This is an article on the Design Thinking Exercise that is part of the Ironhack UX/UI prework program.
The Context
Whole Bank is a bank based in Massachussets, USA. They aim to provide innovative banking services to their customers.
They have developed a mobile application that allows their customers to perform standard operations such as wire transfers, blocking lost/stolen cards and even apply to a loan.
They would like to add a mobile payment feature within their app in order to help their traveling customers to pay easily with their mobile phone.
Our task is to create such feature.
The mobile payment market
In France and Europe, mobile payment is not widely spread but is slowing making a place. In other parts of the world, like in China, mobile payment is used by a majority of the population.
In France, most banks now propose mobile payments through differents solutions: Paylib, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay. In China, main solutions are WeChat Pay and AliPay.
Feedback from interviews
All the interviewees were already using banking mobile apps at home and the majority had already used their mobile for paying (2 via Apple Pay, 1 via Grab). They all found mobile payment very convenient and easy to use, despite some little concerns on data security. Maybe this is why they were using mobile payment only for amounts under 50€.
One interviewee said “I don’t want to put credit card information in my mobile, to avoid big worry if my mobile get lost or stolen”.
“If I use my mobile phone abroad, I will have to pay roaming fees + banking fees, so it is not worth it to pay by mobile”.
However, interviewees found interest in having a mobile payment feature in app as:
- It avoids taking the credit card out
- It avoids leaving card fingerprint at point of sales
- It would avoid to be bound to a phone constructor for the mobile payment feature (ie an iphone for Apple Pay, a Samsung for Samsung Pay…)
- As long as banking fees are lower
The persona
Given the feedback of my interviewees, I think the mobile payment feature will be more suitable to business travelers. Indeed, business travelers should pay more attention to the convenience of the feature than its costs.
My proposal
Given the feedback from the interviews, apart from an easy-to-use feature, we have to offer a secure process of identification.
- The feature will need a strong ID or validation process
- The amount of money must be capped.
- In case the mobile gets lost or stolen, it will not be possible to pay with the mobile.
Here is the paper prototype of the solution.
What I’ve learned from this exercise. The research step takes a very long time but is so interesting. I have also learnt things from the interviewees. While prototyping, there were new ideas coming on the way, but I had to stay focus and try to keep it simple for the moment.
