Windfall
Driven II Develop Hackathon Project
Product: Personal Finance Mobile Solution
Timeline: April 2024 - May 2024
Role: Lead UX Researcher
Awards/Recognitions: Received a Certificate of Recognition for leadership skills in the first two consecutive weeks of the five week event.
Background
This project aimed to develop an MVP for an intuitive mobile-first personal finance tool targeting Millennials, designed to assist with financial management in a non-stressful way by tracking and categorizing income and expenses.
The team included entry-level UX researchers, designers, developers, and a project manager. With several months of experience as a UX Research Intern, I took on a leadership role within the research team and supported researchers nearing the end of their UX bootcamps. I also collaborated with designers and developers during the handoff process.
Problem and Needs
Although personal finance tools are increasingly popular, especially among Millennials, many users struggle to find a comprehensive solution that meets their needs due to costly subscriptions with limited perceived value. Prospective users often find managing finances stressful due to high living costs, debt, and the pressure to save. Individual traits can further impact financial management skills.
Research highlighted the need for a user-centric personal finance tool that addresses practical and emotional financial concerns by combining core features like automated income and expense tracking with security and simplicity. These insights provided a foundation for informed design and development decisions.
Research Methodology
Along with the other UX researchers, I gathered quantitative and qualitative data, mapped user pain points, and identified key UX principles to shape design recommendations. We were committed to a rigorous process, as this research was foundational to the project's success.
Specific research methods included: Desk research, competitive analysis, user interviews, and a survey.
Method 1: Desk Research
We reviewed articles on personal finance, which also discussed existing tools and psychological factors influencing adoption and use. Further, we analyzed market trends and user behaviors that shape financial decisions.
Rationale
Desk research was conducted to lay the foundation for further research by identifying potential strengths, weaknesses, and needs in the current market. Insights were also gathered on included Millennial UI preferences and best practices to inform design recommendations.
Findings
Millennials are the highest adopters of mobile finance tools, providing support for this group as the target audience for the MVP.
Further, Millennials prefer intuitive, friendly, and visually appealing designs over complex, traditional interfaces.
Financial psychology, or the study of how cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors influence financial decisions, is a key consideration for developing personal finance solutions.
Preliminary research consistently emphasized the importance of tools that alleviate stress, guilt, or fear related to finances. By providing positive feedback, these tools can boost user confidence, promote retention, and help users develop healthy long-term financial habits.
Security is a top concern for financial tools.
Multi-factor authentication and other measures are needed to ensure security and build user trust.
Recurring features in personal finance tools include account integration, expense tracking, budgeting categories, time-based reporting, and visualizations like charts and graphs.
Other common features include notifications to reach users quickly and financial recommendations or educational tools to support those less confident in managing their finances.
Method 2: Competitive Analysis
The competitive analysis evaluated existing personal finance tools, specifically NerdWallet, Quicken, Rocket Money, and You Need a Budget (YNAB). The analysis involved benchmarking key features, strengths, and weaknesses across platforms. Social listening was also conducted by reviewing user feedback and ratings to identify pain points directly from users.
Further, SimilarWeb data was analyzed to identify user demographics among competitors.
Rationale
Executing a competitive analysis helped the team understand the market dynamics to ensure that the solution meets user expectations and offers a unique value proposition. SimilarWeb provided demographic data to pinpoint the platforms that were used most often by Millennials.
Findings
We created a table comparing and contrasting the key features, strengths, and weaknesses among competitors:
Overall Competitor Strengths: Competitors offered expense tracking, categorization, and clear visualizations. Newer tools like YNAB, NerdWallet, and Rocket Money stood out for their ease of use and modern design. Other valuable features included bank integration and gamification, such as when applied during onboarding to streamline the process.
Overall Competitor Weaknesses: Each personal finance solution had strengths and weaknesses, but user reviews suggested the absence of a truly comprehensive platform. Common weaknesses included limited cross-platform accessibility, data inaccuracies, and subscription costs. Many user reviews also criticized Quicken’s outdated interface.
NerdWallet, Rocket Money, and YNAB are most popular with Millennial users, while Quicken’s user base tends to lean more toward Gen X.
Given this, features included with the Millennial-preferred platforms were considered most heavily to inform recommendations.
Consistent with both user interviews and the survey, all competitors are used primarily by US users. See all SimilarWeb data.
Method 3: User Interviews
Remote, structured interviews via Zoom were completed to gather qualitative insights into users’ financial goals and stressors, budgeting strategies, and experiences with existing tools.
Interviews included five U.S. participants. Of note, a two participants were slightly outside the Millennial age range due to recruiting challenges but nonetheless provided helpful insights.
Rationale
The research team wanted to understand users' practical needs and how the solution could encourage continued use. User interviews were conducted to uncover emotional drivers, experiences, unmet needs, and in-depth stories not as easily captured by other methods.
Interview Structure
We conducted structured interviews using a comprehensive script designed to elicit qualitative and actionable insights. The questions were organized into three key areas:
Financial concerns, their relationship with money, and struggles with budgeting.
Experience with mobile finance tools, including likes, dislikes, and unmet needs.
Selection process for financial tools.
See the complete list of user interview questions.
Findings
Common challenges included managing siloed financial tools and difficulty managing finances due to stress or forgetfulness.
Many participants were experiencing stressful financial situations, such as difficulty saving due to income limitations. Some reported attempting to budget but struggling to stick to it long-term.
Desired features included automated income and expense tracking through bank account integration, customizable categories, and visualizations.
Participants preferred tools that were intuitive and required minimal effort to use. Notifications were seen as particularly useful for security and reminders, especially to track recurring subscriptions.
Participants were unlikely to want to pay for personal finance tools, especially if there was not a clear value from doing so.
One participant reported canceling a subscription solely due to cost.
Mobile access was seen as key.
Younger users preferred mobile tools, while those at the older end of the target demographic emphasized the need for both mobile and desktop availability.
Method 4: Survey
To complement qualitative insights from interviews, the research team conducted a survey using Google Forms to gather quantitative data on user budgeting habits, financial concerns, tool usage, and feature preferences.
The survey included 15 participants: nine older Gen Z/young Millennials (25–34), three older Millennials (35–44), and three Gen X (45–60). As with the interviews, recruiting challenges led to including some participants outside the target demographic. All participants were based in the U.S., except for one.
Rationale
This approach identified trends, validated qualitative insights, and broadened understanding of user priorities and provided a broader understanding of trends and priorities across a larger sample.
Findings
Overall, survey findings aligned with the interviews.
Participants shared common pain points, including difficulty maintaining a budget and income constraints. Both methods emphasized the need for security. Preferred features included expense tracking, visualizations, and tools for managing recurring expenses.
As in the interviews, younger participants preferred mobile-first tools, while older participants prioritized require cross-platform availability.
Research Synthesis and Summary
The research was organized into an Affinity Map, with findings grouped into four categories: Financial Goals and Pain Points, Design Considerations, MVP Features, and Other Features. This approach helped prioritize MVP features and share insights for future development.
Key: Green = Desk Research, Yellow = Competitive Analysis, Red = Interviews, Blue = Survey
Personas
The personas reflect variations in the target demographic, with common themes including a need for simplicity, security features, seamless expense tracking, and tool integration.
Brianna: A 32-year-old photographer who was recently engaged, hopes to improve her financial habits and save for her wedding. She struggles with financial stress and impulse spending, and therefore is seeking a simple, intuitive tool to help her stay on track.
Anne M: A 45-year-old data analyst who is working to balance her current financial responsibilities and save for retirement. She values efficient platforms with detailed reporting and robust security but is frustrated by tools that lack customization and automation.
Marcus: A 28-year-old accountant who is financially savvy and detail-oriented, is seeking a secure, trustworthy tool to accurately track his financial records and streamline revenue sources. He wants to avoid overpriced, outdated, and poorly integrated solutions.
Empathy Map
An Empathy Map was created for Brianna. She faces financial stress and overwhelm which is worsened by societal pressures, unhelpful advice, and overspending triggers like advertisements and peer pressure. Consequently, she struggles to stick to budgets.
Brianna needs a simple solution with automated income and expense tracking. She would benefit from customizable budgeting categories, such as one for wedding savings, visualizations to increase awareness of spending, and positive reinforcement to stay motivated.
Recommendations
The research team presented all gathered information to the design, development teams, and project manager during handoff. Design strategies and MVP features were discussed and prioritized. Ultimately, the team agreed upon the following:
MVP Features
Account Creation and Security Features: Creating an account is crucial for retaining financial account history. The development team proposed multi-factor authentication strategies to build user trust when informed by insights into security as a key need.
Income and Expense Tracking: Users overwhelmingly prioritized expense tracking, with income tracking seen as secondary. However, combining both features is essential for a comprehensive solution and is standard offering among competitors.
Budget Creation and Tracking: Users expressed the need to create budgets with customizable categories, such as a "Utilities" category that could include subcategories like "Water," "Electric," "Gas," and "Internet."
Automated Cash Flow Integration: Manually inputting transactions creates hassle. Participants recommended bank account integration for easier management, with the caveat that manual input or correction of revenue streams may still be needed occasionally. Although it was a slight challenge, the development team ultimately identified a solution for the MVP.
Design Strategies
Mobile-First Design: Younger Millennial users prefer mobile-first tools, while Older Millennial/Gen X users value both web and mobile access. Given the project's limited scope, prioritizing the solution for mobile devices was recommended.
Simple, Intuitive, and Friendly Interface: Millennial users require a straightforward, easy-to-use design. UI features like friendly messaging, positive feedback, gamification, and interactive elements encourage consistent use, despite the stress of financial management.
Visualizations: Clear, visual dashboards (e.g., charts and graphs) simplify financial management and align with user preferences for intuitive, easily scannable interfaces.
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These features were not selected for the MVP but were presented for discussion and future iteration:
Notifications: Customizable alerts for low balances, budget limits, or high transactions, with flexible delivery options (text, email, or push). Although this was a frequent theme discussed in the research, it was not feasible to implement within the short time frame.
Recurring Expense Management: Calendar tools to track subscriptions and recurring payments to help users avoid forgotten charges.
Time-Based Reports: The ability to generate weekly or monthly financial reports to analyze income and expenses over time.
Guided Setup: A simplified onboarding process with tutorials to help users create budgets, link accounts, and set notifications.
Financial Education Tools: Recommendations and educational content to improve financial literacy and suggest budgeting strategies, such as the "50-30-20 rule" for managing needs, wants, and savings.
Conclusion
Although the design and development phases were components of the project, this case study focuses on the research team’s contributions, illustrating the research methods, insights, and recommendations that shaped the product's direction.
Successes
I improved my research, collaboration, presentation, and leadership skills by participating in this project. I improved my ability to prioritize as the research process identified many potential features and the research team had to determine which ones to recommend.
I gained an understanding of user financial behavior and the importance of addressing the emotional aspects of financial management to create a positive experience.
Challenges
It was a challenge to recruit participants quickly to avoid delays for the design and development teams. Given difficulties finding strictly Millennial participants, a few participants were slightly outside of the ideal age range.
All team members were entry-level, amplifying the impact of time constraints and making communication with the design and development teams challenging at times. These limitations excluded well-supported features like notifications and cross-platform availability.
Next Steps
If the project were to continue, next steps would include:
User Testing and Iteration: The MVP would need to be tested with target users to refine features and incorporate real-world feedback.
Enhancing Cross-Platform Usability: As discussed, the solution was limited to mobile only given time constraints. Eventually, it would be essential to make the platform responsive.
Developing a Fair Pricing Model: While pricing was not explicitly addressed, creating a reasonable pricing model will be critical if the product were to be released, given users' reluctance to pay for expensive personal finance solutions.
Expanding Research Scope: This project focused on Millennial users, but preliminary research suggests the solution would also appeal to Gen Z and Gen X. Exploring their needs further would be beneficial for future development.