An Post Money: Increase acquisitions
Company: An Post
My role: Senior UX/UI Designer
Date: 2021 - 2022
An Post Money is a digital banking service and market leading postal service based in Dublin, Ireland. They provide a range of services such as current accounts, personal loans, credit cards and foreign exchange, with a focus on making everyday banking simpler for customers across Ireland.
Problem:
The existing An Post Money apps were mostly rebranded versions of generic products and didn’t work well together. To build stronger relationships with customers, it needed a major digital upgrade. So, together with Cognizant they partnered to transform the An Post Money apps and create a smooth and clean digital experience. The goal was to strand out from the competition and compete effectively with newer fintech companies in Ireland’s fast changing financial market.
My role:
Part of the small Cognizant UX team working on the An Post project
Worked closely with stakeholders, product leads and development team
Created wireframes, process flows and prototypes
Contributed on building new UI components and illustration for the An Post Design System
Designed responsive and clean mobile experience
Discovery phase
To make the design process super clean, no matter the methods and tools used, we were following the Double Diamond design process. It emphasises divergent and convergent thinking, encouraging us to explore all the possibilities before deciding on the best solution.
Discover
We started by investigating the context of the requirements to deeply understand the problem, which involved identifying issues and uncovering challenges. Together with the UX researcher we collected data using different UX research methods, including surveys and competitive analysis. By identifying pain points, strengths and opportunities, we uncovered valuable insights that improved the design process.
Also, we collaborated with the stakeholders and gained their knowledge to get additional layers of insights that helped us to understand the whole scale of the problem. The main focus for us was to identify the opportunities to drive customer acquisition and retention as well as create opportunities to cross-sell An Post products and services.
Define
Once we have all the data and insights we summarised the findings and prioritised the most critical areas that needed to be addressed. We defined clear goals, product requirements and features prioritisation based on:
Answers to specific research questions
Summary of UX data and research study
Suggestions for improving
UX strategy
Develop
During the develop phase we explored a wide range of design solutions and prototypes created in Figma. As a UX team, we strategically divided the workload amongst ourselves to maximise efficiency and ensure that the deadlines were in reach. Each of us took ownership of specific areas, allowing us to work in parallel and utilise our individual strengths effectively. Thought out the whole develop phase, we all followed the An Post Money design system, ensuring a consistent user experience across the app. Additionally, we actively contributed new components and illustrations to the design system where needed.
Here are some of the illustrations I’ve worked on:
Personally, I was responsible for the design of the onboarding flow and the dashboard screen, ensuring they offered a clean and intuitive entry point for customers. Later in the project, the UX lead also assigned me to the design of the Money Manager functionality, focusing on clarity and easy of use.
Deliver
This is where our ideas become reality. At this phase, the focus shifted to creating high-fidelity designs and prototypes, and working closely with developers and QA to ensure a smooth handover.
Before we finished the project, we also delivered a final report of the design process and research findings. Included a detailed overview of the key findings, insights, recommendations and the final solution developed.
High fidelity prototypes
Design specifications
User research results and findings
This phase was critical in ensuring our designs were not only functional and user-friendly, but also aligned with overall product vision.
An Post Money Mate
Parallel to this work, we were also working on a new Youth accounts, which offers an easy to understand view for a younger audience and gives parents the ability to assign and track jobs related to pocket money as they teach their children responsible money management. Also, providing emergency access to money if a child is in need, as well as allowing parents to top up a child’s savings easily.
Business outcomes
As part of the large transformation, our work supported An Post’s ambition to become Ireland’s go-to financial services provider.
Increase customers acquisitions by 25% year-over-year
Support better customer satisfaction - contributed to higher Net Promoter Scores (NPS) and app review ratings
Design with business growth in mind - increased revenues via account fees and product cross-sell