The user experience is a critical factor for the success of a mobile application. A well-designed, user-focused, and easy-to-use experience can make the difference between a successful app and one that falls under the radar. For that reason, we want to share with you six ways to improve the user experience of fintech apps:
1) Security features: Users need to be sure that their money will be protected, thus setting security questions, passcodes, biometrics, or features to ensure safety is key in fintech apps.
2) Alerts: Another way to make sure that users feel secure about their finances is through alerts. The idea is to inform them through email or push notifications about transactions, personal information, security alerts, etc. You can also use emojis and icons to make them feel comfortable.
3) Support: It is important to add features that will aid customers when they need it. Usually, nowadays we can see how chatbots are integrated into digital baking because of the success they are having in helping users.
4) Debit card protection has always been a critical customer need. We can help protect ourselves by blocking or canceling a debit card when a suspicious transaction has been understood, stolen, or lost.
5) Wealth management: If you want users to learn how to manage their money, then you should be providing features such as reports, budgeting and saving tools, and notifications to let them feel they can control their money how they want.
6) Create an attractive user interface: A beautiful and functional user interface is one of the most effective ways to improve your UX. It will make your app more inviting and a joy to use.
Understanding the Importance of Enhancing User Experience in Fintech Apps
The first impression is critical to capturing users’ attention and motivating them to explore more; for that reason, your financial app development must be intuitive, attractive, and easy to use. In that way, users can make quick decisions about whether to continue using an app or leave it.
Let’s see which items you should take care of to enhance UX in the fintech app:
User-centered design: To deliver an exceptional user experience, you must know your target audience and understand their needs and limitations. Usually, you can apply different research techniques to gain valuable information on how to improve your app. Creating an intuitive app design is essential, with easy navigation, clear buttons, and an attractive visual design that reflects your brand identity. This is part of a good fintech brand strategy.
Usability and Ease of Use: No one likes to have trouble using an app. By minimizing the steps required to complete a task, providing instant visual feedback, and making sure interactive elements are easily accessible, you will help users make any interaction fast and efficient.
Performance and Speed: In any financial application development is a must to take care of the speed and performance of a mobile application for a good user experience. Using a slow app will frustrate users and drive them to search for alternatives. Therefore, you must run extensive tests to identify and fix any performance issues and ensure your app works efficiently on different devices and network connections.
Personalization and Context: Mobile apps offering a personalized and relevant experience are more likely to retain users. You can use user information, such as your purchase history or preferences, to tailor content and recommendations to their needs. In addition, you can take advantage of the user’s context, such as their geographic location or language preferences, to provide an even more personalized experience.
Feedback and User Support: If you want to improve your app and resolve any issues or frustrations users may encounter, you should include features that allow them to provide feedback, such as ratings, reviews, and contact forms. Responding to user inquiries and requests at an appropriate time is vital to show them that you care about their experience and that your app is committed to their satisfaction.
Constant Updates and Improvements: It is crucial to make regular updates to your app to fix bugs, add new features, address user feedback, and keep your users informed about updates and improvements. Hence, they feel you care about giving them the best possible experience.
Integration with External Platforms and Services: Integrating your app with other platforms and external services can improve the user experience by providing additional functionality and simplifying the user’s life.
The Benefits of a Good User Experience in the Financial Sector
If you want to increase conversion rates, reduce customer churn, and improve customer engagement to achieve your FinTech customer acquisition strategy, you will need to have a well-designed user interface. Thus, here are some of the benefits of having a good user experience:
Improves your customer experience (CX): Bad UX and UI design can turn customers away immediately. By creating a frictionless experience centered around an intuitive, easy-to-use product architecture, your users will enjoy using your products and services.
Sets you apart from the competition: Banking and personal finance are complex, so having a strong UX and UI will help you be among the first in a competitive market.
Makes your brand appear trustworthy: As mentioned before, first impressions count. Brands that look appealing, with a clean, eye-catching, well-designed UX, will hold consumers’ attention for longer and win their long-term trust.
Convert complicated processes into pleasant experiences: For example, enterprise collections management software uses UX and UI to create a brand-new repayment experience. So, in this way, consumers can quickly see how much they owe, set up a repayment plan, and pay back when they can.
Applying Psychological Principles to Enhance User Experience in Fintech Apps
Financial psychology helps us understand the relationship between humans and financial services. By considering and incorporating the following psychological factors into UX/UI design, you will create experiences that build trust, reduce user friction, and increase user confidence.
Cognitive load: Try to minimize cognitive load by simplifying complex tasks, providing clear instructions, and reducing distractions. In this way, you will help users feel more confident.
Mental models: As finances can be generally confusing for many people, it is essential to understand your target audience’s mental models by researching them. In that way, you can design interfaces that reduce cognitive friction, allowing users to feel more comfortable and familiar with the interface.
Visual hierarchy and attention: Following principles of visual hierarchy and engagement and utilizing visual cues effectively, designers can emphasize elements that promote trust and credibility, giving users a pleasant experience.
Creating positive emotions: Try incorporating visually appealing aesthetics, using warm colors and micro-interactions. In this manner, you will create a positive emotional connection with users and reinforce trust.
Error handling and recovery: Thoughtful error handling and recovery mechanisms are crucial for maintaining trust. Clear error messages, assistance in resolving issues, and a user-centered approach to problem-solving can mitigate anxiety and frustration.
How Time-in-App Metrics Can Empower User Experience in Fintech
The metric of time-in-app or time-per-session doesn’t tell us much on its own, all will depend on the context. For example, they can spend more time because they’ve found the app valuable or because it is difficult to use.
Therefore, you must dig deep into this metric to understand your context. Here are some variables you should consider:
Time-in-App: Comparing your app to the average minutes spent in the app per session with the other companies can be helpful to understand if your fintech app is underperforming. In the case of banking, user minutes went from 4.95 in 2019 to 5.5 in 2020, and for payment user minutes, went from 4.88 in 2019 to 4.76 in 2020.
Time-in-App Per User Segment: When it comes to fintech, there are a variety of ways to segment your time-in-app data: new users vs. returning users, first visit vs. second visit, free vs. paid users, product A vs. product B users, and others. By segmentation, you can find stability and predictability in your average time-in-app rates.
Time-in-App Per Screen: This will help you to optimize your main navigation and to determine what needs to be changed. Through A/B testing, you can evaluate and compare the time-in-app between screens and decide if adding a new screen or feature is worth it.
As you can see, the user experience is a critical factor for the success of a mobile application. A well-designed, user-focused, and easy-to-use experience can make a big difference in the success of your app. As mentioned above, by increasing user retention, building loyalty, and a satisfied and engaged user base, you will improve the user experience of fintech apps.
Ready to leap?
Consider partnering with ThinkUp, we are an experienced fintech app development company that understands the intricacies of fintech mobile apps.
Let us help you transform your business and stay competitive in today’s fast-paced.
