-change
1.2 Login Link:
Login submit link, form validation on click
1.3 Password Retrieving Link:
Password reset link, apply on click
1.5 Switch to SignUp form Lable:
No Action
1.4 SignUp Switch:
Switch to SignUp form link, apply on click
1.6 Email field:
Granting Username input field, validation on
text-change
1.7 Password field:
Granting Password input field, validation on
text-change (password format – characters hidden)
1.8 Confirm Password field:
Confirming Password input field, validation on
text-change (password format – characters hidden)
1.9 SignUp Link:
SignUp submit link, Form validation on click
1.10 Login Link:
Switch to Login form link – on click
0.2 User Photo Icon:
Link to home page -On Click
2.0 User Photo:
User’s profile photo
2.1 User welcome message:
No action
2.2 Edit Link:
Link to edit page
2.3 LogOut Link:
LogOut submit link – On Click
3.1 Targets:
Link to the list of Targets – On Click
3.2 Add New Target:
Link to New Targets form – On Click
3.1.1 Target Title:
Target Information Title – No Action
3.1.2 Target Progress Chart:
Progress Chart – No Action
3.1.3 Target close Icon:
Delete this Target – On Click
3.1.4 Target Information:
Details of Target’s information
3.1.5 Target Overview Link:
Link to the Overview page – On click
3.2.1 Target’s Name text field:
Target’s name input text field
3.2.2 Target’s price Number field:
Target’s price input number field
3.2.3 Target’ Start Date filed:
Target’s price Start Date filed
3.2.5 Target’s Priority drop-down Field:
Target’s priority drop-down field
3.2.6 Save Link:
Saving new Target link – On Click
3.3 Target Shortcut:
Summary of Target’s information
3.2 Add New Target Link:
Link to the new Target form – On click
5.3 Accounts Shortcut:
Summary of Linked Account’s information
5.2 Add New Account Link:
Link to the new account form – On click
5.4 Change Default Account Link:
Link to the edit account form – On click
3.0 Targets Link:
Link to Target Page – On Click
4.0 Transaction Link:
Link to Transaction page – On Click
5.0 Account Link:
Link to Account page – On Click
6.0 Setting Link:
Link to Setting page – On Click
4.1 Target’s Instalment Transactions:
Link to page of List of transactions paid for
all in-action targets
4.2 All Linked Transactions:
Link to page of List of all transactions (Disabled)
4.3 Transaction Title:
Bank Name the source of payment – No Action
4.4 Payment detail Information:
Details of payment – No Action
4.5 View All Payments to this Target Link:
Link to the Target’s payment list – on click
3.3.0 Targets Title:
Target’ Title – No Action
3.3.1 Target Detail:
Detail Information of Target – No Action
3.3.2 Target’s Progress Chart:
Targe’s Progress Chart – No Action
3.3.3 Duration status:
Duration Status Bar – No Action
3.3.4 Notification Switch:
Switch on/off the notification -On click
3.3.5 Target Track Annual Link:
Link to the Tracking page – On click
3.3.6 Target’s Payment Link:
Link to the Paying page – On click
3.3.7 Target’s add reminder Link:
Link to the Calendar Remainder page – On click
3.3.8 Target’ Edit Target Link:
Link to the Target’s Edit page – On Click
3.3.6.3 Source Bank Drop-Down Field:
Bank’s list drop-down list – On Click
3.3.6.4 Target’ weekly Share Field:
Calculated By the app – Read Only
3.3.6.5 Payment Date Field:
Payment date – Read Only
3.3.6.6 Transfering Money Link:
Link to confirm the payment – On click
5.1 Linked Account Link:
Link to Linked account list page – On Click
5.2 Add New Account Link:
Detail Information of Target – No Action
5.1.1 Account Name:
Bank Account Name – No Action
5.1.2 Account close Icon:
Delete the Bank Account – On Click
5.2.2 Source Bank Name Drop Down list:
List of Banks Drop Down – On Click
5.2.3 Customer ID text Field:
Enter the ID text field
5.2.4 Bank Account’s Password:
Enter the Password field
(password format-characters hidden)
5.2.5 Save the New Account Link:
Save the new bank account Link – On click
5.1 Profile Page Link:
Link to Linked account list page – On Click
5.2 Currency Page Link:
Detail Information of Target – No Action
6.3 Notification Page Link:
Bank Account Name – No Action
6.1.1 First name text Field:
Enter the first name in the text field
6.1.2 Last name text Field:
Enter the Last name in the text field
6.1.3 Date of Birth Date format Field:
Date Picker for user’s birthdate
6.1.4 Login by fingerprint check box:
Default checked
6.1.5 Save profile changes Link:
Save the new information Link – On click
6.2.1 Country list Drop Drop:
Default Country Australia (Read Only)
6.2.2 Suburb/Post Code Drop Down List:
List of Australia’s PostCode – On click
6.2.3 Preferred Currency Text Field:
Default AUD (Read Only)
6.2.4 Save Currency changes Link:
Save the Currency changes Link – On click
6.3.1 Notification Switch:
On/Off Notification Switch – On click
6.3.1 Save Notification Changes Link:
Save the new setting of notification – On Click
High Fidelity Mock-ups
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