Banking
Released
Mobile
SuperMóvil: International transfers
A digitalization process for users the bank had ignored and resulted in a 37% adoption rate at launch, taking the first step in a strategy to take back a market that had advanced without our help.
This case study was made with AI assistance for style, grammar, and length corrections. Everything was proof-read by me and corrected in instances I deemed necessary. All general and particular ideas presented are completely my own.
Problem
Context
Santander's international transfers were a service set aside in its digital transformation plan thanks to its nature as a complex process. Years after digital national transfers were launched, our clients still needed to go to a branch if they wanted to wire money out of the country.
Pain points and oportunity
As global and traditional bank, Santander has an opportunity to position itself as a safe option in the market for wiring money abroad and breaking this assumption that things are still done the old way.
Our clients can enjoy the posibilities of doing all their money transfers within our app without time constraints, visiting a branch or dealing with paperwork.
Mexico has always had a sprawling international money wiring market thanks to it proximity with USA and there's a lot of competition in this sector with options from banks and specialized services like MoneyGram and Western Union; Santander being one of such competitors has been an option to send and recieve money for decades in the country.
That being said, in today's digital world, we had our process confined to branches, not having any viable option for our clients to transfer money abroad from a phone or a computer.
This gave an ample space for our competition to innovate and create easy to use experiences that would drive away opportunities to keep users in our ecosystem and leaving the bank out of their consideration set to more appealing brands and services.
There's also the missed opportunity of value proposition that only a traditional bank can offer:
The team
Dorian was the previous designer that handed off the project to me, he had already done the heavy-lifting of the ideation and all the bussiness and functional requirements. His first draft of the journey was a great help that we just needed to pair with user data and refine the experience after that.
Research
Insights
International transfers are full of details and important data that the user needs to check and fill. If we aimed to create an experience as close as possible to our already established national transfers, we needed to find a way to give and ask our users all the data in small bits throughout the flow to avoid cognitive overload and dropping rates within the form.
Key tools used for our decision-making
1-on-1
interviews
Usability
testing
National & international competitive analysis
We started with a first draft and no data on users that could be used for hypothesis or to back up our decisions. So as a first step, we planned and executed, with the help of the research squad, a round of interviews with users to find out what was their mental model and the needs and pain points that they experienced with other services.
While interviewing our users, something kept coming up constantly: When it comes to international transfers, reliability is everything. Behind the scenes, there’s constant coordination: not just between banks, but also between sender and recipient. Time zones, shifting fees, limited bank options, even emergencies can all add stress to the process. Our goal was straightfoward: give users all the information they need, fast and easy, so they can trust their money will get where it needs to go.
It's easy to say but when you put this insight into context, the real challenge arises: If we wanted to create a similar experience to our established domestic transfer we needed to create straightfoward flow but with 3x or 4x the info needed to transfer.
While you only need a name, account number and bank for a national transfer, there are up to 12 data points a user have in consideration to wire money abroad. We couldn't just add a lenghty form in our transfer journey and call it a day, we needed find a way to let the user fill the info while still making this as familiar as any other transfer in the app.
If we wanted to give our users a familiar experience we had to find a way to integrate the data-dense form into our established domestic journey.
We encountered some friction here, since the legal team was very clear with us: We need to show clearly all the data points to the user in order to be compliant with current regulations. They suggested, for convenience, to have a legal section in the transfer form that lists all the fees and important info before they proceed with the confirmation of the transfer.
The design team knew from the start that such an approach would hinder the experience, but going against regulations is a hard no that wouldn't give us any room to move in conversations with the stakeholders. We needed a way to make a compromise between regulations and experience, and gain the favor of our stakeholders in the process.
Guerrilla test
Screen shown at test
The guerrilla test was straightfoward, we compiled a survey and showed them the screen, asking the users about the info they just saw.
The results were pretty clear: Our users found the top of the screen to be somewhat easy to understand but the rest complicated the scenario. It gave them new info but also new questions arised because the process was not all that clear to them.
Two currencies were involved, something expected, but the fees were also mixed in different currencies, this complicated things.
Even though there was an explanation about the reception fee, it was ambiguous and added nothing to the user.
There are 3 factors that affect the final amount transfered: exchange rate, transfer fee and reception fee (this one unknown at the moment). So how much would really end up in the recipient account?
There's a timer that updates the exchange rate every 3 minutes, this felt extremely rushed and made the users anxious.
Competitive analysis
We performed a competitive analysis for established national competitors and digital leaders in the international market. The key insight we found was that most of them didn't conform to our data list and some info was not found, specially fees that we charge. So we had to ponder whether this info missing was on purpose to reduce congnitive load or they had operative differences, even considering the fees are absorbed by the company themselves and not passing them to the user.
With the results of the research we drafted an approach that would make a good compromise between compliancy and good experience: We would give bits of info to the user throughout the journey and confirm everything in the last step. It would feel as the domestic experience but with tiny bubbles added for context as early and relevant as possible.
Proposal
Approach
The refined experience we built was focused in optimizing the information design to make it as useful and light as possible for the user. This meant that some components of our design system had to be customized for the experience and
What we created
New "add international contact" userflow
New components for the design system
Starting with the entry point for international transfers, we changed the screen to acomodate the new third type of contact. We also customized the default contact bubble to support a small flag badge for fast identification, and as a diferentiative feature when paired with national contacts, for example, when using the search feature.
We also moved the new contact action to the top of the list, when it used to be a small button in the header. This support the launch of this new feature, as users will have the need to add new contacts, and improves the overall experience of the transactions.
Adding a contact
Adding an international contact is a very different experience thanks to the data points we already listed before. We can break down the form in two categories: Bank data and personal data. The latter is a quite rigid process since the data is very particular (adress, account, name, etc) so it must be added manually by the user.
Where the experience can be improved greatly is in the bank data since there are identification systems that help to fill in the bank details with just a code.
Our priority is to facilitate entering an ABA or SWIFT code in order to speed up filling the form, since theres only one input you would need to type in, and to avoid input errors as the app automatically fills in the data retrieved by the code. We also left open the option to search for the bank data in case the user has no code.
In this screen we added the info card that explains the incoming fee and its variable nature. Since it can't be added to the final transfer amount, we decided to inform the user when he adds the bank since he can look up for any fees particular to that bank, something that they may have in mind in future transfers to this contact.
Money transfer form
Once the contact is added, the next big step is the amount form. The form has 3 inputs but similar to our domestic transfer flow, 2 of those are optional since the origin account is already selected by default (since the average number of accounts our users have is 1.6) and the concept input can be left with a generic placeholder ("Transferencia int. + Contact nickname" in this case). So even though there is a lot of info in the screen the user can just input the amount and continue with the transfer.
The amount input was overhauled to adapt to our users needs. Some users mental model preferred the local currency to wire money while others preferred to think about how much money would be deposited, so we made a dual input that would swap currencies with a button.
The fees were bundled in a single amount shown to the user at the bottom of the screen, if they need more info, a bottom sheet is displayed after touching the fee card to reveal a detailed explanation and how we came up with it.
Confirmation screen
For the final step, our confirmation screen gives the user a summary with the basic info integrated in the graphic on the top of the screen and a collapsible list with more details.
Only when the user is about to transfer, we use the exchange update timer that informs them about the 3 minute countdown. This avoids unnecesary anxiety added to the amount selection but still informs the user just before they lock their transfer.
Only when the user is about to transfer, we use the exchange update timer that informs them about the 3 minute countdown. This avoids unnecesary anxiety added to the amount selection but still informs the user just before they lock their transfer.
Results
Impact
37%
adoption rate in first month with targeted users
18%
increase in monthly transaction volume
Positive feedback
from users regarding the improved usability and visual appeal
Recognition
The launch of this feature was a focal point in the bank's communication with users though different channels like mailing, social media and in-app banners.
Next step & takeaways
Pushing for innovation and simplifying processes breaks down walls and old assuptions, but it isn't always the case.
We couldn't avoid asking twice for user auth when they add and transfer to the contact, something that makes a lot of sense in the back-end but hinders the experience of the user who wonders why he has to enter his password twice. That's a great opportunity for improvement that would not only affect this service but in the whole app.
Endeavor into drastic but necessary changes can be a rough path and meet different levels of friction from all stakeholders but it's the first step of a long and rewarding investment. Communicating clearly how our design proposals can impact positively the business is the best tool for persuation.
Being a true player in the market means you need to tailor your own way of solving problems with the resources the company has and the specific needs your users have. The solution a top competitor offers isn't the best there can be, it's just an effective way but not the only one.