What is PlutoPay?
PlutoPay is a financial app that combines the functionality of several different financial apps into a 'one-stop shopping' financial management system. It combines 3 primary functions of well known apps in the financial space.
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Simple and easy money transfers from Venmo and CashApp
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Credit card/Bank information storage and use from GooglePay and ApplePay
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Budgeting tools from Mint and Goodbudget
My task was to find a way to combine all 3 of these primary features into one, easy-to-use app that eliminated the need for users to use multiple different apps to manage their finances.
Project Plan and Details
Timeline: 10 months
Role: UX Designer
Responsibilities: User Research, User Personas and Journey Maps, Competitive analysis,
Information Architecture, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, UI Design
Tools: LucidChart, Balsamiq, Figma, Excel,
Starting Point - Research
I knew that the first thing I needed to do was talk to potential users about what did and didn't work with their current financial management apps. I met with and interviewed users about their systems, finding out what the liked and what frustrated them with their current systems.
"I need all of my financial functions in one place. I hate that I have so many different apps that do the same thing."
"I wish I could easily track my transactions across my different payment platforms easily."
"Financial apps have so many options that I don't use. I wish they could be streamlined so they weren't so confusing."
After comparing the main findings from the interviews with data from a competitive analysis, I had direction, but I needed to compile the data into a more usable summary.
Discovery
With my research conducted and a path to travel on, I started building. Paper sketches turned to wireframes and eventually into Mid-fidelity prototypes, with usability testing performed at almost every step.
Money Transfers
Users needed a quick and easy way to transfer money to family and friends.
Digital Wallet
Users wanted all of their financial information in one place.
Budgeting
Users wanted to be able to sort their transactions directly in the app.
Testing the Solution
Once I had my mid-fidelity prototypes, I rounded up 5 users and tested the prototype via videocall.
Two major problems jumped out.
Problem #1 Confusing navigation to the home screen. The initial plan was to navigate home with the logo of the app or the back button, but this crashed and burned. Users unanimously didn't like it.
Problem #2 It was confusing to transfer money. Half of the users tested navigated to the wrong area to initiate a money transfer.
Other small changes that needed to be made, including adding a 'cancel' option on confirmation screens and improving the app's micro-copy for clarity.
(For an in-depth breakdown of the usability testing, click here.)
Creating the Final Solution
Once the testing was completed and the changes/refinements were completed, I had the final version of PlutoPay.
Easy payment and
money transfer
Users are able to quickly and easily make hands free payments at retailers, or transfer money to their friends and family.
Consolidated Digital Wallet
Local account funds, as well as credit card accounts, Bank accounts, and more can all be accessed and monitored in one convenient location.
Sorting transactions with the Budget tool
Users can categorize transactions from different accounts all in one place, to efficiently monitor and their spending.
Try out the prototype below.
The Lessons Learned
1. Test, test, test. I thought that I had been testing a decent amount. However, throughout the process, I realized that more testing would have been better. It would have helped some of the more glaring problems come to light earlier.
2. Not to be afraid to pivot completely if something simply isn't working. I tried multiple strategies to get users to initiate payments through the pay function of the app, but half of users tested continued to navigate to the PlutoPay account. It was much easier once I had allowed my design to change.
Thanks for stopping by!
If you like what you saw, or have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at dave.bengry@gmail.com. I'd love to talk to you about your next project.