Scheduled Reminders & Payments Feature
Feature concept designed to help senders complete payment requests by scheduling reminders and payment dates
ROLE & TEAM
I worked as UX/UI Designer (Research, Experience Strategy, Interaction Design, Prototyping, Testing) with a UX/UI Designer mentor. I presented and defended my designs to groups of other designers in weekly design critiques as part of a UX boot camp each week.
TOOLS
Figma, Miro, Coda, Otter.ai, Zoom, Maze
DURATION
4 weeks
PROBLEM AND CHALLENGE
Venmo recipients feel discomfort requesting and following up on payments. As a result, recipients can miss out on owed payments.
From interviews, I discovered that users think Venmo has limited options for them to have conversations about money. Users also expressed frustrations with using Venmo when new features were added in the past, so I had to ensure the new feature was easy to use and followed Venmo’s current design system to reduce the risk of further friction.
SOLUTION
A feature concept that helps Venmo users facilitate peer payments by scheduling payment reminders and payment dates.
Preview of final prototype
RESEARCH
How are users currently facilitating their Venmo transactions?
Pivoting from organizing to facilitating
I created a sitemap to assess Venmo’s information architecture and hypothesize potential problems. My initial research goal was to learn how users keep track of payments/budgets to explore potential features. However, the first two interviews gave me insight into another problem I wanted to investigate further.
Limited facilitation options force people to facilitate payments outside of the app.
I interviewed 6 people (24 - 27 years old) with 5+ years of experience with Venmo. After learning users message outside the app to follow up or ask about Venmo requests with the first two interviews, I wanted to explore this with an extended interview with 4 more interviews.
Bridging Venmo’s communication gap — What problems are users trying to solve with messaging off the app?
I conducted 4 extended interviews to understand why users are facilitating their transactions outside of the app and to see how a feature could be designed to lessen this gap.
I annotated my transcripts, did a thematic analysis, and found 8 themes. I mapped these themes with an affinity map and created an empathy map to synthesize my research and guide the direction of the new feature design.
Snapshot of empathy interview annotations
Affinity map to synthesize empathy interview themes
EMPATHY INTERVIEW INSIGHTS
4/6 want to have personal two-sided conversations.
Users want to be considerate of the other person. Users can feel uncomfortable requesting money if a long time has passed or if it’s a large amount.
💬 “I’ll just send a text message because that feels less robotic. Feels transactional when you use the app to remind them to pay”
5/6 have experiences with incomplete payments because senders or recipients will forget and don’t follow up.
Users mention how they would either forget to pay a request or would forget to request payment from someone. Recipients feel discomfort following up if senders forget to pay.
❓ “If I don’t pay as soon as I see it, I will forget it exists.”
”We both go through phases where we forget to charge for utilities”
4/6 feel frustrated when new features are confusing and don’t help them send/receive payments.
Even with 5+ years of experience, many were frustrated with needing to “relearn” how to use Venmo and said new features were distracting and didn’t help them send/receive payments.
❌ “Cumbersome to find what I need. I’d love to get rid of the extraneous stuff because they’re distracting from my main purpose.”
INTERACTION DESIGN AND INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
How might we design a way to help senders complete payment requests?
Brainstorming ways to help users facilitate and complete payments
I brainstormed a few POV and HMW statements, then sketched ideas for the HMW statements. I decided on two features: 1) would allow senders to set reminders to themselves to pay requests and 2) would allow senders to work with the recipients to schedule payment dates.
Integrating the new feature into Venmo’s information architecture
Through my interviews, I found that the notifications and incomplete requests screens are frequented screens. Because a bulk of the screens are under the Profile tab and users had expressed frustration with clutter in the app, I had to ensure the new screens would be easy for users to find.
Simplified sitemap focusing on the Profile tab
Journey mapping for scheduling payment feature
The scheduled payment feature had a lot of logic to consider because it requires the sender and the recipient to agree on a date before the payment date is scheduled, so I created a user flow to map out the process and guide prototyping.
Sender Scenario: Seneca sees a notification for a payment request from Rey, but Seneca can't pay the request now.
PROTOTYPING
How can the new feature be designed so that it reduces potential user friction?
Sketching and designing using Venmo’s design patterns to reduce user friction
I sketched how the new feature could look using Venmo’s design system. Users expressed frustration when they felt they needed to “relearn the app” when new features were added in the past, so this was essential in reducing friction.
Prototyping a Payment Date Scheduling Feature
The sender wants to pay a payment request at a later date, so they will send a date suggestion for the recipient to approve.
Prototyping a Reminder Scheduling Feature
The sender can set a scheduled reminder notification to themselves to pay the request later.
USABILITY TESTS AND ITERATIONS
How can usability testing and feedback inform design iterations?
Prioritizing four high-impact improvements
I conducted usability testing with 5 users to ensure that major usability issues were revised before launch to save time and resources in the future. Throughout testing, I asked questions to gauge their understanding of the new features, measure usability, and discover areas for improvement.
I focused on revisions with the highest impact, i.e. improvements that would critically improve how users understand a task or the feature.
HIGH FREQUENCY, HIGH IMPACT
01.
Clarify the scheduling process
I designed a popup that would detail the scheduling feature because users didn’t read the gray fine print in testing.
02.
Improve the task flow for selecting a date
The pop-up ensures the user understands that although a date is selected, payment won’t be scheduled until approved by the other user.
Users are informed of the process by a pop-up instead by fine print. They can tap the ‘Got it’ button to exit the calendar.
LOW FREQUENCY, HIGH IMPACT
03.
Change UX copy to follow brand language
Rename “Scheduled payment requests” to “Suggested payment dates”, so users aren’t confused about the word “Request” being used in a new context.
04.
Rewrite more descriptive buttons and confirmation screens
Specify the exact action of the new buttons so users don’t have to guess the intended actions.
After: Request is only used to refer to a ‘Venmo request’, i.e. when users request money through the app. Payment dates are described as “Suggested” instead of “Scheduled” if they are still awaiting approval from the other user. Button text is lengthened for clarity.
Final prototype
The prototype had 4 scenarios to account for the recipient and sender perspectives.
Scenario 1.0: Reminder-to-self (Sender)
Scenario 2.0: Scheduling Payment Dates (Sender)
Scenario 2.1: Scheduling Payment Dates (Recipient)
Scenario 2.2: Scheduling Payment Dates (Sender)
Lessons
TLDR; I learned the importance of content design!
To be mindful of a brand’s language when writing UX copy.
I underestimated the importance of closely reviewing the brand’s language and UX copy. Using words associated with the brand in different contexts causes a lot of confusion to the user.
When introducing a new feature, users need detailed instructions and buttons to guide them.
When a new feature is introduced, even if the same design patterns are followed, users need explainers and more descriptive buttons to truly understand the feature.
Next steps
Conduct more user testing and make more revisions according to feedback
If I had more time, I would conduct more user testing to test if the pop-ups are informative enough and to test if the new buttons are descriptive enough.