Enhancing Verification Experience Through User Interviews
\02
"Every product that needs a manual is broken." - Elon Musk.
UX design focuses heavily on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, their abilities, and their limitations. However, in the banking applications of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, customers' needs and expectations are not always considered a priority.
I was part of the app design team focused on transfers and worked on redesigning the bank account verification team interfaces.
About Halyk
JSC Halyk Bank is the largest universal commercial bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which has been successfully operating for the benefit of its customers for over 99 years.
Halyk is Kazakhstan's largest bank with a 35% market share, operating across a variety of segments, including retail, SME & corporate banking, insurance, leasing, brokerage and assets management. Has branches in Georgia, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and where I worked - Kyrgyzstan.
Challenge
Not only customers need user experience (UX) design.
In every mobile banking application, customers have to verify their identity in several steps. Some parts of verification are verified automatically, however other parts are verified by employees such as photo or video verification, where human checks are needed. They are called verifiers.
The problem is the design for the verification page that was formed by a backend developer in Halyk Bank Kyrgyzstan. Missing a user research part, first part of good UX design, backend developers are more concentrated on the requirements, not a user who will interact with the page.
There is a problem, which I respond to solve. The aim was to create a user interface which can handle verify processing faster.
Lets consider successful metrics as Task Completion Time:
Currently users spent a total of 360 minutes on a task and successfully completed it 72 times, the average task completion time is 5 minutes.
OKR
Objective: Redesign verification page
Key result 1: Conduct user interviews with 6 people from the bank account verification team
Key result 2: Design new version of the dashboard structure and navigation
Key result 3: User-test page prototypes on 3 people
Key result 4: With development, launch website by August 29
Key result 5: Increase user satisfaction from 10% to 20%
My Role
I was a part of the app product team to enhance and innovate the user experience design for international transfers interfaces. Additionally,
I supported the Bank Account Verification team, conducting research to identify issues using employee progress data and user feedback in the complex field of verification processes.
My research involved various methods and frameworks including qualitative data collection, 5 stages, probing techniques, behavioral research, unmoderated methods: eye tracking, click-tracking heat maps, time-to-task-completion indicators, OKR methods.
How redesigning the verifier page can change the productivity of the company and its future. And finally, why all these activities need to be changed, you can find below.
Collecting data
Key questions: Why does the page need to be redesigned? What are expectations about the page from the users? What problems and challenges are users facing with a page?
Attitudinal research best fits the problem since there are only 6 verifiers in a company.
Main Research
One of the challenges that I faced was how users behave in the interview process. All the interviews were kyrgyz people who sometimes need some support on decision making. They were shy and unconfident with the answers because it was the first time they were being interviewed.
Some answers were different which gave wrong data.
One of the key aspects to a successful user interview is the ability to probe the interviewee when required. This will help you get the best insights while also allowing the participant to be open and confident.
I always have the probing techniques discussed in Russell Bernard’s “Research Methods in Anthropology” in my head whenever I go into an interview. They are simple and effective and have worked for me every time.
Lastly, I ensured to be myself during the interviews. These probing techniques served as drivers for the conversation.
The combination of active listening and interview probes guaranteed that the time spent with participants was as rewarding for them as it was for me.
Through all the interviews that I did, here some main pain points:
too many unnecessary account information, because half of them is verified by AI
getting lost with buttons, not clearly understand which buttons for what
if the verifier make a mistake, there are no opportunity to return, only with a help of backend developer
too many steps, if the verifier accept, need to go back find another application and go forward
colors, don’t know which color what mean..
Results
The redesigned interface should be more intuitive, with well structure and clear guidance for each step of the verification process. Users should find it easier to complete their verification quickly and accurately, reducing frustration and abandonment rates.
Result:
Created a comprehensive dashboard for verifying users, reduced processing time by 40% per user through effective communication and delivery of high-quality designs.
Users spent a total of 360 minutes on a task and successfully completed it 121 times, the average task completion time would be 3 minutes.