payultra ux case study
Crafting a financial experience for seamless cross-border transactions and p2p exchange.
Product Design
Email templates
role
product designer
duration
6 Weeks
industry
fintech
tools
Figma
Miro
Project Overview
In response to the dynamic demands of today's financial landscape, I led the design initiative for PayUltra, a fintech mobile application dedicated to streamlining cross-border transactions. Our focus was to create a user-centric platform that not only simplifies internal and external transfers but also aligns with the latest financial regulations, with a specific emphasis on enabling the nigerian market facilitate transfers to other african countries through various channels and transfers to foreign accounts beyond african borders.
Problem Discovery
The traditional cross-border transaction landscape has long been fraught with challenges, from cumbersome processes and high fees to a lack of user-friendly platforms. PayUltra addresses these pain points by introducing a revolutionary solution that prioritizes user experience, ensures regulatory compliance, and fosters seamless financial interactions across borders. hence, some common themes we observed were;
Fragmented Solutions
Users often find themselves navigating through a maze of disjointed platforms, each catering to specific financial needs. This lack of cohesion not only complicates the user experience but also introduces inefficiencies, leading to a less-than-optimal financial journey.
No Trust in p2p exchanging
peer-to-peer currency exchange can be daunting due to a pervasive lack of trust. PayUltra addresses this concern head-on, prioritising a secure, automated & transparent P2P exchange experience, fostering confidence and reliability in every transaction.
Limited access to financial services
how can you send money to other african countries in minutes? Limited access to financial services is a challenge, especially when it comes to transactions within Africa. Individuals face hurdles in accessing services that provide swift and secure cross-border african transactions.
limited access to foreign accounts
Accessing foreign financial services remains a challenge for many. The complex and bureaucratic procedures involved in applying for and opening foreign accounts create barriers, hindering individuals from fully participating in the global economy.
While these may not all directly be design problems, it is important to note them as they will inform us on the direction of our research - where to focus efforts and the type of feedback to prioritise. let's keep going...
The process
UX design is dynamic but regardless, it is important to have a guiding process. This project came with its own special needs and considering constraints and available resources, we took an agile design thinking approach that prioritised iterating as fast and as early as possible. The goal was to have proof-of-concepts to work with early on.
Competitive Analysis
In the preliminary stages of this project, a comprehensive competitive analysis was conducted to understand the existing landscape of financial platforms in Africa. Two prominent solutions, Kyshi and Chipper Cash, were particularly examined for their offerings and user experiences.
STRENGTHS
- Steady growing Customer Base
- Presense in Nigeria, USA and UK
- Peer-to-peer exchanges
- Multi-currency accounts
- Internal Transfers
- Payment rails for African diaspora back to home
WEAKNESSES
- Poor User Experience
- Lacks rails for african cross-border transactions
- Cumbersome KYC process
STRENGTHS
- One of the largest payment apps in africa
- Presense in Nigeria and across multiple african countries
- access to multiple payment channels within africa
- Internal Transfers
- Payment rails for African diaspora back to home
WEAKNESSES
- High Transaction Fees
- Lacks escrow-enabled peer-to-peer exchange
- No access to multi-currency bank accounts
OPPORTUNITIES
- Escrow-enabled peer-to-peer exchange
- Seamless user experience across the entire platform
- Access to multi-currency accounts
- Access to a wide range of payment channels within Africa
- Instant Internal Transfers
- Payment rails for African diaspora back to home
User Personnas
After research and talking to people, stakeholders and potential users, it was important to document the classes of users we were building for - we needed to come up with personnas. We did this to be unequivocally sure of who we were targeting as our potential users, to point out their motivations, frustrations, goals and their demography. We came up with 3 main classes of users highlighted below.
At this stage, it was important to note that while personnas may represent Payultra users, it was initially difficult to develop or discover personnas for edge-case users but not withstanding, the goal was to focus on the key areas.
I work with other foreign clients and I find it difficult to instantly receive payment from them.
name
Emeka Chukwu
age
27 Years old
Occupation
Webflow Developer
Goals
- Receive payments from international clients through diverse channels.
- Engage in peer-to-peer exchanges for personal financial activities.
- Explore investment opportunities in foreign markets.
Frustrations
- Difficulty in receiving payments in multiple currencies.
- Limited options for secure peer-to-peer exchanges
- Complicated processes to explore foreign investment opportunities.
Motivation
Emeka seeks a platform like Payultra to simplify and secure his international transactions, making it easier to receive payments.
I work with a lot of Kenyan clients and I find it difficult to instantly send payment to their MoMo.
name
Aisha Ibrahim
age
38 Years old
Occupation
Small Business Owner
Goals
- Efficiently transfer funds to suppliers in other African countries.
- Explore peer-to-peer exchanges for better currency rates.
- Simplify the process of opening a foreign bank account for business transactions
Frustrations
- Limited options for cross-border payments with high fees.
- Lack of transparency in currency exchange rates.
- Cumbersome procedures to open and manage foreign bank accounts.
Motivation
Aisha aims to optimize her business transactions by finding a platform that offers cost-effective cross-border payments.
I need to find the easiest way to send money back home every month without a cumbersome process.
name
Clifford Gitonga
age
39 Years old
Occupation
Civil Engineer
Goals
- Send financial support to family in Nigeria
- Easily exchange currencies for international spending.
- Gain exposure to investment opportunities through peer-to-peer exchanges
Frustrations
- Limited options for fund transfers to Nigeria
- Complexities in managing foreign currencies for import/export.
- Limited secure platforms for peer-to-peer business exchanges.
Motivation
Clifford is motivated to find a platform like Payultra to simplify her financial transactions, enabling easy fund transfers, currency exchanges, and access to investment opportunities.
What the personnas revealed
- We need to focus on making Payultra as intuitive as possible.
- We realised that we would potentially be serving customer across diverse age groups, literacy levels and motivations.
- Certain features may not be easy to understand, so it was important to note that features were to be curated as though we were designing for users with low literacy levels.
- That meant providing relevant explanations, guidance and help every step of the way.
- It also meant making actions as clear as possible, atomically.
Userflows and Wireframes
We started off by developing user flows for the key user stories from authentication, Know-your-customer verification, internal transfers across various channels, external transfers across various channels, peer-to-peer exchange and so on.
At this point, our team adopted an agile approach, swiftly diving into the development of wireframes to bring our concepts to life. Recognising the importance of rapid iteration and collaboration, we embarked on a series of focused meetings.
Leveraging the dynamic "crazy-8" method where we rapidly came up with screens, often times multiple versions of major screens to select one version. these sessions became an innovative crucible where ideas for intricate screen designs were distilled into tangible wireframes.
It allowed us to efficiently address potential complexities, ensuring a nimble and collaborative environment that fueled the initial stages of our design journey.
Style Guide and Component Library
Based on the wireframes and brand guidelines, i developed a component library and style guide to serve as base components and styles for the entire application. This had a major impact on the design and development of this project as it made them much faster with reusable components and quicker developer hand-off. The style guide included colors, typography and spacing.
Solution & Final Designs
Home States and Navigation
As a user, i should be able to navigate between modules from the home screen and get information on paths that may be blocked due to constraints. We tried to make navigation from the home screen as light-weight as possible, ensuring that users are not overwhelmed with features and options.
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Internal Transfers & conversion for Payultra users
As a user, i should be able to make direct transfers to other payultra users with local and foreign accounts. We prioritised security and efficiency for all instances of transfers on payultra.
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Ultraexchange P2P: Create Offer
As a payultra user, i should be able to sell currencies on payultra by creating a sell order that can be matched with a corresponding purchase order. This feature was initially complex to understand but we successfully broke it down to the simplest bits.
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Ultraexchange P2P: Buy Currency
As a payultra user, i should be able to scan through the list of offers on ultraexchange and buy currencies. Purchases should be instant and processes should be communicated early enough with visual cues.
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External Transfers: Mobile Money - MoMo
As a payultra user, i should be able to send money to users from other african countries that have mobile money wallets and are integrated across multiple payment channels.
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Request Money
As a payultra user, i should be able to request for money directly from other payultra users. this feature was quite straightforward and required little to no complexity.
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Profile Management
As a payultra user, i should be able to manage my profile details and update my security or login information. the major issue i had with this module was figuring out how to handle information that cannot be directly changed.
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Payultra Payment Link
As a payultra user, i should be able to share my payment link to receive payment directly from another payultra user.
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Other features
We worked on a lot more other features around unifying payment experiences and enabling cross-border transactions. Some of these features include;
- User onboarding and authentication.
- Account funding via connected bank, card and direct funding.
- Bill Payment and External transfers directly to local bank accounts
- Know-your-customer for local accounts and multi-currency accounts
- Scan to pay with easy access qr codes.
- notification module for request management and system status reporting
- Beneficiary management for all types of recipients.
- and more...
Email Templates and other assets
As a payultra user, i should be able to receive transactional emails in response to actions i take on Payultra. these 25+ emails by default are to serve as the first point of communication to users hence the reason they need to be simple, easy to understand and have clear copy. I developed other assets including account statement documents and app download previews. to ensure all assets were properly fit for numerous use cases, i included them in mockups across multipe instances.
Challenges faced and takeaways
In 2023, this project marked my first major endeavor after dedicating time to hone my skills. The challenge was twofold, not only was I the sole designer on the team, but I had set lofty expectations for myself fueled by newfound knowledge. I kicked off the project with an initial idea but faced hurdles in timely communication, realising only a few days in.
The absence of well-defined brand guidelines added another layer of complexity, a situation further compounded by my delayed communication about this matter. This experience offered valuable takeaways, underlining the importance of early and transparent communication, particularly in the absence of established guidelines.
- Learning to communicate impediments very early to avoid delays and not winging it.
- Due to the fact that i worked with a highly technical team, i got much better at understanding technical standards.
- I learned about gauging and communicating appropriate timelines.
- I saw the importance of paying attention to detail with respect to ensuring users are safe in their experience.
- Every flow matters and the information you show to users at every point in time also matters. I learned to show users what is most relevant to them at every point in time and less of what is not relevant.
- I learned the importance of doing research around KYC requirements and finding out updates to ensure that designs are not done amis.
Conclusion
PayUltra proved to be a more challenging and enriching experience than I initially anticipated. It unveiled a profound enjoyment for working on mobile applications, particularly those in the fintech domain.
The project emphasized the intricate relationship between design decisions and business goals; each button, field, or component holds significance, either propelling a business towards its objectives or diverting it away. It underscored the pivotal role designers play in contributing to a business's profitability and success.
I am grateful for the opportunity to work on this project with a very technical team. I am also very optimistic about its potential to enable users and businesses participate in the global economy.
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