The approach to KiwiPay's challenge
The challenge of KiwiPay was designing a product that solves the payment problems of foreigners in a limitation of time and resources. Realizing the difficulty of Chinese tourists in Laos and local merchandises in paying and receiving foreign currency, our client - KiwiGroup, came up with several ideas that could solve that problem and develop them into a business opportunity. Our mission was to:
- Research and analyze the target user's demographic & behavior.
- Evaluate solutions to define the most viable feature.
- Simplify flow to reduce development effort, including time and cost.
- Make prototype rapidly for market validation.
Scope of work
1. User Personas
2. Define the priority feature
After analyzing users' habits and behaviors, we evaluated some ideas and Kiwi's value proposition to come up with the final decision on which feature we need to launch first. According to the research result, here is the formulation of the problem and proposition confirmation.
3. Simple flow & wireframe
To reduce the development cost and release an MVP in a limited time, we had to make the most simple flow for the user to accomplish their goals. In this section, we sat down with Greg, Kiwi's product manager, walked through some ideas, and brainstormed solutions for KiwiPay.
The target end-users were local shop owners, aged 30-40, so we had to deliver a simple and easy-to-use design, with clear information and call-to-actions.
4. UI Design
Due to the goal of providing an easy-to-use application, the UI design phase was centered on creating a clean design, visually easy to process. We optimized the product's brand colors in Blue, which brings trust and reliability. The font is also an essential factor that affects the app's interface. We chose Monserrat font, which is used a lot in financial applications because of its trustworthiness and readability (both text and number).
5. Prototype & Testing
After designing the interface for Kiwi, we prepared a prototype mockup for testing. Before implementation, the Product team in Laos brought the prototype to some local shops and asked the owners to share their thought about the flow and the chance of the application to meet the market's demands.
Throughout user testing, we learned that local store owners were interested in the solution we provided since they also faced some communication and transaction issues from foreign travelers. Besides, they also requested an add-on feature, view transaction history to check their business results.
Growth opportunities for KiwiPay
KiwiPay provides payment solutions between foreign tourists and local business owners, applying technology (QR code). As a practical solution, along with the simple flow, KiwiPay is easily accessible to many users of different ages. As technology is an advanced solution and people are getting used to the application of technology in their lives, KiwiPay has the potential to develop into a global solution.
It's no easy to bring a new product to market, there are numerous challenges and costs include. Building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a practical solution to reduce risks for start-ups. As the design partner of KiwiGroup, we are grateful to have had a great experiment building an MVP in a short time and help them with market validation.