Phongsavanh Bank
Revamped the bank’s mobile app to make it more intuitive
Simplified the bank’s mobile app for users with limited proficiency in technology, an international audience in a growing Asian market.
Laos’ first and leading private commercial bank, the Phongsavanh Bank was established in 2007. It aims to drive economic growth and prosperity in Laos, officially known as Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Phongsavanh bank’s comprehensive and reliable range of financial services are recognized to transform the nation’s banking history. With an aim to lead banking digitization, the bank wanted to redesign its mobile app “Hi” with new features, improved UX, and a fresh wallet experience that meets modern trends and needs, while also enhancing user satisfaction.
Driven by thorough design thinking and brainstorming sessions, we set out to transform the Hi app’s experience and design one that is simple, intuitive, and efficient.
Challenge
Most of the app’s users strongly rely on cash in daily transactions, making a shift towards digital adoption a huge challenge as well as a necessity. The transition to digitization was especially difficult due to two reasons: Firstly, Laos has limited financial and technical resources, with only 20% ICT (information and communication technology) literacy. Secondly, in the 7 million population of Laos, while 90% of the citizens had mobile phone subscriptions, only 22% citizens had bank accounts. Furthermore, the nation’s economy heavily relies on tourism with daily transactions conducted in three major currencies: Thai Baht, Laotian Kip, and USD. The Hi app, too, had to support multiple currencies in all its transactional features.
Industry
FinTechServices
UI UX designCreative Quotient
Design leadUI UX designers
Our approach
The project kickstarted with effective engagement with stakeholders to gather insights into the business requirements and the evolving fintech landscape in the country. We also spoke to multiple users in order to understand their pain points and set mental models. Since Phongsavanh’s mobile app needed a redesign, we conducted a UX audit of the existing application to identify the visual and UX elements that were effective and those in need of improvement. We also performed a competition analysis to understand the industry and its participants better. Fun fact: More than the banks, the telecom companies in Laos drove the digital transactions of the nation!
Understanding the users
Digital adopters
These users primarily relied on telecom apps to carry out digital transactions. By leveraging their experience with telecom apps, we encouraged them to switch to the Hi app for digital transactions. Our main goal was to minimize the learning curve and make their banking experience smooth and effective.
Hard cash to digital
These are the users who have only ever used hard cash for all their transactions. The key challenge was to introduce these—often less tech-savvy—users to a new, digital mode of transaction. Our primary goal was to accommodate their limited knowledge of technology and create an experience that is simple and highly intuitive.
Low technology adoption rate. Multiple currencies supported in the same app.
Appealing UI design. Accommodated multiple currencies in all the transactional features. Simpler, more intuitive, and efficient user experience.
Introducing the Hi app to the world
We equipped the Hi app with a UI that was visually appealing and the UX was seamless to create an experience first welcomes the users and later keeps them engaged on the app. Designing a user-friendly interface with intuitive navigation helped reduce friction, making it easier for users to access key features and complete the desired tasks. By focusing on accessibility, responsiveness, and consistency, we aimed to provide a smooth journey that caters to the needs of both, new and returning users.
Say Hi to a whole new UX!
While evaluating the existing application, we navigated through the user journeys to understand the habits and the knowledge base of the users. This practice gave us insights into the use cases of different features as well as the gaps in the existing user journeys. With all the gathered insights, we redefined some user flows and enhanced the user experience to make it more useful, effective, and easy to understand.
The result
Our collaboration with the Phongsavanh bank resulted in a well redesigned mobile app that helped smoothen the transition of the first-time users. With a visually appealing interface and a thoughtfully crafted user experience, the Hi app is guaranteed to seamlessly accommodate all types of users. The app’s successful launch marked a delightful end to this collaboration! 🎉