Mint redesign
.svg)
Summary
Integrating credit card rewards into the Mint mobile app
Project
DesignLab Student Project
Timeline
May - June 2023 4 weeks 20 hours a week
Services
UX/UI Design
User Research
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Integrating credit card rewards into the Mint mobile app
DesignLab Student Project
May - June 2023 4 weeks 20 hours a week
UX/UI Design
User Research
Prototyping
Usability Testing
With 73% of Americans ranking finances as the number 1 stressor, digital products such as mint offer an invaluable resource. As a hub for all things finance, mint pulls information from any and all financial accounts and investments to have all information available in one app. With many people using specific credit cards for rewards with “credit card hacking” or “travel hacking,” I wanted to include a feature that allows for users to be able to access reward information through the app.
With people increasingly using credit cards to gain rewards for goals, travel, and expenses, users face barriers. These create an added complexity to an already overwhelming world of finances.
Checking rewards periodically to know how many there are can be convoluted as the access of these rewards can vary from the actual credit card website to the website that the points or account apply to (i.e. airline company or hotel company) to needing to chat with a bot or representative in-app.
Restrictions such as reaching spending criteria within a certain timeframe to qualify for sign up bonuses
Attempting to accrue points for specific goals and time periods (travel, holiday spending, etc.)
Add features within the Mint app to lower financial barriers related to credit card rewards by centralizing rewards information, making point conversions available, and tracking bonus criteria within this singular app.
I first went with qualitative research in one-on-one user interviews in order to gain deeper understanding of the real experiences and challenges of users.
I interviewed 6 participants of varying backgrounds who had used credit card rewards to gain benefits in varying degrees of credit card point use.
Understanding conversions and what rewards points values are
Research and time needed to find rewards deals and sign up bonuses
Keeping track of annual fees and sign up bonus requirements
Having multiple credit cards and rewards accounts and staying on top of all of them
My next step was assessing market competitors through competitive analysis. Market Research revealed that while some apps had finance tracking and stats, and some apps showed credit card rewards, there really is no platform that does both in one place. This was especially interesting when it came to finance apps that are hubs for everything money related to be able to access all financial information in one place.
Returning to interviews, there was a clear and even division of two kinds of users:
After fleshing out some personas, I wanted to create a user journey map since there was no precedent for consolidating rewards information. I created this map in order to more fully empathize with the user and understand the real-life opportunities that were available to add to Mint’s design.
Again the main points gleaned include creating a place for easy point conversions, reward tracking for all credit cards in one place, have credit card recommendations based off criteria and bonuses, and simplify transfers.
As a result of user research, the main focus will be on centralizing rewards information, the display of rewards and conversions, and recommending cards based off of desired criteria in Mint. Since rewards transfers can only be done within specific credit card websites and apps and Mint is a financial information hub, this pain point will not be addressed in the redesign.
Based off of research, it was time to start tackling how to best meet the needs and address the pain points of the users starting off with HMWs:
How might we display rewards information that allows users to easily track and compare points?
How might we allow users easily find all the information they need in order to apply for rewards programs that best fit their needs?
How might we inform and notify users of annual fees and other costs related to cards and rewards?
Through research and reviewing How Might We's, the following main opportunities were chosen to add to the Mint app experience. I ended up focusing on these six opportunities not only because they were pain points to users, and also because I was able to implement them into the features and framework of Mint’s app.
.svg)
Consolidate all card reward info
.svg){kind=spacer}
Display rewards and conversions
.svg)
Set reminders and goals for fees and bonus criteria
.svg)
Get personalized card recommendations based off of searches, existing cards, and credit scores
Receive rewards related notifications
Share rewards and cards with others
Now that the features were nailed down, task flows were created to determine how to implement the features into Mint. The following 6 task flows were created.
This task is to quickly check and evaluate current points for each card for the user to utilize for decision making and to assess their rewards statuses
Utilizing Mint’s existing credit card marketplace, users can filter for types of rewards based on their Mint generated credit scores and spending habits
This is a step in addition to the above flow where users can share card information with others since users voiced input from others a motivating factor in signing up for credit card rewards. This can also close the gap and help make rewards more accessible for more people
This is a step in addition to the above flow where users can share card information with others since users voiced input from others a motivating factor in signing up for credit card rewards. This can also close the gap and help make rewards more accessible for more people
This is for users to set goals to meet spending criteria for sign up bonuses as well as to set budgets to ensure that spending doesn’t outweigh rewards benefits
Since this design is working with a pre-existing app, I then needed to find where these features would fit in with the existing architecture. The main additions are the following
With these features in mind, I worked on some sketches to understand how to best incorporate features into the app
Sketches focused on the Home screen, the Home Rewards section expanded, and the credit card Marketplace screen. Consideration was given to the original UI of the app and to introduce the new features in a seamless and intuitive manner.
I studied Intuit’s design system and guidelines and proceeded to recreate Mint’s existing components and UI elements before creating the new components for the added features.
Recreating the UI elements of Mint while keeping Intuit's guidelines in mind was an a satisfying experience between imitating Mint's style and creating new elements to work seamlessly and intuitively with the app's UI.
This flow is so users can check their current rewards points.
This flow is so users can convert their points to a relevant metric.
This is where users can browse cards based on their credit scores (which Mint already does) as well as filter results based on desired rewards.
This is so users can easily share credit card rewards with people they know via messaging or social media. This flow was created because users tend to find out about rewards and card benefits from others.
Checking and converting rewards points was an obvious prototype choice after reviewing previous research as some of the most common pain points were checking current rewards points and converting points to relevant rates and categories.
Features for rewards points were added as follows:
1. Rewards were added as a category in the in the assets section of the Home Overview screen as a way for users to be able to quickly and effectively check their rewards points. This section displays overall points, and when selected, shows further information by dividing rewards by card and automatically converting them to monetary values
2. As with the other sections, users can also select their desired card to see rewards details such as previous purchases and the points accrued by each transaction, pending purchases with pending points, and the ability to change the point conversion to varying metrics such as cash back, travel miles, and hotel points.
3. The ability to add or link accounts to add rewards information
Searching for cards based on desired reward criteria as well as saving those searches was based off of users voicing frustration and overwhelm in looking for relevant and desired rewards deals. As Mint's current app has a focus on exclusively sponsored cards, I saw this as a great opportunity to make the marketplace a more user-friendly space by including non-sponsored cards as an easy way to shop for credit cards, especially since Mint already filters cards based on users' credit scores.
The added features are the following:
By combining Mint's easy and stress-free search process and including detailed rewards sub categories to add to their pre-existing card categories, this search was an example of taking a great opportunity and turning it into a user-centric experience.
Based off of user feedback, many users voiced that they were motivated to apply to card rewards or first got into saving card rewards because of comments or input from others. Based off of this insight, we can decrease financial barriers to users by making cards easily shareable because users can easily share cards with rewards of interest with friends and family, but also to have a way to expand financial resources and share with anyone regardless of economic background or standing.
A share button was added to the upper right corner of the credit card information UI card to create in intuitive and shareable design.
User input and competitive analysis were considered with this flow with users voicing that there was no way to efficiently track sign up bonus criteria and if the user is actually on the right track for getting a sign up bonus. Card budgets were also added to best optimize rewards since a user voiced that if they are overspending, they cancel out their accrued rewards in a sense, so card budgets were also added.
In addition to creating this flow, I decided to go with A/B testing in order to find the most intuitive placement for an add goal button. Mint already had add two different "add" icons, so I wanted to see which design may stand out better as well as track and compare user behavior with icons in two locations; under the main rewards information, or on the upper right corner of the rewards detail screen.
In my first design, I went with Mint's add icon with a subtle circular enclosure. With the added light mint circle, I hypothesized that this icon would have more visibility. As for placement, I went with adding it under the points and point conversions.
In my second design, I went with Mint's more simple add icon. Since this add icon was used in the upper right corner of the Home Overview screen's top nav, I went with similar placing by adding it in the top right corner of the rewards details screen.
Determine if users can complete core tasks with ease on the prototype and navigate through rewards related flows such as checking points, saving card searches, and setting sign up bonus goals within 3 minutes per flow.
Due to some confusion (mostly among testers 33+ in age) an onboarding notification was added to the save toggle to alert users of the new feature.
One user mentioned that they weren’t sure if their filters/search categories were working since the sponsored cards stayed at the top of the results and they weren’t able to see any changes to receive feedback that their search was working. This was remedied by moving the sponsored cards down when filters were applied and having cards appear that best fit their search criteria boosted to the top.
A user mentioned that when going straight to the bonus goals page after the signup bonus goal creation, they had a moment of confusion wondering if they were successful in the task or not. A goal confirmation was then added after goal creation.
When doing A/B testing, the difference was only 0.3 seconds between the two designs, so I opted to go with design “A” based on participant testing behavior due to one user getting confused with the button placement of the “B” design and tried to look for the button elsewhere. This caused me to finalize with the 'A' option.
Working with a pre-existing app was a new and irreplaceable experience. Finding gaps within an app and ideating solutions through thorough research and creativity was a rewarding process. On top of that, working with a design system and adding features within pre-existing elements and UI was a surprisingly refreshing perspective. I truly enjoyed trying to fine-tune the details to make my features seamlessly integrate into Mint’s app.
Key moments of satisfaction for me were first, to receive feedback from my peers that they had a hard time finding the new features within the app design due to seamless design and second, when a test subject voiced how nice it was to have all rewards information available in one place at the touch of a button.
My biggest learning points were that:
.svg)
