In the Fintech environment, designing user experience (User Experience) is extremely important; however, there are still many common misconceptions that make Fintech products struggle to attract and retain users.
1. Design must be unique and creative
UX design (User Experience) should always be innovative and creative to meet the diverse and ever-changing needs of users. They desire a better product experience, easier to use, and more convenient. Therefore, UX design needs to focus on users and provide them with a great and different experience compared to competing products.
We can see banks and Fintech startups pursuing innovation, competing with each other over the latest design solutions and technologies. We are amazed by the incredible capabilities of new technologies, but this does not mean that applying them to products will ensure a perfect user experience.
Most regular users do not have the time or desire to learn new technologies; many may feel frustrated if daily usage functions become unusual and not as expected. New technologies should be applied appropriately and bring benefits to users, helping them easily use them to solve their problems.
Therefore, implementing new designs or technologies should happen gradually and strategically, without threatening core features. Generally, you do not need to reinvent the wheel but should optimize tested and familiar solutions for users. In this case, you can be assured that there will be no need to guide users about your service.
2. Just provide the design according to the requirements
To design UX successfully, it is not enough to merely design according to the stipulated requirements; one should also consider many other important factors that need to be met by users and businesses.
In fact, a good product not only meets the needs and expectations of users but also must ensure that it meets the business goals of the company. A UX Designer needs to understand the business model of the product, marketing strategy, usage context - who the users are? What are their issues and needs? This information will help UX Designers gain better insights into customers’ goals and needs, enabling them to optimize the user experience and align with the company's business objectives.
The UX design process always starts from top to bottom; understanding the business model of the product helps UX designers make logical design decisions aligned with the company’s business strategy. If a product requires advanced features and must charge fees to ensure financial sustainability for the company, then the UX designer must ensure that this feature is designed in a way that users can comprehend and are willing to pay for.
3. The more features, the more satisfied the users
One of the most enlightening experiences of my life in the early days of my career was participating in a company undergoing digital transformation, where my task was to design a job search application that integrated many intriguing features that were unrelated. Needless to say, the project failed; the investors lacked financial resources, the development team did not have enough capacity, and users were disappointed because it was not engaging enough and did not meet their needs.
The more features do not mean users will be more satisfied, as this can cause various issues. You should learn more about the concept of Minimal Viable Product. Before starting a project, it is crucial to understand which core functions are most requested by and utilized by customers.
First, when there are too many features, users may feel confused and find it challenging to use your product. This can lead to dissatisfaction and loss of trust in your product.
Second, too many features can also make your product slower and harder to use. If your product requires too many steps to achieve a specific goal, users may feel they are wasting time and will be dissatisfied.
Finally, adding too many features can make your product seem cluttered and harder to understand. If your product is not simple and easy to use, users may not want to use it and may switch to other products.
Therefore, instead of focusing on adding as many features as possible, concentrate on ensuring that the features are meaningful and useful for the users. Pay attention to how users interact with your product and design your product to best meet their basic needs.
4. UX design should only be based on quantitative data
It goes without saying that design based on quantitative data is an extremely promising approach in the product industry, especially in the financial sector. The advantage of this method is clear: designing solutions backed by statistics, measurable outcomes of design decisions, and testing as well as choosing the best solutions.
Essentially, this is a scientific system, relying on data to achieve maximum conversion and measurable effectiveness. The main slogan of this method: no random actions, no emotional solutions, only designs proven by numbers. For the manager of any financial organization, relying on data as a basis for applying design solutions is a rational approach.
Quantitative data can provide information about usage levels, user behavior on the product, helping to make reasonable design decisions and evaluate product effectiveness. However, it does not provide complete information about users' thoughts and feelings when using the product. Creating a good user experience requires a combination of both quantitative and qualitative data, along with an understanding of users and the designer's experience.
Thus, it is necessary to combine both quantitative and qualitative data to gain a better understanding of users' needs and expectations. This can be achieved through methods such as interviews, surveys, polls, and directly observing users using the product.
Using both quantitative and qualitative data will help create a good user experience that meets users’ needs and provides value to the business.
5. Financial experts know exactly what their users want
In reality, your users are often very different from what you think. Financial experts do not guarantee that they know exactly what their users want. Although financial professionals may have information about the market, trends, and customer data, they cannot represent all users and their preferences.
Financial experts are rational people always seeking the best solutions. And they expect that the majority of users will use financial services in the same way. Unfortunately, this does not always happen. Most people are quite irrational; they make decisions and draw conclusions based on emotions and instincts, often unconsciously. Their behavioral patterns often do not follow logic, and they act out of habit. This explains why many people do not use products in the way their developers have envisioned.
To create products with good experiences, there needs to be a combination of many fields, including design, market research, product development, and finance. However, to understand users’ needs, direct interactions with users and market studies are crucial. Financial experts can collaborate with product development teams to analyze data on customers and the market, but they cannot represent users or know exactly what users want.
Therefore, to create products with good experiences, users must be placed at the center of the design process, and solutions should be provided that meet the needs and requirements of the users through research and validation methods.
6. The easiest way to succeed — Copy the designs of popular products
A common misconception is that you can look at a successful service, copy it, and immediately achieve a similar level of success. Blindly copying financial interfaces from a popular service will clearly not be effective.
Each product has its unique requirements and characteristics, and copying the design of another product does not guarantee that your product will meet those requirements. The uniqueness and success of a product are determined by a number of factors not solely related to interface design. It is essential to understand exactly what is behind this success. Some copying efforts have indeed succeeded. However, upon closer examination, the founders of those successful products discovered a niche market, created their business model, and invested considerable effort into product development by transitioning from copying to innovation.
The design of a digital product depends not only on the interface design but also relates to other factors such as content arrangement, page loading speed, features, customer support, etc. You need to analyze and consider everything that makes your business and product unique, ultimately capturing a long-term competitive advantage. Additionally, a product with good UX.
Of course, the interfaces of popular applications can serve as an inspiration and good starting point. This can save time when beginning the design process, but interface design is just one part of the user experience design. It is crucial to understand the ideas behind the designs you refer to and how they create benefits for users, as well as solve real business problems. In this way, your service can set a new standard and help improve the daily lives of millions.
7. User experience design requires a large investment only for large companies?
Essentially, user experience design revolves around enhancing satisfaction and gaining customer loyalty by improving usability, useful functionality, and enjoyment through the interaction between customers and the product. User experience design can be applied in projects of both small and large scales, suitable for both large and small companies. In fact, investing in UX can save costs, increase competitiveness, and enhance the user experience of your product.
Therefore, when it comes to building digital financial services, integrating UX design technology with Design Thinking will be particularly effective. Optimizing the UX design process to achieve good results with limited budget and time. This is a suitable solution for small companies with limited resources and costs. UX design steps, such as creating Personas, User Journey Maps, User Testing, etc., can all be carried out by small teams or startups. In the long term, UX design delivers significant returns on investment and enhances the core capabilities of development teams.
However, for large companies, investing in UX can open up more opportunities to improve their products, including more in-depth user research, gathering more data, and having a more solid foundation for enhancing product quality. It is essential to recognize that investing in user experience is not an expense but an investment in the future of your product.
8. User experience only relates to product interface
Many people think that a product with a good experience only relates to a visually appealing application interface. However, user experience relates to many other factors, including content, customer service, page loading speed, product responsiveness, customer interaction, product features, product usability, reliability, and safety, among many other factors.
The content of the product is an indispensable factor in user experience. Content must be optimized to suit the intended use and provide users with necessary information easily and quickly.
Customer service is also an important factor in user experience. This is especially true in the financial industry, where customer service is an essential part, such as banking or insurance. The customer support team should be trained to quickly and effectively resolve customer issues.
Loading speed and product responsiveness also impact the user experience. When a product loads slowly, users may not be patient enough to wait and switch to a competitor's product. The responsiveness of the product also needs to be improved to meet users' requirements.
Therefore, user experience is not just related to the product interface but also to many other important factors that create a comprehensive and best user experience to enhance satisfaction and loyalty to the product or service.
9. Just designing a good user experience will ensure product success
User experience is one of the crucial elements for a product to succeed; however, it is not the only one. The reality is that digital products often grow rapidly, but they still must adhere to market rules. This means that success depends not only on product quality but also on how and when the product is introduced to the market, what services are provided to users, the competitors in the same field, legal terms for services to operate, and various other business factors.
Furthermore, UX design is an iterative process, and it does not stop once the product is launched. In the future, the product needs to be optimized and improved based on data collected and feedback from customers.
A product also needs to meet factors such as reasonable pricing, product quality, market accessibility, effective marketing strategies, and many other factors. If a product has good user experience but is priced too high or is hard to access in the market, it will also not succeed. Therefore, for a product to succeed, it needs to fully meet all business factors and not just user experience.
