UX Case Study:
International money transfer from Chile to Latam
From User Research to a Human Centered Design proposal
Objetive
Within its innovation portfolio, The Bank is evaluating the creation of a digital solution that allows foreign Latin American people to make money transfers from Chile to their country of origin, providing a real solution to day-to-day problems.
Due to the above, the main objective of this case study is to present a design solution centered on people (considering their needs, expectations, and pain points) when making an international transfer, using as a basis the findings obtained from the exploratory research.
Research
To understand the needs of users, I carried out an exploratory investigation, consisting of a semi-structured interview applied independently to 6 people from the target audience defined by Business (Latin American foreigners, between 20 and 40 years old, who make money transfer to their country of origin).
Considerations
Although in these results we will see the first indications about the users' behavior when using this type of service (motivations, preferred channel and moment), it is important to emphasize that these must be complemented with other methods (especially quantitative) that allow us to have a broader vision and greater certainty when prioritizing solutions.
Participants
Makes transfers through specialized agencies and apps
Makes transfers through specialized agencies
Hugo
31 years old
Venezuelan
Iberys
36 years old
Cuban
Makes transfers through specialized agencies and apps
Makes transfers through specialized agencies
Wendy
27 years old
Colombian
Fernanda
30 years old
Venezuelan
Makes transfers through specialized agencies and banks
Makes transfers through specialized agencies and informal means
Mariela
30 years old
Bolivian
Wendy
29 years old
Bolivian
Findings
Motivations & Transfer frecuency
Financial support as a way of being present
The main reason for transfers is economic support for the family, which is perceived as a way of being present in their lives despite the distance. These money transfers tend to be made monthly or sporadically in emergency cases.
Preferred channel
Trust in those close to you
The first filter to choose the channel through which the transfer will be made is the opinion or recommendation of friends and family, secondly (when there are no recommendations) is that they are well-known brands, which are perceived as having greater support.
Preferred channel
Speed over comfort for occasional transfers
Most sporadic transfers tend to respond to “emergency” cases and because of this, users indicate that they prefer to go to a specialized agency (perceived as the fastest way to make transfers) than other types of online means.
Preferred moment
Currency value is more important than exact dates for periodic transfers
While most transfers tend to be monthly, these are not always on an exact date. since users prefer to wait up to a couple of days if the value of the currency is favorable for them.
Solutions
Based on the findings described above, the creation of a mobile application is proposed as the digital product that will best solve the needs raised by users. This application, apart from being presented, at least in an initial stage, along with the support of The Bank to convey greater confidence to potential clients, must contain the following features (explained in greater context its detail).
Recommended features:
Content structure
In order to provide greater context about how the functionalities could be arranged within the App, the following diagram shows how the main content will be organized:
1 · Financial support as a way of being present:
Contact list with monthly transfer reminder notifications
With the aim of facilitating and strengthening the user's bond as financial support for their family, is proposed as feature the possibility of adding contacts with a monthly transfer reminder.
Contact list
Transfer Reminder
2 · Trust in those close to you:
Recommend the app to a friend
With the aim of increasing the confidence of new users in using the application, the possibility of “Invite a friend” is proposed as a feature, so that active users of the application can invite their email or phone contacts by sending an autogenerated message, for example via WhatsApp.
Invite a Friend
Message Example
3 · Speed over comfort for occasional transfers:
Recharge the balance with a transfer and/or credit card
With the aim of optimizing the time required to make a transfer, is proposed as app's feature is the possibility of recharging and/or supplementing the balance not only with a bank transfer but also with a direct charge to the credit card (which must be previously added).
Recharge with credit card
Confirmation
4 · Currency value is more important than exact dates for periodic transfers:
Display of currency value for the last 7 days
To support the choice of the best time for the transfer without taking the user out of their context of use, is proposed an app's feature displays the value of the currency for the last 7 days.
Home with the corresponding features to:
Send money (above)
Currency value for the last 7 days (below)
Whats Next?
After aligning our product vision based on the needs of users, business objectives and without leaving aside its technical feasibility, it is important to verify that our value proposition is perceived favorably by potential clients, for this -among other activities- we can do the following:
Competitive usability testing and surveys
To obtain metrics of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of our prototype and know at what level our solution is compared to the main competitors in the market.
Creation of landing page for early adopter registration
As in the previous point, it is not necessary to have a product built to obtain indicators related to its reception in the market. Creating a landing page that communicates the main features of our product idea, a registration form, and the support of the correct advertising, will help us obtain metrics and raise concerns in advance from people really interested in obtaining our product.