N26 – 2021
Money Deposit
Allow users to deposit money into their accounts and increase the number of MAUs and user retention
Role
Senior Product Designer ― research, design, and testing
Team
Parth Mehta - Senior Product Manager
Brian Manley - Lead Engineer
Problem
Users have to jump through multiple hoops in order to get their cash or checks into their personal accounts
More than 50% of user requests are money movement related (money out, cash deposit and check deposit) – hence the need to address all these issues on the app to retain our users and decrease CS requests. Studying closely our target audience, we understand that “All things equal, low-income, older consumers are more likely than other groups to use checks and cash.”
“Deposit cash” option and clear instructions
Introducing Cash Deposit is a crucial feature for our users. We have included the Cash Deposit option as part of the frequently used Add Money button.
After rounds of review and testing, we added a product spotlight screen to explain the steps
Intuitive process and accessible locations
Worked with our partners at Incomm to build the most intuitive process by automatically re-generating barcodes.
Analyzing the locations of our users gave us a good starting point of which retailers to feature on our map and a good idea on how to implement the map search and location zoom.
Remote Check Deposit
Users have expressed their frustration with the lack of mobile check deposit capability and concerns around the cost of alternative methods like INGO and its complex process.
To complete our fundamental banking basics offering, we introduced a Remote Check Deposit option for our users to deposit checks from anywhere and guide them through it with high success rates.
Research
Answering the question “Why cash deposit or check deposit?”
Our data has shown that more than 50% of our customer reviews and requests include money movement related issues. Words like “cash” and “check” are common reoccurrence especially in the lapsed users survey that we sent out.
Considering that our target audience is the unbanked or under served Americans, I dug into research papers to figure out financial patterns that our users have based on their financial needs and demographics. From third party research, it became clear that a large portion of our users use cash in transactions or as salary.
The need for a cash deposit stems from a desire to have a safe place for the money and the need to only physically carry $100 or less at any time. Users were either asking relatives to deposit money into their account then sending it to them or cashing their checks at a Walmart or PAYOMATIC .
“I would like to remove my sister out of the process because it’s not really her business”
“I go to another bank, deposit the cash and then transfer it to N26. And finally, wait a few days for it to appear on my account”
Requirements for money movement – Easy and Fast
From interviewing 7 of our users, we were quick to learn that they need the process of depositing money to be intuitive and they need access to their cash instantly. We have to remember that our users have been burnt by traditional financial institutions and they need a safe and secure way to deposit their money.
“[I expect] to receive the cash in my account instantly. I want my money right away. I would go on the app and check to see if the deposit worked. I want that confirmation and instant gratification. If I don’t see it right away, then I would call to see where my money is”
One of our limitation is the lack of ATM depositing, so we had to build the best retail deposit experience to account for that and cover most of our users and their locations.
Solution
Introduce a seamless way to deposit money into your N26 account with a cash deposit product
The new product allows users to seamlessly and safely deposit cash at retail locations around them (i.e. CVS, Walmart, 7 eleven, etc) by scanning a barcode and handing over the money to the cashier.
Users will get free deposits, clear instructions and immediate notification upon the completion of the deposit process.
Integrating with a third party vendor – Incomm
Based on the design guardrails put, I worked with the Product Manager and the Engineering Manager to outline and narrow down which vendors we can work with and which offers the best capabilities. After talking to three vendors we narrowed down to Incomm and Greendot.
Incomm became the clearest winner due to the coverage of retailers which aligns with our target audience location and we were able to negotiate good terms and push for a good deal for our users in terms of free deposits.
User test three different concepts, focused around different pillars
Based on the two pillars that we deduced from our user research and interviews, we designed three different concepts that address: Simplicity and Flexibility. All the designs were anchored by developing a product that is safe, quick and accessible.
Concept 1 focused on giving the user the quickest way to get their barcode and start the depositing process. It really put the super user in mind first and giving the least instructions and ability to search but make the decision for the user by presenting the user with available retailers. On the other hand, concept 2 and 3 were dependent on a map and a search functionality for the user to figure out the closest retail option to them or their preferred retailers.
Upon testing these three concepts to our users, it became clear that..
Outcome
We started developing Cash Deposit and began story-mapping for the Remote Check Deposit product
Map and Instructions – Map is designed to showcase the retailers brand and deposit instructions at each retailer. The goal is to remind users of the deposit process and lower cognitive load.
Barcode Scan – Make important copy more humane and re think expiration to automatic generation as users mentioned their anxiety around expiring barcodes.
Notifications – Comfort the users with immediate notifications and capitalize on what our users like about using N26.
Next Steps