1. Overview
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I wanted to identify problems and opportunities with an existing application that has a large userbase.
Venmo is a digital wallet platform where people can transfer funds easily. According to my user research, Venmo users struggle to access their monthly statements and track their past transactions. I designed a Statements feature where users can search transactions and identify major trends with their spending and budgeting, increasing knowledge of personal finance.
Duration: 6 days
Team: Rose Kuan (this is a personal project, not affiliated with Venmo)
Process: I used an adaptation of the Google Ventures Product Design Sprint. Through the five-day accelerated process, I advanced through phases including understanding the problem, diverging on the solution, decision-making, prototyping, and user testing.
Understanding Venmo
Here’s what I found out
Founded in 2009, Venmo is a mobile payment platform designed for Millennials. As one of the most popular payment rail apps among the peer-to-peer (P2P) userbase, Venmo makes splitting bills, transferring funds, and connecting with people accessible through the reach of your fingertips.
Venmo has differentiated itself from its P2P competitors through the close connectivity between the target demographic and user experience. The awkward segment of splitting the bill at the end of date night has been transformed into a fun and conversational experience. By leveraging and combining the social element and the financial element, Venmo solved the pain-point of inefficiency in traditional transactions.
Venmo’s greatest values are framed around practicality — specifically, how fast and easy it is to transfer and receive payments (Our Product). The nature of the app encourages everyone to participate in a social experience, by which sending money should feel as easy as sending a text.
Today, Venmo has 40 million users and a total of 227 million customer accounts.
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I first tapped on the LEMERS method to evaluate Venmo against its competitors.
From the table, it is interesting to note that Venmo performed relatively low in Learnability and Memorability. While there are many nuances with Venmo’s payment methods (fees, management of bank accounts, timing), I wanted to focus on user engagement with the transaction feed through contextual inquiry.
User Research & Analysis
What are users saying?
I conducted user interviews with 10 Venmo Mobile users. The questions focus on their engagement with Venmo Mobile, their experience using Venmo Mobile and on what they expect out of the payment rail service. Here’s the summary of my findings:
- While most users are aware of both Venmo Desktop and Venmo Mobile, the majority of them use Venmo via the app on their phones.
- Most users utilize just “Add Recipients” and “Pay or Request” Buttons.
- The majority reads the Main Social Feed out of curiosity but finds the Personal Feed lengthy and confusing.
- Only 4 out of 10 knew that the monthly statement is sent through email and only 2 out of the 4 knew that it can only be accessed through a computer.
Observations of User Behavior and Insightful Quotes:
“I don’t know if it’s me but I can never find my old transactions using Venmo.”
“It is difficult to categorize my spending, even with the online statements. I have to make my own Excel sheet to track my completed transactions.”
“I want to know how much of my Venmo transactions consist of food and entertainment costs.”
“I like Venmo because it is like a combination of Facebook and a traditional banking app. [However,] I thought the feed on the phone was the only way to access my transactions. I didn’t even know an actual statement existed.”
Takeaways of what I have gathered from user interviews:
- Users want to navigate transactions quickly and efficiently
- Users want overviews of their monthly transactions
- Users want their payment history organized into categories
- Users are unfamiliar with the app’s online platform and wish that the statement can be accessed on the mobile version
Problem and Opportunity
Reviewing the research from above, I noticed a lack of knowledge with monthly statements, especially among amateur users. Many users revealed that past transactions are difficult to access and track, as Venmo currently provides statements only through the desktop platform. While Venmo Desktop does provide the ability to download transaction history as a CSV file, it does not offer instant transparency on the mobile platform. As a result, users have to scroll endlessly through their personal feeds to access payment history. The insufficient information can affect the retention rate — users can now complete similar money transfer functions through other competing services that offer more clarity.
There is a clear goal here. To bring more transparency and organization for the users, Venmo Mobile should design a statement feature where users can easily access their monthly transactions. The statement tab should also incorporate Spending & Budgeting, where the users’ top spending categories and trends are identified. A good design allows users to know exactly what is going on and what is going to happen in the technology they are using. The incorporation of the statement feature will build trust and reliance.
Hypothesis
If Venmo Mobile adds a statement feature and users begin to aquire insights of their personal spending, the app will gain reliability and trustworthiness.
2. Gathering Feature Criteria
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Usability Heuristics
Revisiting Jakob Nielsen’s Usability Heuristics, I want to follow the ten HCI principles designed for guiding and evaluating user interfaces. From my user interviews, I came up with the pain-points and underserved needs.
- Need for clarity: Users want to constantly access and learn about their payment history
- Need for guidance: Users want to track insights and spending habits categorically
- Need for connection: Users want to follow their trends of spending and income as they learn about their peers’. The current social feed and the personal statement section must be integrated into a unified experience.
Focusing on Principle VI — Recognition Rather Than Recall, I want to make the Venmo Mobile features immediately obvious. The user should not have to learn how to access their statements via email and Venmo Desktop. If there is a steep learning curve for searching up past transactions, there is something fundamentally wrong with the design. The transaction history not being intuitive enough also shortchanges Venmo’s usability.
With the solutions in mind, I came up with a list of features to improve based on user feedback. To properly scope this project and not tackle a bunch of problems all at once, I made use of the MoSCoW Method for feature prioritization.
MoSCOW Method — Prioritizes essential deliverables
The categories are defined as:
- Must — Critical for delivery on the target date
- Should — Important features but not crucial to the overall design
- Could — Desirables that are less important
- Won’t — Unable to achieve due to time constraint
Wireframe
First, I sketched and brainstormed several Low-Fi explorations based on user concerns and behaviors. I wanted a great way of soliciting quick and honest feedback.
Digitalized Low-Fi Versions
Findings & Observations
I tested the prototype with 5 users. Though the Low Fidelity model was based on findings from previous research, I later found out that users are more interested in tracking individual categories than searching through their monthly statements. Users would like monthly statements separated and arranged chronologically. However, they are not receptive to the detailed analysis of monthly statements. They only want a bite-size overview of their Spending and Budgeting categories.
- Users mentioned that they are uncertain about the differences between “Statements” and “Purchases”. Venmo’s current “Purchases” tab only includes transactions with approved merchants. I would want to combine the two tabs to reduce any friction and confusion.
- When I asked the users which section is more important to them, 4 out of 5 answered the Spending and Budgeting section. They requested a quick overview of their spending categories instead of a detailed monthly statement analysis.
- One user found that “Spending Trends” to be more fitting than “Spending and Budgeting”.
- Users mentioned to make the Search Bar feature more prominent and a Share button to transfer the statement via email.
- One user suggested an accessibility feature to include “Beginning Amount in Venmo” and “Ending Amount in Venmo” above the most recent statement.
With that in mind, I made some iterations to the design.
Mid-Fi Prototype
Task Flow
Based on the user feedback, I decided to organize a new task flow that will contribute to a smoother navigation experience.
3. Designing User Interface and Experience
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UI Design Decisions
Based on the task flow, I created varying versions of each interface to test with users.
- Statements
Left lists the Top Spending Categories in a vertical list, while the right combines larger color blocks with category names.
Here, I asked the users directly. Most preferred right, yet they fear that the color blocks may appear cramped. On the other hand, two users suggested the incorporation of icons to help identify the categories.
Preferred: Right
2. Spending & Budgeting
Left has simple icons, while the right is more complex.
Here, I went back to our persona and target user group — Millennials. When asked, most preferred left, as they believe that the detailed icons only distract them from a clear overview of the doughnut chart. Simplicity is key.
Preferred: Left
3. All Statements
Left requires the user to navigate through the hamburger sidebar, while the right offers alternative navigation through the top tab bar.
Again, I consulted the users. When asked, most preferred right, as they believe that the top navigation menu design is easier to reach. It is important to place frequently-used functions at the top of the screen because they are comfortably reached with one-thumb action.
Preferred: Right
Final Design and Interactive Prototype
Based on the above research and decisions, I followed Venmo’s design system to create high-fi versions. Below is the user flow in addition to three GIF prototypes.
On the current Venmo app, past transactions can only be viewed through the Personal Feed. To view the full statement, the user would need to login on Venmo Desktop. Hence to make it more intuitive and conventional like any other payment rail app:
- Introduced Statements Page, where users can view all past transactions
- Organized past transactions chronologically in the Spending & Budgeting Page
- Arranged Top Spending Categories for an insightful financial overview and included a tab bar for easy navigation
With the Statements Page and Personal Feed separated, users can track their spending more efficiently.
The search function is also added for smoother navigation, reducing confusion. Users no longer have to scroll endlessly through their Personal Feed, scouting for an individual transaction.
Usability Testing
With the prototype in place, I conducted a quick usability testing. I mirrored the prototype from Figma’s Mirror App to users’ iPhones for a scaled version. Overall, everyone offered positive feedback.
“The monthly statement feature is exactly what I wanted. I am definitely using the categories part to analyze my spending.”
“I like how you added a spending and budgeting tracker, it is effective and easy. I can now see how much I spend on food and shopping through Venmo.”
I also noted some negative feedbacks.
- Many users thought the doughnut chart on the Spending & Budgeting page is unclear. I should study more on iconography and ways I could include them in the legend.
- One user was irritated by the screen transition. Venmo employs an instant animation when users switch between screens. However, my prototype included an interaction behavior with a push from the right. To maintain consistency throughout the designs, I should have followed Venmo’s original interaction behavior.
Lastly, there is a noticeable time variation in all three users who participated in my final prototype testing. There is a clear decrease in the amount of time for search functions between the current app and the redesigned version. Users no longer spend as much time searching for past transactions. The increase in efficiency not only improves usability but also meets the user goal. The core themes of trust include accountability, integrity, reliability, and transparency. The redesign allows users to be in charge of their own finance — and in return, their increasing trust of Venmo Mobile.
4. What’s Next?
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There is always room for improvement. If I had more time, I would love to develop a more functional prototype and conduct additional usability tests. It would be great if I can incorporate the user feedback from above to create a smoother experience, finding solutions for the high fidelity prototype.
With Venmo’s growing influence and large user pool, I hope that my redesign can allow users to use the app to its full potential, increasing awareness of financial literacy.
Lesson Learned
This project was an excellent learning opportunity and a challenging project to tackle.
The most important lesson was the interactive process I shared with my users. From identify the problems to the final prototype testing, the users participated in shaping the redesign and shared their inputs along the way. Their opinions helped me immensely while I searched for solutions, tracing back as early as to the low-fi stage. The valuable feedback from users offer glimpses of how people interact with my product and how I can improve the product to craft better user experience.
And…that’s a wrap, for now! If you enjoyed my case study, please leave a 👏🏼.
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