01. Project Overview
EKO network came up with a bold idea for a Fundu app. What if a user who needed small amounts of cash in an emergency situation? For example, In case of a medical emergency at night, when most EKO agents were closed – could select a nearby user who had extra cash to pay for this, and receives it in exchange as a person-to-person (P2P) digital money transfer.
I have acted as a Design Skipper, Moderator, Data Experimenter, Ideator & Design Expert in this project.
Planned and prepared the interview questions as per business objectives. Moderated the usability testing and the interview.
Extracted the information from the data, which we collected at the time of interview and usability testing.
Participated in the workshop and presented my opinion to the stakeholders. Led my design team for the ux process.
Ideate and brainstorm with the stakeholders. Developed a quick prototype to test with the users, based on the insights.
02. Strategy
Analyzed the risk fear of the digital money transfer, understood and prioritized the problems, and aligned them with the core business opportunity.
Goal & Objective
The primary objective was to understand the usage of an existing fundu app and user insights.
- Identified aspects of the current application that were working well.
- Identified the opportunities for improvement in the solutions related to risk and business model.
Project Plan
Interview & Focus Group ( To understand )
• Current Experience with the Fundu App
• Risks and Perceptions of the Fundu App
• Trust Networks and Viral Marketing (general, specific)
• Pricing and Incentives
• Interaction with the Smartphone App (general)
• Interaction with the Fundu App (specific)
Design Thinking (To Build/Create)
• Articulated / Unarticulated User Needs
• Value Proposition (Concept Testing)
• Low-Fidelity Prototyping (of New Features)
Target Audience
Migrated set of users located at Urban and Peri-Urban users in India.
04. Our Approach
Design Sprints is a very powerful tool, within 5 days of team efforts, we planned and redesigned the product to achieve business objectives for the better results.
05. Know Your User
Interview focussed on the risk perception, ease of use, and design opportunities for each process.
Risk Concept (Need Cash)
- Trust of general cash-in/out concept
- Trust in counterpart
- Trust of transaction completion
- General security (e.g. time of day, place of meeting)
06. Interview/Contextual Enquiry
Conducted interviews and moderated the usability testing of various screens from the users like registration process, login, discover by the receiver, acceptance by the provider, physically meet and verify, tracking location, digital handshake, etc. with the users
07. Interview Analysis
CUSTOMER SEGMENT
RISK ALONG INTERFACE
08. Persona
Categorized the four main user personas.
The core targeted user, for subsequent ideation we worked on.
After the core targeted users, these were the major user base.
Though it is a small part of the user base with unique attributes.
The student had the least portion and income, but the most tech-savvy. So potentially a strong adopter of the app.
09. Ideate
Our point of view for the main need of our targeted user (the migrant worker) and a corresponding “How Might We” prompt (for EKO) to set the ground for brainstorming.
Based on this prompt, and keeping in mind our user inputs, we splited into two cross-functional teams and took brainstorming how to reduce user risks.
We conducted a similar exercise on pricing, specifically on how best to make the fee and commission more transparent, simple, and attractive for provider and receiver respectively.
10. Mobile Solutions
Prototypes were built for ‘Fundu screens’ after incorporated the selected ideas.
Started with the discovery screens, transaction screens i.e when user requested for the money and can see the provider details, location of the provider, money transaction information, account detail information, history screens, provider’s side screens.
11. Quick Check
After developing the low-fidelity prototype, focused group and usability testing were done to quick understand users adoption and risk perception.
12. User’s Reaction
Users thoughts were detailed out on features like discovery, filters, notifications, digital handshake, trust and security factors, etc.
Clear determination on meeting location and who determines it.
- Graphic showing transaction navigation (route maps) is easy to understand and useful.
- Some of the providers mentioned that the receiver should come to them, as they are providing a benefit, though some receivers believed that they may not be able to come “since we already do not have the money”. Fundu could suggest a midway location for the users.
- If a receiver has an emergency situation and is not able to come, then they are ready to pay the transport charges that the provider may have incurred. However, the charges should be minimal and justified.
- Almost everyone believed that both receiver & provider should have the “Tap To Meet button”. Since it’s possible that one person may reach first, then he/she could update by clicking the button to indicate that they have arrived.
Digital Handshake: One-time password to authenticate transaction made. (sense to most people)
- The tech-savvy users easily understood the concept of the passcode, whereas the others required some guidance to understand it.
- Participants understood that without the mandatory code, no “random person” can commit fraud.
13. Conclusion with Solution
At the beginning of the testing session, existing EKO customers indicated they had “less than 50%” trust on the Fundu app because of the brand name. However, after experiencing the entire new screens prototype, the trust levels increased significantly after each step. In particular, the perceived involvement and role of EKO as an intermediary greatly increased trust. At the end of the session, the respondents stated with confidence that they are ready to use the app – as long as the charges/fees are reasonable.
