Privacy and data security are major concerns in the fintech environment. The average damage a data breach costs the financial industry is $5.85, and it’s one of the cybercrime hotspots. To be safer, use data encryption algorithms like the Tripple Data Encryption standard (TrippleDES), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), among others. These can only be accessed by a few people that have special access keys.
Fintech UI UX designs speak a language most users understand or want to hear. “Good design is a language” Massimo Vignelli. With this in mind, every UX designer and the entire fintech industry aims to deliver exactly that. That being the case, there is a 23.58% CAGR expected growth projection in the fintech market between 2021 – 2025, according to Research and Markets.
The primary objective of fintech UI UX app design is to ease the struggles associated with traditional banking and other financial institutions. While some financial companies are still stuck with the worries that it will take longer to create fintech apps and platforms, you will be amazed at how fast and instant it can improve user experiences.
Read on to find out the trends and essentials in the fintech UI design industry.
Fintech UI UX Design Essential Elements
Performance cannot be assessed through visuals, but if a fintech app works as its users expect it to, you can conclusively agree that its elements are well designed. Below are some key elements that will determine customer experience and whether they will continue using the app or disappear to find better options.
Speed of the App
The load speed of your financial app will determine if you retain or lose your users. Besides, it also determines user experience. Apps with slow load speeds waste users’ time, making them disappear to find better options.
Recognizable Elements
Your fintech app’s elements should not be confusing to users. The colors, symbols, buttons and icons should be what users expect and, most importantly, what they are used to. However, you should note that bland color palettes will still negatively impact user experience. Therefore, incorporate standardized elements that the average user can easily interact with without needing a manual.
Prompt Access
In terms of bank account access, functionality beats design. The layout of your fintech app design should give users immediate access to financial services without the need for passwords like in old financial companies and institutions.
One-Click Functionality
A one-click functionality that displays important information on different financial aspects (expenses, deposits, credit card information, etc.) of users should be available with a single click for easy user navigation experience.
Bill Payment and Money Transfer Options
The send button for bill payment and money transfer should be easily accessible. The process should also be as easy as sending messages.
The Important UX Design Processes of Fintech Financial Apps
The fintech UX design process may slightly differ from one design agency to another. However, the steps below are a roadmap and should provide a starting point for designers.
Research
Research is the first and one of the most important steps in designing any fintech app. Here is why. In efforts to digitize the traditional finance industry, most parts and ideas have been tried. Thorough research will ensure your idea is not already in the market, and at the same time, you will get to know if the idea is ideal or not.
In your research, involving internal stakeholders and specialists is important to ensure your app generates revenue. The revenue part is mostly overlooked, which is not good for investors.
Consulting specialists, on the other hand, will ensure you are not going to get into trouble with your fintech app. Trouble, in this case, could include fines, penalties, or ending up in court for breaking the law.
Some of the most important questions you should answer during your research include.
- Features and functionalities of your fintech app needed for its success
- What your app needs to achieve for the organization and your customers
- The major regulatory and compliance requirements
- Potential hindrances during development and execution
Core Functionality Identification
Identifying the core functionality of your fintech app helps you narrow down to the specific features you need for your app.
Besides, it reduces the time for the build-up process and app complexity hence your app will hit the market sooner.
After your app is already on the market, you can consider adding other peripheral features gradually. At this stage, avoid the urge to have an app with all the features completely intact from the word go.
Assessing the Capabilities of your Team
After researching and having a clear scope of your fintech app design, it’s time for execution. At this time, you will have to assess the capabilities of your in-house UX designers.
Depending on their abilities, you will either have them design the fintech app or outsource the project to a fintech design agency.
However, if your aim is to have the app hit the market soonest, outsourcing to a fintech design agency is your best shot. On the hand, if fintech design is the goal of your organization and time isn’t a factor, you can invest in full-time hires to develop the app.
Build the Prototype
With all the information needed, and a ready product design team, it’s time to create a prototype. Designing the prototype revolves around three major areas, which are Visual and UI, UX and interaction and Content designs.
Visual and UI Design
Your fintech’s UI design is your major selling point because it draws a line between users choosing conventional financial institutions and using fintech apps.
Your fintech app should eliminate all the hassle (trips to the bank, paperwork, etc) that is involved in traditional banking systems. In a nutshell, your app’s usability should have a user-friendly interface and offer the much-needed convenience without information overload.
Fintech UX and Interaction Design
This part is about the general look of your app design and the journey or processes your users will undergo in executing a financial service. A good example is when they transfer money.
Your fintech UX design should not be cluttered or have any information overload. The presence of either two not only creates a bad user experience it also makes users lose patience and trust in your financial product.
Content Design For Fintech
Fintech UX design goes beyond visuals, and here is where UX writing comes in. Your information architecture should focus on the target audience from the beginning to avoid issues at the end of the product design process.
Moreover, all the lengthy and complex information should be presented in a clearly and easily accessible way.
Test your App
The testing phase of your fintech app design enables you to use the feedback to improve your prototype.
It is cheaper and would take lesser time to solve the possible issues at this stage compared to when the app is already developed.
Some of the methods you can use to test your app prototype include
- Lab usability testing – where the tests run in a moderated lab-style testing environment.
- Subject interviews – where you ask different participants questions about their experience while using the app.
- Guerilla testing – where you approach the public to get their opinions on the prototype in question.
- Session recording – where participants are recorded as they interact with the prototype. This method helps you create a heatmap of interest and, at the same time, identify issues with interaction.
- Unmoderated testing – where participants are allowed to complete tasks without moderation.
Current Fintech App UX Design Trends
For the longest time, financial institutions, products and most financial services have remained complex and intimidating to users. However, the ongoing improvements in fintech UI design have disrupted the financial sector, and the results are evident in different fintech products.
There has been a huge impact on customer experience, and besides, the sector has had a lot to benefit from digital banking, fintech apps, and other emerging products and technologies.
You might be wondering how fintech is exactly transforming the banking industry, but here are some of the current trends and their results.
Centralization
As opposed to a conventional banking app, centralization in fintech apps ensures users get more than the financial service of sending and receiving money. It involves the integration of third-party services, apps, and platforms to increase functionality in one app.
Fintech UI UX designers aim at enabling users to get a bigger picture of their individual finances.
Despite centralization seeming to create a more complex financial app, the app’s usability is still user-friendly to all users, regardless of their financial expertise.
Data Visualization
Visualization of data is a simple, quick, impactful, and at the same time meaningful way for users to track and understand relationships between their earnings and expenses. Visualization can be either through graphical or pie chart representations.
Data visualization has become an expectation from most fintech apps by different users. This has seen fintech UI UX designers leverage machine learning algorithms to create fintech products that can predictively visualize and gauge the impact of individual user choices in the future or over time, depending on trends.
Gamification
Gamification is one of those trends that have turned finance from boring, worrying and demanding to something more engaging and funš.
Here is how this works. It changes the user’s perspective and hence enabling them to make decisions in a less impulsive manner. Gamification transforms user experience by giving users rewards for meaningful decisions and choices they make.
Some examples of gamification elements include rewards & collectibles, progress bars, points & in-app currency, leaderboards & social interactions, among others.
Social Banking
Social banking is another revolutionary fintech UI design trend in fintech products. It allows couples and even friends to track finances together. Honey due and Finch are perfect examples of social banking fintech apps.
The UI, especially that of Finch, is similar to that of social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, which enables users to navigate the app seamlessly.
Identifying with Products
UX designers have transitioned from poorly designed fintech platforms to a more emotional design. Boring is no longer the case because they have included specific features that have shifted from pure functionality to focus on brand and user experience.
A good example of a financial product with old bland color palettes is the old design of Zeller. Its design is cold and uninviting. Emma, on the hand, focuses on user experience by incorporating emojis, whitespaces and more attractive colors. Besides reducing the friction of financial services, it gives customers joyful experiences due to its fintech UI design.
Incorporating illustrations, color, and animations in an emotional design improves user experience, hence increasing the chances of new customers to identify with fintech products.
Mobile Banking
Fintech UI design aim at creating fully mobile banking financial apps. The fintech apps eliminate the bureaucracy, paperwork and the need to visit financial institutions to approve transactions. Besides, they also aim at creating personal finance apps which eliminate the need for personal finance assistants.
Some excellent fintech products with superior security that are already on the market are the N26 and Revolut. These apps go beyond user experience through designs and interfaces that ensure customers go through only little effort in accessing their finances.
Incorporation of Human Language
Technical financial jargon is intimidating, and it hinders most users from different financial products. However, most fintech products aim at better user experiences in their effort to track their expenses.
However, some financial terms like LTV calculator, prolongation, among others, are not replaceable. With such user experience, designers have come up with glossaries with definitions to enable users navigate different platforms with ease.
Comparison Between UI and UX Fintech Design
UX and UI are two distinct design processes. UX involves mapping out the creation journey, while UI ensures the journey is fulfilling. Google docs link to the table.
Mostly Asked Questions About Fintech UI UX Design
What is Fintech UX Design?
Fintech UX design involves creating products, services, functionalities and platforms that solve user-identified problems for better customer experience.
Is Fintech UI Design more Important than UX Design?
Both the UI UX designs in fintech products are important. They are both necessary in ensuring the expected user experience. To make it even more obvious, they both depend on each other for satisfying user experiences.
Is the Fintech UX Design Saturated Niche?
Both yes and no are correct answers, depending on the level of expertise. For the entry-level developers, the answer is yes. But for experienced senior developers who can handle all processes, the niche is still green, and there is high demand for such.
What is UX Writing in Fintech?
UX writing is part of the fintech UX design process where a UX writer focuses on simplifying financial jargon and other complicated terms.
