Chase Bank - Budgeting Feature

Adding a custom budgeting feature into the existing Chase mobile banking App

Timeline:  4 weeks
Deliverables: Mobile App
Team: Self-directed, with feedback from mentor and peers
Role: UX/UI Designer
Tools: Adobe XD, InVision

I am not affiliated nor was I hired by Chase to complete this feature. This is a speculative educational project.

Objectives

In order to better understand mobile banking and mobile budgeting apps, I began my research by trying to determine the following:
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-What are the top reasons an individual would want to use a personal financing or budgeting feature and how they would like to use it.

-Determine what an individual would like to know when setting a budget and how to do it.

-Design a simple and clean feature that is easy to navigate and understand.

-Understand how personal budgeting systems work and what is the best way to design it without it getting too complicated

-Organise different types of transactions.

01. Research

Secondary Research / Market Research / Competitive Analysis / 1-1 Interviews / User Persona

Research Goals

• Identify the financial behaviour of users and the challenges that they face in budgeting and saving, and what they do to manage money. 

• Understand the pain points related to budgeting and saving.

• Define common behaviours of users when trying to save money

• Identify ways to help users save without feeling intrusive/ pressurised

• Determine the users pains/ frustrations

• What deters a user from seeking financial help? 

• Identify what financial pressures and concerns users face

• Understand the financial decisions users make when selecting a bank or budgeting tool

  
  

Market Research

To begin conducting secondary research I gathered and analyzed existing trends, data, and insights to learn more about money management habits of the younger generation and how they may or may not be using technology to improve their financial health.

Competitive Analysis

Evaluate UX/UI features and designs within current landscape of financial management tools. I compared the strengths and weaknesses of some of Chase’s competitors, and some neo-banks that were providing this sort of feature and were doing well among the younger generation.

Conducting Interviews

I interviewed 3 people, ages 20 to 34. The interview questions were centered around current budgeting and financial planning habits as well as tools or apps that they have used in the past and why.

Goals

How individuals are currently budgeting, if at all, and if the process they currently use works or doesn’t work for them

Why individuals budget or manage their finances

What current budgeting apps are being used by individuals

What are the current pain points when starting a budget

Research Assumptions

• Currently don’t use a finance management app- find it a hassle- feel like they can budget well without needing an app

• Privacy & Security is important

• Setting a budget is limiting, and pretty hard and not intuitive.

• Remembering due dates for bills is really hard and can get overwhelming with so many subscriptions and bills which is why most people use autopay or pay bills late after getting charged extra

• People don’t know how much exactly they are spending each month on entertainment, eating out, groceries, etc which is why it can be hard to save

After conducting user interviews, my findings concluded with the following:

Findings & Insights

• People usually just memorize and used their own brainpower to keep track of finances in their own way - dont set aside a specific amount of time to manage finances.

• Participants did have specific long & short-term goals for their savings

• Some months are more expensive than the other - some months involve weddings/birthdays/unexpected travel or events so its hard to keep a set amount aside.

• Dont really open the bank app a lot, just check their finances through the messages they receive on spending through their card, usually check their balance etc. on the go.

• All three mentioned they do not feel like they would use an app where they had to feed in how much they are spending every time.

• looking for something new, personalized, and effortless to aid them with their banking.

02. Define

Based on my secondary research, I created a persona of a typical user who would be interested in using this new feature.

Wants & Needs

• Have a budgeting app within their banking app as otherwise they wouldnt use multiple apps.

• Flexibility or emergency funds- which set budgets dont account for

• Daily monitoring for easy access and quick viewing

• Simple budgeting where things get autofilled, with existing category selections

• Know the status or progress against their budgets, goals, investments

• Avoid spending extra on any late fees / penalties

• Alerts and reminders- bills, overspends etc. and understand trending habits-be alerted

• View spending summary in categories- but not categories that are too specific - View spending within specific date ranges & recurring payments

• Set spending limits for short term budgeting; Customize budgets and allowances

• Maximize money that is being saved/spent- rewards programs/ bonuses/deals

• Clean, simple UI with no or very little manual entering, and with things being prefilled.

Business Goals

•  An easy to use app
•  Customer satisfaction
•  Expand their product’s reach
•  Increase current customer engagement

User Goals

•  Reach their savings goals
•  Improve their financial health
•  Feel good about their financial decisions without feeling under pressure

03. Ideate

Product Feature Roadmap

I also opted to create a budgeting section, spends and incomes categorised, rewards, information about upcoming bills, category spending, as well as short and long-term goal achievements. A high-level list of app features was created to further define and guide the vision for the product. Prioritizing the features with supporting research created a clear order of execution.

App Map

Next, I created a app map which plugged onto the existing Chase app, with which I was able to see how the new feature could integrate.

Task Flow

I created 2 task flows before I started wireframing and testing. Using an app map, I could see possible linear routes for users to achieve their goals.

Tasks

• Exsiting Chase user wants to create their first goal

• Existing Chase user wants to set up autopay for a fixed expense

04. Design

Wireframes + UI

Mid-Fidelity Wireframes

I began my wireframes by mapping the current Chase screens and UI elements to build out the new budgeting section. I built mid- fidelity wireframes, as the UI already existed. I began to sketch out every screen needed for the user to accomplish the above flows within the budgeting section.I tried to integrate the screens seamlessly into the the existing app.

UI Design

The UI was designed to fit the current app’s look and feel. I created a high fidelity, limited functioning prototype in order to quickly text and find pain points and re-iterate.

05. Usability Testing

I asked 3 participants to test out the prototype's usability. The participants were people from ages 27-49. The participants were given four scenarios, each with a task to complete. 

Tasks:

1. Set up and categorise budgets

2. Set up a Goal

3. View Incomes & Add an income

4. View Spending summary

5. Set up autopay for fixed expenses

Findings:

All participants were able to complete all tasks- 100% except:

1. Finding the rewards section
2. Confusion between goals and budget, but this was understood after spending some time using the prototype.

3. Unsure if goal was created or not.

Next Steps:

1.  Create a confirmation screen for when a goal is added.

2. Continue to test and iterate the feature