In the digital age, there are countless types of financial services to choose from as well as various new services entering the market every year. Customers are overwhelmed with options, therefore, their expectations are constantly growing. If you are able to provide effective financial solutions, target users will become loyal customers and they will refer their friends. Customer experience is what distinguishes successful businesses from failures.
It’s essential to identify the situations that are unpleasant for users and solve it so that using your service becomes a pleasant experience.
1. Data visualization
Humans have a negative tendency to handle numbers. In particular, it is difficult for us to compare a series of numbers or complete complex calculations. That's the reason why it's important to present numerical data in an easy-to-understand and intuitive form. Data visualization has been widely used in reporting and analysis. It can be applied in the design of deposits, loans, investments and other financial products.
A picture is worth a thousand words
Data visualization is effective because it shifts the balance between perception and cognition to take fuller advantage of the brain's abilities.
Seeing (i.e. visual perception) is handled by the visual cortex located at the back of the brain, extremely quickly and efficiently. We see immediately, with very little effort.
Thinking (i.e. perception), which is processed mainly by the cerebral cortex at the front of the brain, is much slower and less efficient.
Traditional methods of presenting and absorbing data require conscious thinking in almost all of the processes. Data visualization shifts the balance toward greater use of visual perception, taking advantage of our powerful eyes whenever possible.
2. Let's develop a tool, not an ad-filled page.
Unless the sole purpose of the product is for marketing, there will be a variety of other user needs that need to be satisfied. Overwhelming customers with irrelevant messages throughout a financial product can have a negative effect.
Even if your product has a higher level of trust than other financial products, many target users are still skeptical about newly developed features. In unfamiliar digital environments, they often don't want to lose visibility into their useful information.
The core values and navigability should be to address the user's needs. The product should display everything that the users feel is important to them. Marketing messages must be subtle with the aim of adding value to the user experience.
A product that empowers users and puts their needs first is more effective at improving customer retention and increasing sales.
3. Provide relevant and personalized content
When buying new clothes, one of the first criteria people consider is their fit. The same goes for financial products. Personalization allows the system to distinguish different users and provide appropriate content and features to that user.
Example: In wealth management, the information on the performance and risk level of an investment can be tailored based on the assets of a particular individual. Nowadays, there is a huge amount of information and people hardly have enough time to understand it all. Furthermore, no two customers are alike.
The goal is to create a product that acts as an assistant, extracting the most relevant and critical information from the user and providing a concise and easy-to-understand summary. From there, users can choose whether or not to explore further — this is just a starting point through which users can explore more of your other products.
4. Build a smooth onboarding flow for your target users
To deliver the perfect first-time experience, it's important to present the right service to the right customer. The main goal is to make sure the end users understand how to use your product. It will help your target users:
Achieve their short-term and long-term goals
Understand the value of your product
Improve customer retention and reduce abandonment.
When people hear the term “feature introduction,” they usually have an initial thought of a series of screens that describes the functionality of the app and collects their basic personal information. However, a feature introduction is much more than that: it's a flow with the simple goal of connecting target users to the value of a product at the outset, and ensuring that both businesses and customers have everything they need.
Who are your target users and what are the best ways to communicate with them? Get to know your market, then figure out how you will grow and communicate your product to target users.
Anyone who has ever planned to invest or borrow a loan on digital platforms is familiar with the existing streamlined process, as incumbent firms put a lot of effort into designing that process. Customers using financial services are high-value customers, so businesses will benefit if they invest in introducing appropriate financial services to their customers.
5. Make your customers feel special
Gold, Platinum, and other “powerful” cards don't have much intrinsic value other than making the cardholders feel more special. In previous decades, this exclusive form of cards was limited to wealth management clients, but now it has been spreading to commercial, retail banking, and other parts of financial services.
Don't get me wrong — I'm not encouraging you to fool your customers, but to make them feel more special. The goal of a customer program is not only to reward your customers but also to retain them. You want users to come back, and make the app a part of their daily lives. You can achieve this by rewarding them regularly. Provide incentives that are in the user's interests to encourage them to use your app on a daily basis.
With the available technology today, it's easier than ever to provide each customer with a perfectly personalized experience.
A few tweaks and a little detailed adjustment will create a feeling of high-class service
6. “Secured” Design
Users expect the mobile payment experience to be not only easy and familiar but also transparent and secure.
With growing cyber risks and attacks every day, security is a top priority for both users and financial institutions. It would not be fair to pass all the responsibility of information security onto our users.
To maximize security, banks should use a variety of solutions beyond traditional password authentication; Gesture patterns, and Biometrics. One benefit of using Biometrics is that it is hard to fake. They provide instant access to the service with an acceptable level of security. It solves the design problem of enhancing security without compromising speed or ease of use.
When designing digital cryptography, the following methods should be kept in mind:
Added auto-lock function if multiple failed attempts.
When creating a password, the font size should be large and easy to read.
Keep passwords hidden as they are being entered.
Allow the login expiration time option after about 1 to 5 minutes if the account is inactive.
Do not accept easy-to-guess passwords such as 0000, 1111, or 1234, ...
7. Take advantage of all abilities of new devices and technologies.
The growing popularity of mobile is making a big impact on the development of Fintech technology. With increased pressure to achieve profitability with the rise of startups, most businesses will be looking at ways to optimize their existing operations.
In recent years, AI has become an important part of the Fintech industry and its popularity is growing. Key areas of AI include data collection and management, analysis of personal spending habits, and protection as well as facilitation of transactions. The ability to provide customers with personalized experiences and perfectly tailored products will soon become a significant competitive advantage in the Fintech market.
Thanks to eKYC solutions, banks can verify customers' identity online no matter where they are. The process is done automatically without human intervention while still complying with regulations. However, when it comes to developing a mobile app, eKYC is not a stand-alone solution. It should be combined with other features that together help banks reach customers quickly and conveniently.
With the available technology today, businesses can build chatbots for a seamless user experience.
Voice-assisted banking has gained popularity due to the rise of smart speakers. We are rapidly approaching an era where people are using virtual assistants for all kinds of banking transactions. Even AR and VR present promising opportunities for banks to interact with customers in a new way.
8. Prompt and straightforward responses to users’ inquiries
Users should know where they are and what is going on at all times. Don't make your users guess. Tell them exactly what their actions will lead to.
Uncertainty causes anxiety so it should be avoided as much as possible. Anxiety increases when dealing with financial transactions, orders, or similar things.
Whenever a user interacts with the app, they need to know if their action was successful or not. Adding clear status messages makes users feel more in control of the app, helps them take appropriate actions to achieve their goals, and ultimately builds brand trust.
As a designer, your job is to make users feel safe when interacting with your app. Communication increases trust which is one of the key factors affecting customer retention. If an app seems to keep information from the users or make unilateral decisions, users will begin to lose trust and no longer feel fairness between themselves and the business.
9. Speaking the user's language
When working in a Fintech environment, you are providing a product or service to users who are not industry experts. The trick is figuring out how to explain your products and services in terms and phrases that are easy for your potential users to understand.
Communicating with users is one thing; How you do it is another challenge. Most Fintech users do not understand industry-specific terms or the meaning of certain data. If you're looking to design a visual and intuitive product, it's important to avoid technical language as much as possible.
Another common problem is intonation and tone of voice. For some reason, it is often considered too serious, formal, or boring. This depends on the image and value of a brand. Perhaps people think of banks as serious institutions where everyone is dressed in suits.
This may work for traditional and established private institutions. As time changes, even these established banks are shifting brand identity as their clients become more diverse. In the personal finance industry, such seriousness may create a line between the brand and its customers.
