Xend Finance - A Crypto Currency Bank

Xend Finance

My design process for a crypto bank app that allows users save, send, withdraw money from their mobile banking app.

Xend Finance is a global crypto bank offering up to 15% interest, with an open Web3 infrastructure for developers. Xend Finance is the first DeFi company to launch out of Africa, as well as the first on the continent to build on Binance Smart Chain.In 2022, after the pandemic, Xend set out to change their product offering from just a wallet app serving over 500 thousand users to a digital bank backed by crypto. As a key member of the team, I contributed to the redesign of their mobile platforms, aiming to address user pain points and create a better online banking experience

Discovery: Understanding existing platform

To understand the reason why we are redesigning the existing platform, I spoke with the various stakeholders and below are the challenges i was able to uncover

The Engineering team: Due to the Limited time we have to deliver this project, the Engineering team has built up code complexity over time making it increasingly difficult to manage. Hence they want a redesign that won't change the entire architecture of this code base.

The Business Stakeholders: The business stakeholders want the project delivered in due time without undermining the project requirement in the project requirement document. The large volume of engineering work required, coupled with the high frequency of requests, creates a significant bottleneck in the process, ultimately impacting turnaround time

Understanding the business problem: According to Customer Support Report, "Lengthy process” is the top category on support tickets with approximately 26.2% of all tickets. To gain more insights into this issue: According to data from our analytics tools 27% users abandon the App during onboarding, while 18% user abandon the app during the Funding process.

Discovery: Understanding existing platform

I conducted interviews with users and asked them to navigate through the previous app and current wallet screens and complete key tasks. The primary objective was to determine if they could complete this task effectively and observe them to see what they struggle with.

Lengthy process without and identifier makes the process more lengthy for the users

Too many information like icons and banner on the homepage is distracting to the customer

Difficult to find a specific information due to confusing content grouping

Re-inventing the wheel not following the standard make the customer confusing as well

By facilitating a couple of stakeholder workshop sessions, I gathered requirements from both the product and engineering perspectives, and also fine-tuned these to meet our timeline. We were able to visualise the requirements, constraints, and trade-offs, identify which parts of the codebase needed to be rewritten, and determine if there was a need to partner with any third-party APIs

Collaborating with engineers and product managers, a UX audit was carried out on the existing app.The goal was to analyse the current information architecture and identify optimal placements for new features and updates.This process included asking critical questions, challenging assumptions, and conducting validations.

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Proposition 1: We believe that reducing the Signup steps by separating the signup and verification into different steps will reduce onboarding drop-off and also increase user engagement and customer acquisition.

Design and simple signup flow with a progressive Disclosure

Prompt the verification after the user has successfully signup.

Communicate the changes require from the codebase to the Engineering team

Reduce abandonment drastically

Increase user acquisition

Reduced customer supports tickets

Reduce Drop-off rates to 8% drastically

Support ticket reduced by 29%

Proposition 2: We believe that streamlining the funding and money transfer process by reducing the number of steps will enhance user satisfaction and drive higher business revenue

Design a tree step transfer process that minimises steps for users while ensuring secure transfers with real-time transaction updates.

Transfer completion success rate

Reduce Drop-off & Error rates

Reduced customer supports tickets

Reduce Drop-off rates to 8% drastically

Support ticket reduced by 29%

Reduced failed transaction to 2%

Design a new refresh of the current app that is intuitive and easy to use and reduce onboarding friction.

A seamless verification process that doesn’t interfere with app usage.

An app that enables users to complete basic tasks with ease and without feeling overwhelmed.

Enhance the user experience by enabling users to view transaction convert currency.

I explored several design options and organised design critique sessions with stakeholders, got feedback, and incorporated this feedback into the design. More importantly, this process is vital, and documenting what works and what does not work is a key aspect of this stage of the design process.

I validated the design solution through moderated usability testing. Working with my product manager and internal user recruiter, we recruited twelve participants for the study.

Multi - Stage Onboarding and verification

The onboarding flow streamlines user signup with a concise, three-step process. Helpful tagline and microcopy guides visitors through the experience, enabling quick registration without requiring immediate identity verification before accessing the app.

The banking and fintech sector operates under strict regulatory requirements. To ensure compliance with federal laws, anti-money laundering (AML), and know your customer (KYC) regulations, the app implements a simplified verification process. This approach balances regulatory needs with a smooth user experience, gathering essential information without creating unnecessary friction

Send Money

The redesigned money transfer flow substantially improved the transfer process. We restructured the transfer architecture into distinct categories while preserving the existing backend infrastructure. This strategic redesign not only enables faster and more efficient money transfers for users but also addresses key issues identified during our research. Notably, we implemented improvements such as populating bank lists and automatically filling in the user's name using just the account number

Help and Support

To support users at every critical point, we added a seamless synchronisation feature that enables direct communication with support agents. This allows users to chat, raise issues, and resolve their concerns within the app, providing a comprehensive and integrated support experience

Services

We expanded our service offerings by partnering with multiple service providers, enabling users to conveniently pay for a variety of services including cable, airtime, data, and more—directly within the app. Additionally, we integrated an in-app chat feature that was absent from the previous design, enhancing user communication and accessibility.

To support the development team during the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) release, I created a comprehensive style guide and design system. This resource ensured brand consistency and provided developers with a detailed handoff document and prototype. The materials were designed to help the development team fully understand and implement the proposed design

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The product's success was evaluated using predefined metrics established at the project's inception. We conducted a comprehensive comparison against the initial UX audit and Goals we set revealing significant improvements—with key performance indicators increasing from 72% to a higher benchmark.