Feature Add: UX | UI 

Adding a feature that optimizes group expenses on Venmo

DURATION
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80 Hours,
4 weeks
ROLE


UX/UI
User Research
TOOLS & METHODS
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Figma
Wireframing
Prototyping
A/B Testing
CATEGORY
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Solo Project:
P2P payment
platform

BACKGROUND

Venmo has emerged as one of the most popular apps for electronically transferring funds from one party to another. Its growth is largely driven by millennials, who even use its name as a verb, as in: “I'll Venmo you for the food.” Venmo is aimed at friends and family who wish to split bills. Most people don’t carry as much cash as they used to, so a bill-splitting app is often the most convenient and easy way to divide the costs of a bill. ‍

PROBLEM

While Venmo provides a fast, social, and easy experience with its current features, there's no way to easily split multiple expenses between groups. Users still have to calculate their expenses elsewhere and keep track of who owes what before requesting payment on Venmo. ‍

** At the time of this project, Venmo did not have a group split feature.

SOLUTION

I added a feature that allows users to create a group with the ability of splitting multiple expenses between friends that seamlessly fits into Venmo's current design system.
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There is an opportunity for Venmo to optimize how users can split multiple expenses between friends.
PROJECT OVERVIEW

01
Research

‍Secondary Research
To gain a better understanding of the current market, I started with market research to get a sense of what we already know, who the audience is, as well as current trends. I wanted to uncover how users currently use Venmo as well as their behaviors when splitting expenses between friends. This research will also guide me with asking meaningful questions in primary research.

VENMO
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Venmo users average five transactions per month, and the average transaction amount is $65-75 in the U.S.

More than 70 million people used Venmo in 2021, up from 52 million the previous year, and most users are located in the U.S.

61% of Venmo’s users are male, 39% are female Some 44% of adults ages 18 to 29 who have used these payment sites or apps cite splitting expenses with others as a major reason
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Venmo’s large user base provides them with an advantage in the P2P payment market, with many users citing the ability to split expenses as a key reason for using the platform.
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SPLITTING EXPENSES
Millennials dine-out more than the non-millennials, calling out for splits can weigh on the wallet over time. Today, just to avoid the awkward moments, splitting bills equally has become a norm in social groups.
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Many apps have come up in to provide solutions in this area. From Splitwise to Billr, these apps helps to split these bills to the point. All of these apps still miss out on a pain point, and that is the instant payment of bills enabled in them.
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Survey asked how 1,000 Americans preferred to handle their check when dining in large groups. 41% said that they split the check depending on what each person ordered, another 41% said they would split the check evenly and the last 18% take turns covering the whole bill. As you can see, there really isn’t much consensus.
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65 percent of young people use cash apps regularly to exchange money with friends.
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Most people agree on the fundamentals: Get the transaction done in a timely manner. Don’t dally. Same-day repayment, whether you’re sending or requesting, is best for both parties
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Young people (Under 34) spend more money dining out and use cash apps regularly to exchange money with friends. P2P payment platforms are on the rise due to convenience, speed, and efficiency.

Competitive Analysis
I then jumped into competitive analysis, as their products will help me gather insights about strengths, weaknesses, and possible opportunities.

I focused on popular bill splitting apps in order to see what works and to find opportunities for my feature.
Key Findings
Top bill-splitting apps focus on organizing expenses between multiple people, and allow an easy way to calculate how much each person owes. These apps lack the large user base that Venmo already has. Many bill-splitting apps miss out on a pain point—facilitating instant payment within their app.
There’s an opportunity to add a feature that streamlines how a user can organize and calculate multiple expenses and request payment.
User Research
Building on a general understanding of the market and the audience, it is time to dive deeper and build real connection with our users. I was able to gain direct insights to better understand their pain points and needs through conducting primary research. I interviewed 4 participants to understand their experiences with Venmo and with splitting expenses.
These findings confirmed that users need a way to streamline multiple expenses between a group - a feature that Venmo currently doesn’t offer.
Insights
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☼ Users find it time consuming to organize expenses for splitting because they have to use other methods (excel, calculator, other apps) before getting on Venmo to request payment.
“It would be cool if Venmo and Splitwise merged.”
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☼ Users encounter difficulties when splitting bills with multiple people
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☼ Users find it difficult to communicate multiple expenses and would want to see a breakdown of expenses
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☼ Users often split money between large groups and normally split evenly or custom amount, depending on the situation
Needs 
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☼ users need a streamlined way to organize expenses and request payment users need a way to easily calculate the amount of money each person needs to pay

☼ users need a way to communicate expenses to other users


☼ users need a way to manually split costs (custom or evenly split) between larger groups of people

02
Define

After synthesizing my findings, I created a persona based on the main insights I gathered in my primary research. I will keep my persona in mind when moving forwards with my design decisions.

Let’s meet Alyssa.
Alyssa spends a lot of her time hanging out with her friends. She is extroverted and is often the common ground when bringing people together. Because of her proactive, organized personality, she’s the one who everyone “Venmos back”. She finds it difficult to split multiple expenses between a group and needs a way to reduce time calculating and organizing the expenses.

03
Ideate

After synthesizing research, I came up with POVs and HMWs using users' pain points and needs to help me brainstorm ideas. The statements and questions are generated based on the insights and needs I gathered in my Affinity Map.

How might we streamline calculating multiple expenses and requesting money from a group?
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How might we help users calculate the split amount more easily?
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How might we help users easily understand and communicate each expense?


How might we optimize the payment process for groups?

I’d like to explore ways to streamline how users calculate multiple expenses and request payment from a group.
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I’d like to explore ways that will allow users to easily calculate the amount of money each person needs to pay because they find it difficult when splitting bills
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I’d like to explore ways that effectively communicate expense breakdown
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I’d like to explore ways that’ll make requesting money from a group easier

PROJECT GOALS
‍I identified common goals by aligning business goals and user goals to ensure that the feature I will be adding is valuable to users and is viable for the business. 
ROADMAP
I then started to put the solutions I brainstormed into a list of product features. This ensures that I prioritize the most important features based on supporting research and how well they can help achieve user goals while still maintaining business goals. For this project, I want to focus on helping the users manage a group split by being able to create a group, calculate and request multiple expenses, and get an expense breakdown.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
‍I mapped the existing sitemap of Venmo, and identified sections where the new feature would be added. Venmo’s core feature is to send and receive money, so I decided that the feature would be most intuitive for users if it follows the current pattern for requesting and transferring money on the app, which is through the existing pay/request navigation.
I created a user flow to help me visually represent all the paths a user can take when using the new feature.

Because users are already familiar with Venmo’s payment and request flow, I wanted to ensure that the new feature follows those design patterns so that it remains intuitive to use.

I chose Pay/Request as the entry point for the new feature because it’ll allow users to easily select users for their group and the end goal for users it to request payment from friends. From here, I was able to determine how many screens would be needed, what order they should appear in, and what components needed to be present. By creating task flows that center on the new features I am adding for Venmo, I was able to think through the necessary steps and examine the user experience in details.
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Splitwise, a direct competitor for splitting expenses, allows users to create a group before adding expenses while Tab makes users add a person with every split. 

‍From my user insights and findings from competitive analysis, I decided to explore two options: creating a group BEFORE or AFTER adding in the expenses, in order to understand what would make the user experience more efficient.

In addition, users find communicating multiple expenses difficult, so I also explored a few options for showing an expense breakdown.
SKETCHES
After designing key screens identified in my user and task flows, I jumped into creating low-fidelity sketches. I am able to capture my ideas by pen and paper quickly by sketching, and it enables me to examine my ideas before digitizing.
Wireframes
In my initial wireframes, I later realized that the design patterns didn't fit Venmo’s brand, and I could combine components of screens to simplify the overall user experience.

Moving forwards, I made sure to incorporate existing design patterns of Venmo that have been applied elsewhere in the app to ensure that the feature integrated seamlessly into Venmo.
TWO HIGH-FIDELITY DESIGNS
After many iterations, I ended up with two final designs. To determine which design would be more effective and engaging for users, I decided to conduct A/B testing. Each iteration was evaluated against the project goals and objectives, user needs, and feedback from my mentor and peers. This approach enabled me to gather quantitative data on how users interacted with the different designs, allowing me to make an informed decision about which design to move forward with.
OPTION A
• Group creation happens after selecting users, which follows Venmo’s current design pattern
• Expense breakdown is shown after adding multiple expenses
OPTION B
• Group creation happens after requesting payment
• Expense breakdown is shown throughout adding expenses

04
Prototype

After I finished designing the screens that are necessary for users to finish tasks, I created two prototypes based on the two designs I wanted to test. These prototypes allowed me to simulate the user experience of interacting with the app, and allowed me to gather user feedback on which design was more effective.
PROTOTYPE APROTOTYPE B

05 A/B Testing

A/B testing was a crucial step in the design process as it allowed me to identify the design that would best meet user needs, provide the most value, and ultimately achieve the project’s goals and objectives. I wanted to ensure that I chose the variation that would improve the overall user experience and satisfaction. I aimed to discover which user flow (creating a group before adding expenses or creating a group after payment) was more efficient for users. I also wanted to test whether the visibility of expense breakdown, throughout the process OR at the end, affected how a user was able to complete tasks.

The A/B test involved presenting the two designs to users and measuring various metrics such as task completion time, the number of errors made, and user satisfaction. I also collected user feedback on their experience with both designs, which helped me to gain qualitative insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each design.

I tested 6 total participants through moderated video calls. I randomized the order of the tests and asked them to complete main tasks:

1. select users to add to group
2. request payment from group
3. create and name group
Feedback & Iterations
I received a lot of positive feedback that the app was intuitive and that the UI was visually pleasing. However, there were still some areas that needed improvement in order to improve the usability and flow of the app. One of these areas was the process of adding products from the recipe page. Users expected to be able to complete this task in a certain way, but found it difficult or confusing to do so. As a result, I recognized the need to make some changes to the app’s design to enhance the user experience.

‍One of these changes was to modify the process of adding products from the recipe page, so that it would be more intuitive and user-friendly. By doing so, users would be able to complete this task more easily and with less frustration.

The other problem was some friction in navigating between different pages. Users were frustrated with not being able to navigate to the Cart on the recipes page straight through the Nav Bar and had to scroll to the top of the page to do so.
Visibility of expense breakdown throughout the process didn’t have a major effect on users, but users did mention that they did like having an expense breakdown that showed the total expenses before requesting payment.

Problem: For expense breakdown/details screen, users felt like “self” was highlighted vs the users they’re requesting money from, therefore causing confusion.
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Solution: make “self” in the expense breakdown screen take less visual hierarchy by highlighting the people the user is requesting money from and change “Request Payment” to “Request payment from "x" people”

✴
Final Design

CONCLUSION

NEXT STEPS 

For future iterations, there are a few things that I would consider given that I had more time and resources:
• Explore more options for the home screen to optimize how users can discover products
• Add additional features to improve the product
• Explore how to further personalize the shopping experience

REFLECTION

01. Prioritize the users
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Speaking to research participants was a great learning lesson as it taught me how much you do not know until these UX interviews are conducted. Designing for users is important because it ensures that the final product or solution meets their needs, goals, and expectations. During user research, I was able to uncover pain points that helped guide me throughout the design process. By involving users throughout the design process and gathering feedback, I’m able to make informed decisions and create solutions that truly meet the needs of the users. I designed mostly with the customer in mind, considering what type of layout would be the most intuitive to use, and paralleling the real-life grocery shopping experience. I designed this app to reflect what it would be like to browse and shop for products in a specialty grocer and include all of the information a user would need to purchase a product.

‍02. Iteration is necessary
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Iteration is important because it allows me to refine and improve my designs based on feedback from users. Through iteration, I’m able to test my designs with real users, observe how they interact with the product, and gather feedback on what works well and what needs improvement. This allows me to identify areas causing friction and adjust where necessary to optimize the user experience. Ultimately, this helps to create a more effective and user-friendly product that better meets the needs and expectations of its users.