Tripcents
— 2018
UX Research:
Potential Users - Erin Jacobson & Eimear O’Meara
Existing Users - Amie Bergeson & Rachel Jackson
Usability Testing - Zach Rausch & Mark Pietrovito
Group Facilitator: Amie Bergeson
Studio Lead: Rachel Jackson & Eimear O’Meara
Design Coordination: Erin Jacobson
Tools: Invision
At a Glance
The problem: This fintech savings app had 100,000 downloads but only 2% of users were actually signing up for savings accounts. The onboarding flow made financial goal-setting feel overwhelming, causing people to abandon before they even got started.
What I did: I conducted research with 25 users to understand where they were getting stuck, then redesigned the onboarding flow to break down complex financial concepts into smaller, manageable steps. I developed new design guidelines that prioritized user clarity over feature complexity.
What happened:
Conversions jumped 25% in the first two weeks of testing
Users understood what the app would do for them and felt confident taking action
The team had a solid design foundation and clear direction heading into their next funding round
LAUNCHING TRIPCENTS
Tripcents launched in May 2018 through the combined efforts of four co-founders passionate about travel. In the course of their travels, however, they found they shared a common challenge when planning trips: saving for travel.
“We’ve all had trips we were dreaming about, but kept putting off because they were expensive and difficult to plan. Or we've spent months planning group getaways just to have the majority of people drop out at the last minute because they didn't save enough.
This shared pain point ignited the spark that would later become Tripcents: “A mobile application that is designed to enable people to travel by automating savings while providing personalized insider deals.”
18 WEEKS LIVE
When Tripcents approached us, they had been live in the Apple App store for 18 weeks with a successful mark of 100,000 downloads. Operating with an agile methodology, the tripcents team launched updates nearly every week to improve core functionality and test new features. When we started our work with Tripcents, the app provided four core features.
CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES
CHALLENGES:
- Though the app had 100,000 downloads, only 2% of users were setting up a savings account - the intended core feature of the app.
- The ability for users to book deals had been only mildly successful to date. It was unclear whether this was due to the feature or to the $2.99 subscription fee required to access the deals.
OPPORTUNITIES:
- Of all the features the app offered, the ‘create a budget’ had generated the most use with users. This was encouraging, but the Tripcents team craved more data on how users were engaging with the budgets and insight into what might be missing.
There was a lot to dig into - however, our team found one issue to be the most concerning: saving for travel.
This was the core feature of the app but with only 2% of users setting up a dedicated savings account, was the app targeting the right value proposition?
3-TIERED RESEARCH APPROACH
To properly evaluate the validity of the current value proposition - saving for travel, our team decided to focus research on three key areas.
#1 -
POTENTIAL USERS
Over 5 days, we interviewed 11 individuals, all classified as ‘potential users’ of the app. Respondents were filtered by their interest in travel and age. What we found surprised us but ultimately led us to important insights about the behavioral patterns and intent behind planning and saving for travel.
Key insights
Although we found our respondents were not potential app users, their responses helped us verify that: 1.) Saving & travel work hand in hand and 2.) Tripcents should be focused on new travelers that don’t already have established planning and savings methods.
#2 -
EXISTING USERS
Interviews with 13 existing users provided interesting insight into behavior patterns of existing users - specifically that of actual versus intended use of features within the app.
Key Insights:
#3-
USABILITY TESTING
Interviews with 13 existing users provided interesting insight into behavior patterns of existing users - specifically that of actual versus intended use of features within the app.
RE-DEFINING TRIPCENTS
Our research validated that the core feature of a dedicated savings account was a viable value proposition however, there was a clear need for a new, focused direction for the tripcents app.
REFINING THE TARGET MARKET
Our research showed that experienced travelers already had established routines and savings habits, leading to the focus on ‘new’ travelers in the new mission statement. Research of potential and existing users helped us define ‘new’ travelers as the following:
Apprehensive Anne
Age: 25
Single
Income: $45K
Goals: Wants to know how to save properly & see her money grow
Pain Point: Lacks trust putting personal information on app & limited funds to save
Breezy Ben
Age: 33
Single
Income: $80K
Goals: Enjoys experiencing adventures with his friends
Pain Point: Doesn’t know how to plan trips efficiently - wants to just join instead of stress the details.
Paisley the Planner
Age: 37
Married
Dual Income: $160K
Goals: Plan, save & budget for her Europe trip on time and efficiently
Pain Point: Planning for a trip is time consuming & research intensive.
ESTABLISHING NEW DESIGN GUIDELINES
Looking back to our initial research, our team identified three key metrics to help guide the design of a refined app experience for Tripcents’ target market, ’Apprehensive Anne’.
#1 - Financial Forward
#2 - Bite Sized Education
#3 - Track Your Money
The app should provide easy visualization to help users see their money.
- How much money do I have?
- How am I giving to my savings programs?
- How close am I to my goals?
#1-
FINANCIAL FORWARD
SIMPLIFIED USER FLOWS
A simplified user flow was developed to redirect focus to budgeting and saving. The new flow continually routes users to set up their savings account at peak points
