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Julianna Sansevero

Bringing Better Budgeting to the Future

Academic Case Study - UX Research & Design

February-March 2022 (eight weeks)

Leading me to update my research question:

How might we make it easier for young Americans to maintain a budget on a consistent basis and plan for their financial future?

Macro Forces

Next, I identified factors that could impact development including the following:

Socio-Cultural

Ideas around work are changing and more face inconsistent income.

Economic​

COVID-19 continues to impact the U.S. economy and job market.

Demographic​

Millennials make up 38% of the American workforce.

Technological​

Advances in technology have the potential to impact job availability and finance technology.

Political​

Technology is quickly expanding beyond the government's ability

to enforce regulations.

Ecological

​Potential for changes in expenses due to major storms and other environmental factors.

Despite the wide availability of digital tools, younger and older Americans alike still choose spreadsheets and pen & paper to budget. Therefore, integrating budget functionality into popular payment app Venmo offers several benefits over developing a new budgeting tool. But why Venmo?

  1. Small Learning Curve – ​Venmo is one of the most popular digital payment apps to date, particularly among young Americans. Learning how to use a new feature will take less work than learning an entirely new app.

  2. Security of Financial Information – Some survey respondents expressed concerns about financial information security with fintechs. Venmo is regarded as a safe and trustworthy app that many users have already linked their accounts to.

  3. Ease of Use on the Go – Users frequently access Venmo on the go as its simple interface makes it easy to make payments quickly; integrating a budget feature may make it easier to maintain a consistent budget on the go.

Competitive landscape insight

Using an existing app like Venmo to meet users where they are at and providing a familiar way to integrate budgeting into their lives would be more effective than a building a brand new app.

  • Young Americans struggle to manage and maintain a budget consistently

  • More respondents have not received explicit personal finance education

  • Mobile is the most popular way to access finances, and spreadsheets are the top budgeting tool

  • A majority indicate that COVID-19 impacted their personal finances

  • Many feel financially stable and some are confident about their financial future

  • Personal finance education typically comes from family or online searches

Key Survey Findings

Informing Design

  • Support young Americans in maintaining a budget consistently

  • Provide tailored personal finance education on an ongoing basis

  • Offer and/or enhance a mobile app that leverages the benefits of spreadsheets

  • Assist users in understanding and preparing for changes in finances

  • Include tools and information to help young Americans save for long-term goals

  • Build on the benefits of discussing finances with family and searching for specific information online

52 Million

Active Users

Ages 18-34

Primary Audience

$159 Billion

In Payments (2020)

52 Million

Active Users

Ages 18-34

Primary Audience

$159 Billion

In Payments (2020)

The Outcome

Tailored Financial Guidance

Identify the factors that influence your finances by answering a short quiz and receiving ongoing, expert support.

Learning Curve
With Venmo being one of the most popular digital payment apps, the learning curve to understand the new feature will be much smaller.
Financial Security
Survey respondents noted security concerns about fintechs, whereas many users already linked their bank accounts with Venmo.
Usability on the Go
Venmo's simple interface makes it easy to make payments on the go, offering an easy way to make budgeting easier to maintain.

Integrating budget functionality and guidance into popular payment app Venmo by leveraging its existing QR code functionality to track spending by scanning receipts offers several benefits over developing a new budgeting tool.

Foundational Research

My initial research centered around two primary questions: What do young Americans think about finance and modern tools? How do U.S. adults currently address budgeting and financial planning?

Thoughts on Finances

  • Young Americans are more likely to stress about their finances

  • To cope with financial stress, many cut costs or ignore the problem

  • Digital tools are rising in popularity, particularly in young populations

Existings Tools & Education

  • Most still budget with pen & paper over digital options

  • Gen Z and Millennials desire financial advice from professionals

  • Most young U.S. adults still ask their parents for financial help

Learn Spending Habits

Whether you already have a budget or need to start one, Venmo's QR code scanner makes it easier to accurately track your spending.

Build Confidence

Financial planning is beneficial and empowering, and can help reduce the impacts of unpredictable life events.

Conclusion

My Thoughts

Simplifying personal finance management has been something I have been working towards in my personal and professional life long before joining this graduate program. Through this course, I was able to explore the business side of product management and leaned heavily on the knowledge I gained through my undergraduate coursework, including Crisis Communication, Government and Stakeholder Relations, and Research and Statistics for Strategic Communications. This coursework was incredibly valuable in understanding how to position a product in the real world while balancing business and user goals.

Challenges

  • Implementation: Incorporating budgeting functionality into Venmo of course would require a proper pitch and partnership with Venmo. This requires additional time, effort, and likely connections. The feature will also be easier to implement in partnership with a major retailer to place QR codes on shopping receipts, which also may be difficult to accomplish.

  • Project Style: My undergraduate career left me very familiar with marketing and business, but this was my first graduate school project to focus more on research and actual implementation beyond the initial design phase. While it took some time to shift my focus from visual and feature design, this was one of my favorite projects to work on because of how much I got to research and learn about product design.

  • Saturation: The personal finance management space is well saturated with a number of apps and services aimed at supporting users in gaining a holistic view of their finances. Identifying how to address the reasons why Americans still choose to budget with simple tools such as pen and paper 

Methodology

  • Macro Forces identification helped to understand the environment and factors that could impact development and implementation

  • Mindmap organizing questions, assumptions, stakeholders, and SWOT analyses of existing tools

  • SME Interview to learn about a professional approach to financial planning including how to organize and prioritize spending

  • Survey & Report to gain an understanding of how younger generations approach financial planning and consolidate findings

  • Stakeholders & Audience to first recognize who may be impacted by changes in financial space and develop a target audience

  • Competitive Landscape of existing budgeting methods, including the strengths, weakness, and opportunities

  • Success Criteria developed to measure the success of the product if it were to launch based on consolidated research

  • Risk Analysis from a user and business perspective to refocus product design on user needs and success

Risk Analysis

After weekly design critiques from my colleagues and industry professionals, I realized the prototype was too long and focused more on telling rather than showing. So I created a risk analysis, conducted more interviews, and went back to the (literal) drawing board.

Chart that analyzes potential risks including the risk category, trigger, mitigation strategy, owner, and impact from a user's perspective.

Stakeholders & Audience

Stakeholders who may be affected by movements in the financial planning space include:

  • Consumers across a range of professional and economic statuses including full-time, part-time, and gig workers.

  • Potential partners such as major retailers and banks as well as existing fintechs

  • Government agencies such as tax and retirement agencies could be impacted

​

The target audience includes young Americans who may struggle to budget consistently, have limited time or resources, are unaware of their spending habits or savings, and feel unsure of where/how to start financial planning. 

Survey & Report

I released a Google Forms survey to understand how young Americans approach personal finance.

The survey was completed by 30 respondents of which 97% are between 18-35 years old.

About 40% earn under $40,000 annually, while 33% earn $40,000-$80,000 annually.

Background

Americans ages 18-35 are facing increased concerns about their financial futures, especially due to the ongoing impacts of COVID-19; however, many young adults are unaware of their spending habits. Despite the wide availability of digital tools many who do budget still use pen and paper, which requires existing financial planning knowledge. Education about personal finance primarily comes from family members, who may lack accurate information or feel uncomfortable discussing the topic.

These factors could have a domino effect on future generations.

More specifically, top competitors in the space seemed to fall short in a few key areas:​

Mint* *discontinued March 2024
The most popular budgeting app by far and offers a wide range of key features for free; however, requires users to link their bank account(s).
Pocket Guard
{ovides a quick way to view finances at a glance and has a free subscription tier, but limits access to key features — like debt repayment plans.
You Need a Budget
After the free trial, the app requires a $15 monthly fee in addition to an ongoing time investment for entering and correcting transaction entries.

My Role

Product Manager: Maintained adapative, agile strategy to prioritize feature design based on research findings

Visual Designer: Created UI design system and branding​

UX Research & Designer: Conducted foundational research including discovery, ideation, and testing

Goals & Objectives

  • Enhance existing tool(s) to support consistent budgeting

  • Empower U.S. adults to feel confident in their financial future

  • Increase understanding of key personal finance concepts

Low-Fi Prototype & Testing

Using a Remarkable 2 device, I sketched out some rudimentary screens to turn into a low-fidelity prototype. Feedback from initial user testing allowed me to make certain tweaks to develop a mid-fidelity protoype.

Screenshot of four sketched screens from a low-fidelity prototype.

Success Criteria

The following criteria was developed to measure the success of the integration:

Consistency
Users are able to update and their budget consistently.
  • Usage frequency over time
  • Number of receipts scanned
  • Increase in app usage/decrease churn 
Efficiency
The budget creation and upkeep process is faster than traditional methods.
  • Time needed to upload a receipt
  • Time spent on budgeting (self-reported via survey)
Confidence
Users feel confident managing their money and saving for a financially stable future.
  • Confidence levels (self-reported via survey)
  • Percentage of users making progress toward goals

Mindmap

The financial services industry is complex and saturated with firms and fintechs competing for a share of the market. To make sense of the intricacies I created a mindmap exploring relevant assumptions, stakeholders and questions including a SWOT analysis for existing tools.

SME Interview

To support early research, I spoke with a financial planning expert. To prep for this interview, I created an interview guide and shared questions with the expert prior to our meeting. Through this interview, much of my early research was confirmed, including the following:

  • Planning for the future is essential, but many feel unprepared or overwhelmed on where to start

  • Personal finance information often comes from friends and families and may be outdated

  • Creating a budget or financial plan is helpful even if only done once as it allows people to organize, understand, and prioritize their spending

Chart that analyzes potential risks including the risk category, trigger, mitigation strategy, owner, and impact from a business perspective.

Young Americans Who May:

  • Struggle to budget consistently

  • Have limited time or resources

  • Are unaware of their spending habits or savings

  • Feel unsure of where/how to start financial planning

Young Americans Who Want to:

  • Be aware of financial habits

  • Stress less about finances

  • Feel confident in their ability to save for long-term goals

  • Be financially prepared for unexpected life events

Competitive Landscape

Through this research I found that very few competitors offer budget creation guidance, all tools offer data visualization and categorization capabilities, and the most popular budgeting tools are free, but often require a significant amount of time and prior knowledge.

Comparison chart of competitors including Google Sheets, Excel, Mint, You Need a Budget, Good Budget, Pocket Guard, and Honeydue.

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