Less is More: Redesigning UX Copy & User Flow on IPOT Mobile.
The hype of investing behavior is happening in Indonesia. Through many advertisements and public figure who talks about it — or your peer may be also buzzing about it. It comes because of many factors such as the rise of the ‘sandwich generation’ term, spread of well-educated Gen Z, or the acceleration of financial technology (fintech).
The last one takes an important role, the economy matters. Due to support its existence, the fintech company should suit its product to certain considerations such as feasibility, viability, and desirability (The Sweet Spot for Innovation).
But, the next question is: does the product can suit the customer well? Do they understand it well? Can they finish their task properly?
IPOT is designed for a wide range of people. From a beginner investor to a professional trader. It is because IPOT has advanced tools that help them to make better decisions before spending their money. Currently, the user is not limited to an Indonesian citizen but also allowed a foreigner to join and took place in the Indonesian financial market, as long as they are eligible: a minimum of 17 years old, have an ID card, and have their own bank account.
What is in the spotlight?
These are the onboarding page and PIN page on IPOT. On the current IPOT version, the onboarding page will appear when the app is open and it will not appear when users had saved and logged in to their account. It directs to the home page where the main feature exists.
The second one (PIN page) will appear when the user accesses the portfolio page and other important pages. The user just needs to input it once, and the PIN will be saved. And the next transaction will not require a PIN anymore.
Less is more. Why?
For many years, UX researchers distinguish between what user say and what user do data. Although both are important for each purpose, there is some behavioral difference. Research by Barry Schwartz explained the paradox of choices that tell about something interesting hypothesis.
People love choices. Many choices. In people's mind, they think many choices means they can control all of them. The possibilities are many and the power to choose is in their hand. But, is it really true in fact?
The next statement in the research is saying the opposite: people given too many choices are less likely to buy. The purchase generates rate is less. There are too many options for them to satisfactorily compare each other and feel that they are able to make an adequate choice.
More choice requires more time and effort (to go through and compare everything).
This can lead to anxiety, stress, unhappiness, high expectations, regret, and self-blame if a poor choice is made. It’s hard and it’s difficult to make a good decision when they are overwhelmed with information and options. People can’t process it effectively.
What can we improve?
Try to make the flow more simple. It doesn't mean just eliminating one and remaining the other, but its have much more important consideration. Watch the existing version and the proposed page.
On the existing version, the user should click the Enter PIN button to finish the task or continue to the next phase. Through the proposed flow, after the user has completed typing the PIN number, it will automatically process whether the PIN is correct or not. Despite just eliminating one flow, it can create a better experience for users. After all, many financial apps in Indonesia have been applying that flow. The purpose is not to imitate others, but to increase satisfaction, suit the user’s mental model, and decrease the cognitive load.
The onboarding page takes an important role. It becomes the first interface that users meet. So many apps craft it creatively to generate users and keep their desire to use the app or complete the task. In detail, the onboarding page has 3 functions:
- Educate the user about the functions and benefits of the app,
- Allow the user to register their login details, and
- Collect profile information that can be used to deliver personalized content and notifications.
In order to not make user overwhelmed by the messy IA, the proposed one have a main principle: simplify it. The product should introduce its strength through the concise copy. The copy was summarized because simple sentences are easier to understand and soft for users than a complex or compound sentences.
The messy buttons are also tidied up and many of them were eliminated: swiper signifier/text; and the EZ Stock & Pro Stock button.
Linguistic Matters
In one research based in Indonesia, the more complex and compound the sentence, it would be more difficult to remember the chain relation among the mentioned clause. It needs more cognitive load and users with receptive language disorders and/or working memory issues will found some trouble. Or for English, there is an online tool that corrects grammar, fluency, and sentence structure in order to help writing read and look better and concise called Hemingway App.
The proposed onboarding page try to solve it. In the existing version, there are too many conjunctions that make it become complex and compound sentences. They are ‘dengan’, ‘yang’ (2x),’ dan’ (2x), and ‘dalam’. The proposed one tried to simplify it by just using one: ‘dengan’. The two nominal phrases ‘fitur tools analisa yang komprehensif’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence yang membantu otomasi dalam memantau dan bertransaksi’ are summarized. Another reason is the newbie user doesn't really need the complex explanation — that they don’t necessarily understand. The proposed one is trying to welcome the user to not make IPOT exclusive and limited for those who understand, but for everyone.
The PIN page has also given some changes. It deleted redundant text and change the button-like text at the bottom IPOT logo to become clear by increasing the size.
Both pages were adjusted to a consistent language: Indonesian. It doesn't mean not welcoming foreigners, but it should add a language option on that page.
Testing & Conclusion
The proposed page needs to be tested with a few users to know their experiences using/imagining the new one. The test is a preference test by interviewing a few users with a key question: Does by eliminating a few things, they can't access the main information of each page? Many of them are not getting problems accessing the information on the new one.
From the onboarding page, despite many things being eliminated, they are fine about it. It makes their choice and their focus is pointed on one solid idea. The improved text hierarchy makes the understanding and cognitive load better than before because the current one has a messy hierarchy: the title copy is on top and the content area is at the bottom of the illustration.
The decision to delete some unnecessary buttons also makes them know what to do next, especially for a newbie user. The deleted buttons are able to be put on the home page, or in more sections on the home page.
And for the PIN page, users are helped by not tapping once more to continue to the next phase. Even eliminating one flow, enhance the experience and put respect on the user’s mental model.
And the back button that was put on the left-top corner was also appreciated due to avoid user’s canceling the tasks. After all, the user had a default and built-in back button on their phone to back or cancel the task, so the existing button is wasteful to put in the thumb area.
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