Project background

The MTN Nigeria mobile app is designed to provide users with a seamless experience in managing their mobile services. MTN Nigeria wanted to do a design audit of their mobile application to better understand what difficulties their users faced while using the application, with a specific focus on discerning the causes of user drop-off during critical task execution.

Recognizing the critical role of user-centered design, we embarked on a research study to:

We kicked off the project by setting our research objectives:

Uncover Usability Challenges: Understand the difficulties and obstacles users face when interacting with the app, particularly those leading to user drop-off during critical tasks

Analyze User Engagement: Investigate the reasons behind user disengagement and identify the stages in the user journey where users are most likely to abandon the app.

Examine Task Completion: Determine the factors that hinder successful task completion and explore ways to streamline the user journey for better efficiency and satisfaction.

A dual-method approach was employed for a comprehensive study:

Qualitative Insights: Focus groups were conducted to deep dive into the nuances of the app’s design, features, and overall functionality.

Quantitative Analysis : Unmoderated usability tests provided objective data on task completion rates and user interaction patterns.

The scope of work required us to test certain user flows and recommend solutions to improve the usability of the mobile application. The key takeaways and design recommendations from the usability tests include:

Payment Flow for Airtime and Data Purchases: The lengthy nature of these flows resulted in user drop-off.

Overwhelming Offer Screens: Numerous offer screens cluttered the experience, overshadowing the primary Call-to-Actions (CTAs).

App Accessibility - Visual: Users with visual impairments struggled to navigate and interact with the app due to insufficient contrast, small text sizes, and complex layouts.

Visual Hierarchy: The current design lacks a clear visual hierarchy, leading to user confusion about which elements are most important, particularly in distinguishing between primary and secondary actions.

Slow loading times: Slow loading times when users are redirected to an external payment gateway can significantly impact the user experience and result in drop-offs before completing the airtime top-up task, causing frustration and impatience.

In-app Payment Integration: Instead of redirecting users to their bank app, integrate payment gateways directly into the MTN app. This could be done through APIs provided by banks or payment service providers that allow for secure transactions within the app.

One-click Purchase: Implement a one-click purchase option for users who have saved their payment information. After selecting the desired amount of airtime, users could simply tap a “Buy Now” button to complete the transaction.

Saved Payment Methods: Allow users to save their payment information, such as credit/debit card details or bank account information, securely within the app. This facilitates quicker purchases in the future as users can skip entering their payment details each time.

Consistency: “Buy for other” button seems to be a secondary action and should be styled differently from “Buy Now” to avoid confusion.

Favourites Contextual Placement: In some cases, it makes sense to place a “Favourites” button or icon directly in the context of the content. In this case, next or near the title or header in a content app.

Visual Hierarchy and Spacing : The spacing between the “Buy Now” buttons and the bundle descriptions is a bit tight. Increasing the padding could improve readability and tap-ability.

Visual Hierarchy: There's a need for a better visual hierarchy to lead the user's eye through the information sequentially, from the recipient to the service selected, the cost breakdown, and finally the total.

Design Simplicity: The “Myself & Airtime cards” take up most of the attention, which might be unnecessary at this confirmation stage and could be hidden to reduce cognitive load.

User Control: Provide users with clear options to go back or edit their choices before finalizing the transaction to enhance the sense of control. Providing a clear “Edit” or “Cancel” option would empower the us.

Proposed UI

Increase the Visibility/Discoverability of the Feature: Key features like account linking should be easily discoverable.

We delivered a full report to MTN Nigeria and walked their team of designers, developers, and other stakeholders through the entire report and our proposed UI and UX recommendations. The MTN team is now implementing these changes to align the app's functionalities with user expectations and enhance overall customer satisfaction.