Background
Ever since I was a high school student, finance has captivated me. I thrive on analyzing markets and constructing robust portfolios through qualitative and quantitative methods. Yet, I've observed a puzzling trend among my college friends who, despite their interest in personal finance, shy away from investing. This has piqued my curiosity and led me to wonder, "What is the reason behind the disconnect between young people and investing?”
During the Young Tycoons Business Competition, where I led as the CEO and managed UX and Marketing for our team, we tackled this very issue. As students of Indian descent, our focus was on the Indian market, evident through the presence of ₹ symbols and Indian news headlines throughout our project.
Process
While I stuck to the overarching principles of the double diamond process, I tailored and adapted my approach to align with the specific business requirements and time constraints of the competition.
Problem Validation
I undertook problem validation through two distinct stages: extensive news research and conducting a comprehensive survey.
Research Insights
With rising inflation, saving like we did 30 years ago no longer works. Investing is increasingly becoming a necessity. News reports and mass population studies only confirmed our hypothesis that the lack of investing among the youth was a widespread issue.
After conducting a survey among the alumni and current students of our high school, We also found out that 56% (43 respondents) expressed an interest in investing their money but are not yet doing so. This data implies that there is a potential market for investment opportunities among young people, but that they may need education or support to get started.
Identifying Pain Points
Our survey and empathy map revealed some key pain points that prevented people from investing. They are listed below in the order of decreasing popularity.
While we all helped draw conclusions, another team member was responsible for collecting and compiling the data of this survey.
Our assumption was that the root cause lies in their mindset. We drew analogies to the psychological factors that cause procrastination, as the reasons that many choose not to invest are also emotional. People hear about how everyone around them is investing and feel alienated. This causes them to develop negative feelings towards investing and keeps them trapped in a negative feedback loop.
HMW Statements
How might we practically educate users about investing concepts?
How might we encourage gradual savings in an investment account?
How might boost user confidence in investing decisions?
How might we make the investing process quick and intuitive?
These how might we statements gave us a clear road to defining a solution. However, before proceeding
further, I needed to conduct a market analysis of the market to understand the customers, current
players and the gap in the market.
Market Analysis
Market Segmentation
I segmented the market based on intention, level of knowledge and income. I firmly believe that this behavioral and psychographic segmentation approach surpasses a simple demographic segmentation, allowing us to reach a broader audience.
Perceptual Map
While I supported the research for this artifact, it was created by another team member.
The idea of investing apps in India is relatively new and hence most apps are targeted towards knowledgeable investors. We saw a clear need for more education focused investment services. With the gap in the market clear, we were ready to develop our product further.
Understanding the user
Sita Patel, a recent college graduate, became our guiding persona through user interviews and in-depth survey analysis. Understanding her financial behaviors, goals, pain points, and motivations allowed us to empathize with her and develop a product that resonated with Sita and others seeking to improve their financial habits.
Defining the Solution
Brainstorming a Solution
A trend that we noticed among our target audience was a heavy reliance on e-commerce websites. What if we could piggyback off the positive associations they had with them?
High Level Concept
Honey + Khan Academy for investing
We needed to create a shift in the users’ mindset. So instead of tying investing to their income, we associated it with their spending. We asked the question, "If you have $1,000 to spend on a new iPhone, do you think you can set aside 10% ($100) to invest?"
We could enhance this further by partnering with coupon code extensions such as Honey. By doing this, any money saved during online shopping can be redirected to their investment account.
We could then gradually introduce investing concepts and let them invest using the money they saved up in this account. This would also enable them to practically apply the concepts they learned for better understanding and retention.
This shift in mindset would be our unique value proposition.
We are investing service for the beginner, helping them learn and save slowly as you shop so that one day, you can become a confident investor.
A Change in Medium
To effectively reach customers on e-commerce sites, we would have to change the way that we deliver our solution. Instead of an app or website, we needed to primarily be a browser extension. This intentional decision effectively reduced friction points, enabling effortless savings during online shopping. We could then link a website and app so that the users could monitor their investments and educate themselves on financial concepts.
Developing the Solution
Information Architecture
In addition to the browser extension, InvestMint offered a comprehensive suite of services. This information architecture diagram showcases the linked website, which allows users to effortlessly monitor their portfolio, make investments, access concise educational resources, and manage account settings.
This diagram was refined after the competition period.
Onboarding Flow
Based on the information architecture, I identified the necessary user information during initial sign-in. Our goal was to uphold our value of simplicity, ensuring an effortless onboarding flow while gathering all essential data from the user.
This diagram was refined after the competition period.
Prototype
When designing a prototype for a browser extension like Investmint, UI design plays a crucial role in creating a seamless and user-friendly experience. The extension must be easy to navigate, with clear calls to action and intuitive functionality. Users should have no difficulty understanding how to use the extension and accomplishing their desired goals.
I started with a basic content inventory for the browser extension and progressed to designing multiple iterations. Throughout each stage, I sought feedback from our target demographic, continuously improving our design to enhance functionality.
Below, you can see how we envision our extension to function. This GIF was created by prototyping the design in Figma. Users can easily check the order amount and the corresponding percentage and dollar value allocated to their investment account. They can then confirm the transaction, initiating a transfer of funds from their bank account to their investment wallet.
Assessing the Solution
Addressing the HMW Statements
At this stage, we thought it would be best to look back at out HMW statements and see if our solution was able to achieve the goals we set out to accomplish.
How might we practically educate users about investing concepts?
We drew inspiration from the Google Primer app and implemented 5-minute lessons to teach investing concepts in smaller, easily digestible chunks. Busy users like our persona, Sita, can learn at their own pace. Your progress is saved and you can also choose from various levels based on your existing knowledge level.
How might we encourage gradual savings in an investment account?
By linking investing to a part of our users routine life, we can make investing a habit easily. In addition to this, we also gave them the option to add funds directly from their bank accounts to make additional investments once they felt comfortable.
How might we boost user confidence in investing decisions?
In the beginning, we don’t expect our users to save a lot. The small amount saved can be invested gradually as they learn more. This exposure should build up confidence.
By displaying minimal information and graphs in favour of more average long term statistics, we can also prevent anxiety while making the decision. Once they complete certain modules, we can encourage them to perform research beyond the app to figure out which stocks and ETFs might be a good fit for them.
In the future, we also need to consider effective copy to inspire confidence and eliminate panic during poor economic conditions.
How might we make the investing process quick and intuitive?
While our original idea was to provide stock recommendations, we soon decided against it to prevent liability. A portfolio should be chosen based on personal goals, risk tolerance and other factors, not because of a recommendation.
Thus, we settled on creating a simple user flow and testing it to ensure that it met the design goals. We feel that making the process any more quick or intuitive may cross ethical boundaries.
Scalability Analysis
While developing a good product was a priority, we also had to make sure that we could build a scalable business as well. Therefore performing a market analysis at this stage was necessary.
My analysis shows that our product could have great potential for revenue and encouraged us to continue building it as previously envisioned.
Impact
Top 4%
We advanced to the quarter-finals, ranking among the top 4% globally in the competition's multiple rounds.
The following is based on surveys done during the competition.
80%
80% user adoption rate
20
Generated over 20 promising leads
$151M
A total availible market of 151M USD
Key Takeaways
🔍 Process is important
I never fully understood the importance of following the steps in the UX design process until this project. Having a user to empathize with and conducting firsthand research (such as surveys) made brainstorming a solution much easier. Utilizing an information architecture map, sketches, and wireframes guided our design process and saved us numerous hours.
✍️ Copywriting is tricky
The words on an interface can make or break the user experience. We went through several brainstorming sessions on how to write effective copy but it was tricky to balance simplicity and useful information. In fact, if I had more time, I would work on this further.
🤩 Auto-layout is amazing
I had the opportunity to learn auto-layout in Figma for this project. After having it used it here, I don’t think I can ever go back to absolutely positioning things again. It worked so well when I needed to adjust components, making them fit just right.