Product Case Study —
5 Minute read
Financial Mentorship Platform
Owned the product strategy and design vision for a financial mentorship platform targeted towards millennial women from conception to developer handoff.
At a glance
There is statistical significance that women are financially less literate than their male counterparts. Mint is an app that allows women to connect with certified financial professionals and coaches to empower them to achieve financial literacy and success.
The problem
Millennial women are disengaged from their finances.
What I Did
Owned the product strategy and design vision.
The Solution
Empowering women to take charge of their finances through personalized financial plans and access to mentors.
What I learned
The importance of seeking feedback verus validation.
Project highlights
Tools
Pen, paper, sticky notes, Figma, InVision, InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator
SKILLS AND METHODS
Qualitative and quantitative research, competitor and market analysis, user interviews and surveys, UI pattern finding, usability tests, and prototypes
Artifacts
Personas, experience map, competitive-analysis report, moodboards, task flow, sketches, wireframes, low-high fidelity prototypes, and usability report
Research deep dive
82%
of women of all ages thought men know more about investing and financial planning. *
59%
of women ages 20-34 defer investing and financial planning to spouses. *
34%
of women ages 18-29 are likely to have zero retirement savings. *
The research is shocking. Women can no longer afford to remain uneducated, under invested, or disengaged from their finances.
Talking to millenial women
"I want to connect with women who are 10-15 years older than I am to answer my financial questions about milestones that they have already achieved and to provide me with a blueprint of success. Kind of like a big sister, or a financial fairy godmother!"
QUOTE FROM INTERVIEWEE.
Interview insights
Women showed interest in improving their financial literacy but were at a loss of where to begin. The financial space has a wealth of information which makes it overwhelming and difficult to understand. The language used is often complex, convoluted, and full of jargon making it difficult. Women also struggled with taking an active role as they found it easier to defer to a family member or partner for financial advice.
Educated hypothesis
Leverage the familarity of social apps to help women achieve financial success with a financial mentorship platform.
MVP flow
User story
As a new user I want to be able to connect to a financial mentor so that I can receive personalized expert advice on my personal financial goals.
Task
Schedule a 1:1 session with a financial mentor.
Rapid ideation
Using quick paper sketches to ideate and iterate on different design solutions. I used an amalgamation of different parts from each sketch to proceed to the next step: wireframing.
Insights from testing
Product vision
Empower millennials to take charge of their financial success with access to mentors.
Key learnings and takeaways
I learned about the importance of speaking to users directly to gain a better understanding of their experiences with the problem space and further my ability to empathize to build a compelling digital solution.
USABILITY TESTING
Although a task is completed successfully when user testing it doesn't mean it's perfect. There is always opportunity to simplify, reduce users' cognitive load, and improve the overall user experience.
FEEDBACK VS VALIDATION
When seeking feedback it's easy to seek only validation. Innovative thinking and solutions happen through feedback, criticism, and truly addressing user needs.