We had to get creative, not having an existing customer base to interview. We did a competitor analysis, created user journey maps, and tested early designs.
Banking is complicated. The founders did rigorous regulatory and security research.
Learnings
Users struggled to understand the concept of the app.
With the Extra Cash performance graph, users wanted detailed tooltips showing specific times of the week or day.
Users struggled to understand that Extra Cash = gains on crypto investments. It's a new idea, cash popping seemingly out of nowhere seems scammy.
Many people don't understand investing or crypto. They requested a glossary or guide. Hand waving is unhelpful. But a glossary or guide is equally unhelpful.
The process for setting up the app took too long. There were too many steps.
Advanced or investment-educated users wanted more granular control over investments, thresholds, and liquidation triggers.
Design progression
Explanation
We started with a mobile design, then moved to desktop. My early mocks were vague and difficult to understand. The final designs were much more comprehensible and usable.
Here are a few ways that we incorporated research
We worked to disclose investment education gradually.
With Extra Cash, we gave people more control over the information they could see, such as gains by day.
During Soon's onboarding, we worked to educate users on how Extra Cash worked.
In the first release, for the sake of speed, we didn't get to every improvement we wanted, but we started on features such as granular control of investments and a succinct onboarding.
Final designs
Result
Soon was able to gain thousands of early adopters. This was a major factor in the company obtaining pre-seed funding.
I joined Neighbor full-time before Soon.app released, so I didn't gather customer feedback on the live product.
