What should we focus on when creating a service that delivers financial wellness to young adults
This is a UX case study, a Hyper Island student project for fieldwork module.
This project was like many learning experiences, when in the beginning you struggle to understand what is expected of you, to find the right thing to focus on, and worry that you might not have enough of information, and then in the end you end up with so many new directions to go deeper into, and realise that the beginning point was way too broad and was much easier than you anticipated.
Let’s start from the beginning
The starting point was a problem (or more likely, an opportunity) statement, which was this:
How might we create a service that delivers financial wellness
It came together with a persona. Step one was to make sense of the brief. So I took out a whiteboard and wrote out all assumptions about the users I could think of.
Who are the users?
Based on the persona, I determined that the users should be in their late twenties-early thirties (25–35) and earning a consistent and stable income. My assumption was that the user is employed in their first serious full time job (for example the first one in their field of study after finishing their degree) and seeks financial stability. This seemed like an interesting target group to explore, especially also because I assumed that they are proud of their achievements, most likely earn more than ever before in their life and can afford to focus more on what they want rather than what they need.
and what do they need?
My perception of the user (based on the brief), informed my assumptions of the user needs and what are the obstacles they are trying to overcome in regards to their financial wellness I came up with the following needs:
- the user needs to feel financially secure, to be in control of their money
- the user needs to have options, to be able to have a choice
- the needs acknowledgment for their achievements
- the user needs to have services tailored to their circumstances
- the user needs to know that they are saving/investing their money in the best way for their situation
- the user needs personalised guidance
- the user needs knowledge on finance and investment.
I chose to focus on three of them.
Hypothesis 1:
I believe that users need to have services tailored to their circumstances.
I will know I am right if they are confused about their finances(savings/investments), not keeping budget, and have either multiple saving plans or none, because they don’t know which would be the best for them.
Hypothesis 2:
I believe that users need to have options, to be able to have a choice in their financial decisions.
I will know I am right if they considered their financial choices and not chose the first available one.
Hypothesis 3:
I believe that users have low financial knowledge and need guidance through the financial decisions and processes.
I will know I am right if they are not investing (due to lack of knowledge, not by choice) and have no clear plans for retirement.
Next step: actually asking the user
In order to find users to interview and dig into these hypotheses, I made a a screener survey to ask some initial questions and determine whether they fit the target audience. From that I was able to set up 5 interviews. All of the interviews were recorded (with consent), some took place in person, while others happened on a video call.
After the interviews, I took to analyse and synthesise what I have just learned. contributed some interesting insights and ideas.
What did the interviews reveal?
H1:I believe that users need to have services tailored to their circumstances.
This hypothesis was only partially confirmed, as all of the users had a clear overview of their finances, even though most did not keep any tangible budget. That means, that they are able to manage their finances, however whether their management is efficient, that is another question.
“My months look different, [in the budgeting apps] you cannot plan as you would like to so it is easier for me to have it in my mind instead.”
On the other hand, they all had different reasons not to keep an actual budget and rather have an overview in their mind.
“I know how much I pay for automated expenses. The rest I have pretty good idea how much I spend on other things. I don’t keep a budget, I find it boring.”
This suggests a principle that in order to keep a budget users need a way to keep a budget customised to their individual situation. In other words, that there should be services or apps taking into consideration different age groups, life circumstances, careers, maybe even personality types and giving a possibility to tailor your budget to your current situation.
An interesting insight, that I would love to pursue further, was that some users perceive a budget as a reflection of their spending habits or habits in general, especially their bad habits, and that can lead to different outcomes: avoiding making budgets not to be confronted by their own bad habits, or actually seeing the benefit of budgeting as a tool to stop wasting money.
“When you are not keeping your budget you are not confronted with your issues”.
“You are faced with a mirror, you can see how much you spend on certain categories (entertainment, food etc). It really helped me realising that I need to make a budget”.
H2:I believe that users need to have options, to be able to have a choice in their financial decisions.
This hypothesis was confirmed. For one, I directly asked them if they prefer having options to choose from a one direct option.
“I like to have options to choose from. It is always good to consider.”
In addition, it has become clear, that the users tend not to take financial decisions lightly and instead consider their options, research, seek advice from their family and friends, and have no issues vocalising why they have chosen to use certain service or app, and what they find useful in it.
“I wouldn’t just take someone’s word for it, even bank or app — I would need that supported by research or had to be explained why.”
“It has to have meaning behind. I like to know what I’m choosing and why I’m choosing and is it a valid choice”.
H3: I believe that users have low financial knowledge and need guidance through the financial decisions and processes.
This hypothesis has been confirmed, the majority of users in this research project, do not have extensive financial knowledge and they do not invest or have set up consistent retirement plans. In fact, what became clear, that more accessible information regarding investment and retirement is needed.
“I know nothing, for many years I didn’t have any money to invest — why would I study things I didn’t need.”
“No, but i know it is complicated, I would need more info in one place.”
“It would be helpful if there was one place where you could learn about everything, all the questions you have.”
One of the users brought up a very interesting point regarding shame in not knowing, shame in asking “stupid” or obvious questions of an expert, or someone you are maybe not comfortable with, which would be another very interesting further research direction, as shame might not be a thing you’d consider when creating a financial service.
“I get information by asking friends and family — I do that before using financial services because I feel embarrassed. If i could ask someone who knows about it, and figure about it myself, I would”.
More insights
Interestingly enough, the interviews resulted in more insights, here are some principles that came out of that.
Self-awareness
I did not think that users who do not keep an actual budget or take time to make financial goals, would have (or would care to have) a good overview of their finances, however it seems that users are aware of their financial situation and what their expenses are, they know where they would like to be financially in short-term future and have financial goals (whether they are deliberate or not). These insights led me to a principle that we need to find a way to utilise the knowledge and assumptions users already have regarding their own financial situation.
Recommendations
Another very clear direction is recommendations. Users need reliable input when making financial decisions, however bank is not the first source of information, instead users tend to rely on recommendations from their family, friends and knowledgable people in their life, when making financial decisions. Trust is important (no surprises there!). We need to employ the potential of recommendations, find a reliable, trustworthy way for people to recommend and share input on certain services and aspects.
Turning insights into opportunities / Ideas for the future
In addition to insights of H1, users feel overall satisfied with their banks because of good customer service and because they feel that the bank tailors their services to meet their needs. Personally tailored services and personal connection makes user feel valued and incites satisfaction with the service.
“I have monthly scheduled personal consultation at my bank, it is awesome. I have freedom to choose, because of the budget I have been given by my advisor.”
“My bank is good at serving different age groups, they customise services. They also don’t charge on certain services, which makes me feel like a valued customer, as I know in some other banks they charge for everything.”
When looking into H2 I discovered that it is important for users to be able to see an overview of their finances, that they prefer an easy, quick and simple way to perform financial tasks. When making a choices users like to have options and prefer quality, over price. This leads us to a principle that we need to give user easy, simple, yet good quality options when providing a service.
“I would take a quality product over the cheapest one, because I don’t like wasting money.”
“I need to have an easy overview over my account at all times, and that I can move money from one account to another very easily. Accessibility is important to me, also that it doesn’t require a lot of thought”.
In relation to H3, users are not investing and they feel like they do not know enough about investing and even though they would like to learn more they feel it would take a lot of time and effort. This could be helped with an easily accessible, no-commitment, reliable “one stop shop” service where they could learn all about investment and ask their questions.
“I need something that is simple to use but also kind of “your wallet in one place”.
What now?
Personally, I could see few directions going from here.
I am inspired for a budgeting app or feature, requiring little input (maybe connected to the bank account so it updates itself) so it’s simple, but that also has an achievement system or a competition that one could share with family and friends— collecting points and getting rewards and that way making a budget could be more fun.
In addition, as mentioned before, the above insights touched on some interesting human self-perception themes. It would interesting to take any of them and go deeper with it, for example trust and shame in finances could a very interesting direction.
