It’s no doubt that fintech is indeed a hot topic nowadays. Blockchain, bitcoin, P2P lending, AI, VR, tokenization and all the buzzwords are all around. But sometimes you need a better design and not just the technology to kick wicked financial problems in the ass!

Messaging is instant but usually not your payments… Here is a showcase of our chat-based interface and UX/UI challenges.

Instant payment. What is that?

Instant payment solutions require a new digital infrastructure and enable a new payment logic as well as make transactions available within 5 seconds on the account of the recipient, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (European Central Bank)

An additional feature of this emerging technology is that you can send money by using secondary identifiers, so knowing a phone number or email address is just enough to refer to your friends, so all the customer IDs and legacy authentication processes could soon be enhanced.

Cash is still king? Numbers are saying something else!

Instant payment is now working in other European countries and the emerging trend of cashless payment is also in favor of great new services and products on the market.

The increasing number of non-cash transfers (European Central Bank)

In Denmark, 27% of all bank transfers were made instant payment since the system was introduced in 2014. In Eastern Europe and in Hungary however, the new payment service will be introduced on the 1st of July 2019.

Consumers will eventually be looking for instant payment solutions in Eastern Europe, and they will also be keen on selecting service providers and financial institutions who will allow them to use this technology. The market is currently lacking solutions like this, so we decided to tackle this problem!

What is drops.?

We at Family Finances developed an easily customizable, chat-based money transfer application in order to take advantage of the instant payment technology.

The app can be used intuitively and allows you to send money through a well-known chat interface.

Registration with secondary identifiers ensures a comfortable user experience.

The peer-to-peer payment requests in the app simplify cost sharing.

Communication via the built-in chatbots makes it easy to access invoices and reduces the number of late payments.

It’s a win-win situation

I believe that feasible and innovative products have never been a zero-sum game; here’s why instant payment solutions can be mutually beneficial for all parties:

Banks can grow the number of their retail customers and the number of transactions per customer. They can also offer a new digital experience which can drive loyalty.

can grow the number of their retail customers and the number of transactions per customer. They can also offer a new digital experience which can drive loyalty. Users will benefit from the easy to use, peer-to-peer transactions which is available 24/7/365. They can also share costs or split bills by initiating payment requests and they can transfer money immediately to family, friends, service providers.

will benefit from the easy to use, peer-to-peer transactions which is available 24/7/365. They can also share costs or split bills by initiating payment requests and they can transfer money immediately to family, friends, service providers. Service provider’s liquidity is enhanced due to the instant earnings. No more delays with the rent or the overheads. (As seen in this hilarious video campaign from the Middle-East.)

UX research

We made a deep dive into both qualitative and quantitative research: According to a Forbes report, 68% of Millennials use several different chat platforms on a daily basis and this trend is worldwide. According to LivePerson survey, 7 out of 10 youngsters in Western nations prefer digital communication. According to Openmarket’s research, 60% of Gen Y would like to connect with their favourite brand or business via chat. The most exciting part of my research was the finding that corporate, official text does not bother users, but in most cases it creates trust.

The idea of drops. was based on the hypothesis that chat is a well-known and intuitive interface for everyone. The user interviews have confirmed this idea, and conversations with both older and younger interviewees have turned into brainstorming sessions about the potential exploitation of chat and chatbots. We also figured out that: