Currencyfair Case Study
Background
Currencyfair is a peer to peer (P2P) money exchange online marketplace. Users can transfer their money overseas to any currency for low exchange rates, saving them money.
My Responsibilies
Solo Project
UX researcher, user testing,
UX / UI designer.
Software
Figma, Adobe Creative Suite
Brief
To critically evaluate the app and identify problems with the current user experience. To go through a design process model to ultimately make user centred changes.
I chose the Double Diamond process model and went through the stages of Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver. (British Design Council 2005)
Project Duration
One month (February – March 2021)
Project Type
UX Proposal project for college assignment
Critical evaluation of UX of existing application
& redesign
1. DISCOVER
Competitor analysis
User testing
2. DEFINE
Problem statement
Journey mapping
Painpoints
3. DEVELOP
Solutions
Paper wireframes
Digital Wireframes
4. DELIVER
Digital Prototypes
UI design
User Testing
1. DISCOVER
Competitor and SWOT Analysis
Market research was conducted through competitor analysis of peer to peer (P2P) payment apps. 3 competitors were included: Wise (formerly, Transferwise), Revolut and WorldRemit. SWOT and UX analysis were performed to gain a deeper understanding of design patterns, heuristics, and to identify potential areas for innovation through design.
1. Discover
User Research
I searched www.currencyfair.com on Similarweb to discover more about it’s users. I discovered a lot of it’s traffic was coming from Facebook. I went to the company’s Facebook page and looked at the users that were interacting with the page to get an idea of age, location, education level, gender and lifestyle.
I read reviews on Trustpilot to get an idea of the compaints of users as well as their positive feedback. This information helped me to gain information on who to target with user research.
Commonalities amongst users include: age 25 – 45, love of travelling, living overseas, mix of male and female, working professionals and having a college education.
(All names, photos, locations and any identifying information has been changed for this demonstration)
1. DISCOVER
User Persona
Problem Statement
”I want to transfer my money overseas using Currencyfair, but, I don’t understand how it works or how to use it”
1. DISCOVER
User Testing Affinity Mapping &
Thematic Analysis
View full user testing data:
https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lRQhSTI=/
I conducted five user testing sessions on Currencyfair’s current mobile site. The sessions were designed to find out how users feel about the current usability of the platform.
The candidates were reflective of Currencyfair’s typical user base; aged 25 – 40, working professionals interested in travel.
Affinity mapping was used to collate and analyse the data and the themes that emerged were used to inform user centred changes.
The main problems that were noted from the user testing included:
Users struggled to figure out what Currencyfair is for / how it works,
Users did not see why they should use it / the benefits.
”It’s like I can’t seem to figure out how this works.. I know it’s for transferring money but – how does it work? How do I use this? Thats the part that’s unclear”
2. DEFINE
User Journey Mapping
Findings 1. User Testing:
This user journey map outlines the difficulties in the existing user journey.
- The existing information architecture is not optimal.
- Users struggled to find information on how Currencyfair works
- Users did not understand the benefits or why they should use currencyfair.
The user is confused as to how to use the service / how it works. The user struggles to trust the service and is hesitant to use it.
Emotional Journey Mapping
- As we can see, the user starts off feeling good when going to visit Currencyfair.
- However, soon the user becomes confused and frustrated with the information that is presented to her.
- She locates a video ‘how it works’ which is hidden away in the mid section of the homepage. The content of the video, however, leaves her feeling more confused.
- Because her friend recommended it to her and she trusts her, she decides to sign up anyway to use the service. She still feels hesitant and would feel more comfortable if she could understand how it works and if it is trustworthy to use.
3. DEVELOP
Ideate Solutions
In order to address the lack of knowledge and understanding expressed by users, I began to ideate solutions to this problem.
Solution ideas include:
- Video tutorial to the top of landing page
- ‘Help’ section in the top burger menu with pages such as ‘FAQs’ and ‘User Guide’
- New ‘Chat with an advisor’ feature to request correspondence for queries.
3. DEVELOP
Paper Wireframes
As the video feature on Currencyfair’s original site contains a video that is hidden away in the midsection of the homepage, I decided to place it in an area of high visibility and easy accessibility.
If I were to work on this as a real life project, I would also revise the content of the video to ensure it is simple and easy for users to understand how currencyfair works, how to use it and why to use it.
At this stage, I began to create paper wireframes outlining the new user flows, for example, the video feature at the top of the landing page. See below:
Landing page
User clicks video
Video pops up
Watches video
Redirected to homepage
Clicks get started now
User proceeds to sign up
3. DEVELOP
Digital Wireframes
I then began to create low fidelity prototypes in Figma. Please click here to view this document:
User is on homepage
User clicks watch how it works
User watches video
Video finishes
User is automatically redirected to homepage
User proceeds to sign up
4. DELIVER
Digital Prototypes
Based on the user testing findings, changes were targeted at resolving the knowledge deficit identified when users did not know how Currencyfair works or why they should use it.
Findings:
- Users struggled to find important information on how to use the service. Users
- had to root on the website to find information such as the user guide, video tutorial and FAQs.
Solution:
- I placed the existing sections (user guide, video tutorial and FAQs) to areas of higher visibility.
- I added a new section, which enabled users to talk to a bot (and then an agent if needed) with their queries and concerns.
Added ‘How it Works’ video for users in an area of high visibility.
Added ‘Help’ section in the top burger menu with sections like FAQs, User Guide and Chat.
Added ‘User Guide’ section with visual aids to help understanding
Added ‘chat’ section where users can ask to speak to an advisor for help.
4. Deliver
Digital Prototypes
This case study was presented to my UX class and highlighted the importance of clear, concise and meaningful information to users, in the right place and at the right time.
If this were a real life project for Currencyfair, the next natural step would be user testing of the prototype. This would aim to discover if user’s understanding of how Currencyfair works and why they should use it, was increased by the changes.
As this was a college assignment, this was where the project ended.
To view my high fidelity prototypes in Figma, please click here: