
Banking and finance firms must handle user difficulties while providing a seamless user experience to attract clients and earn money. However, when supplying products and services in a highly competitive market, these objectives are challenging to achieve.
Besides this, many fintech companies and corporate entities strive to reach out to entirely new users. That includes the elderly, children, people living in developing countries or rural areas who may have never used services like personal wealth management, digital banking, insurance, or trading before. In this scenario, it’s critical to ensure that onboarding is as simple as possible while offering value.
Companies can use design thinking to solve current problems. It is easier to develop applications that meet user wants and preferences when design thinking is used in finance.
We use design thinking at Surf to assist our clients in achieving success, increasing customer loyalty, and increasing profits. Continue reading to learn more about design thinking and how it can help you improve your project’s chances of success.
In The Field Of Fintech, What Is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is a method for gaining a thorough understanding of the needs of a target audience and using that knowledge in the development of fintech software. The basic idea behind this method is to connect with users rather than guessing what they want.
In the financial services industry, design thinking focuses on creating software solutions that are:
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Desirable
The main goal is to create a finance software product that offers value to clients while maintaining a consistent customer experience.
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Technically feasible
That means that a software system must include the capabilities necessary to do the tasks.
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Economically viable
When developing a fintech application, it’s critical to stick to the budget.
Design thinking is primarily used in user experience design. On the other hand, design thinking in finance is a crucial stage in project implementation since it aids in defining specific needs and finding the best solutions to existing challenges. Let’s look at the design thinking process in more detail.
What’s The Role Of Design Thinking In Fintech App Development?
The following stages comprise the design thinking process in fintech.
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Emphasize
Experts in software conduct studies into potential consumers’ pain points and preferences. Personal preconceptions are discarded, and valid user needs are revealed as a result. Surf, for example, conducts polls and surveys, reads comments and testimonials for competing companies, and forms user-centric groups for interviewing for this reason.
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Define
The development team determines the fundamental challenges of the target audience after gathering and analyzing the data. Then, using user personas, experts define what users should do with a financial app.
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Ideate
It’s easy to find out how to address user wants best-using tactics like brainstorming and reverse thinking once you know them. You can also use the competition analysis to discover how other organizations deal with similar difficulties and study how to apply current industry trends.
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Prototype
Designers of the user interface (UI) and experience (UX) develop a clickable prototype to help users see and “touch” the product.
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Test
User testing sessions are conducted at this stage to examine how customers engage with a prototype and collect feedback. As a result, the development team learns what has to be improved and makes the appropriate changes.
Bank of America used design thinking in fintech to find real-life examples of the difficulties faced by middle-aged women who have children. The organization enlisted the help of a group of professionals to undertake user research, which included interviews with customers and observations of dozens of families.
Specialists soon discovered that moms in those families were in charge of financial management and that single mothers were frequently on a restricted budget. Participants in the poll were using chequebook registers to keep track of their costs. That was a popular method before the widespread introduction of mobile banking apps. However, some women may round-up figures while paying bills to make calculations easier, resulting in more costs.
The bank created the “Keep the Change” service, which rounds up all transactions and sends the change to a savings account to improve customer service and automate spending control. In less than a year, Bank of America could attract 2 million subscribers through the campaign. Since then, approximately 12 million people have signed up for the service. Furthermore, 99 percent of those who took part in the study continued to use the remedy.
As a result of applying design thinking to fintech software development, businesses can:
- Gain a crystal precise understanding of user issues.
- Determine the most effective methods for resolving problems and providing value to the audience.
- Recognize how a financial app can engage users at every point of contact.
- Design and improve the solution in response to end-user input, resulting in a product that satisfies the needs and expectations of the target population.
Surf software professionals also assist finance and banking companies to prepare a technical specification, prioritizing features, and laying out a delivery roadmap during the design thinking phase. Let’s look at how our team used design thinking to help our clients succeed with financial software projects.
Surf’s Approach to Creating Effective Finance Apps Was Based On Design Thinking
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A banking app for mobile devices
Our company was approached by a prominent European bank that already has a mobile app. The product, on the other hand, was created using an off-the-shelf solution. As a result, making the necessary upgrades and expanding the system was challenging.
The customer wanted to create a new banking application from the ground up while integrating it with the existing back-end to address these challenges. It was critical to create a user-friendly design to engage and retain clients.
Our team conducted a competitive analysis and analyzed the audience’s wants after gathering and assessing project specs. We prioritized features and constructed a dynamic prototype using design thinking in banking software development.
Our software engineers created a minimum viable product (MVP) and then added numerous changes based on end-user input to reduce time to market and avoid delivering unneeded functionality. We improved the basic design and solved specific user pain points during two years of development.
Our programmers have also built intricate features from the ground up, such as immediate payments and client identity verification. In addition, the solution was integrated with Russia’s public information system for regional and local payments. Finally, implementing design thinking in financial services improved client satisfaction and retention while also increasing efficiency.
If you’re considering developing a mobile banking app, check out our dedicated post outlining the key product features and budget you’ll need.
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A cryptocurrency trading app
With the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies, our client saw a chance to create a crypto trading solution, attract a target audience, and assist them in making money. The startup partnered with Surf to develop a smartphone and tablet mobile application that appeals to novice and experienced traders.
First and foremost, we examined the project specifications and researched the sector. We enlisted the help of a software professional who specializes in online trading to deliver lectures for this aim. Our software engineers learned the intricacies of complex orders and trading this way.
We looked into ten popular cryptocurrency exchanges to find out what features are most important to users. Then, from registration to fund withdrawal, our experts generated accounts on several sites to see how visitors interacted with them. That provided us with a clear idea of improving the user experience when developing our own cryptocurrency trading platform.
For example, because traders work with the product for hours each day—and often late at night—we created a dark theme to protect their eyes. Our experts also used an orange and yellow color scheme for active parts, as these colors don’t affect melatonin production when the app is used late at night.
Our fintech software developers created two versions to meet the needs of both parties: a smartphone application for newcomers who rarely utilize complex features and a tablet version for professional traders.
While the first solution allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, examine portfolio information, and track the status of open positions, the traders’ app is a full-featured trading terminal with an order book, a list of orders, charts, and technical indicators.
As a result of implementing design thinking in fintech, the organization provided a consistent user experience while gaining a competitive edge. Read our case study to learn more about the project.
To Sum It Up
You’ll have a far better chance of completing a project if you use design thinking in financial software development. Financial services organizations can get insights into end-user wants and preferences and determine the best ways to address them by using this strategy. As a result, businesses create software that adds value while also providing an enjoyable user experience.
Our staff has already produced dozens of software solutions for fintech companies using design thinking. This method also helps our software professionals identify critical features and create a roadmap for execution.