Zelle®
Zelle has partnered with leading banks and credit unions across the U.S. to bring it customers a fast, safe and easy way to send money to friends and family. Money moves quickly - directly from bank account to bank account. Zelle is not only a stand alone app. It is a network and it lives within most banking apps and websites.
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Company / Early Warning
Year / 2018
Issues with the old design
A few months prior to the Zelle app release the company did not have an in-house design team. The initial product was created by an outside contracted design studio. The studio created visuals and laid out main use cases. However, the lack of communication between the teams created problems which resulted in poor product development and a series of missed release dates.
The product was very poorly documented when it was handed off to the development team.Many new issues as well as edge cases arose during the development process. Without the support of the UX team, developers had to use their best judgment to make things work. The outcome was a mismatch between front and back end, which in turn, resulted in broken interfaces.
The error messages did not effectively inform the user of what was happening. There were only generic messages which left the users confused and unsure what the next step should be.
What was done
It took about 6 month for the team to work through the main challenges and release the app in June 2017. We went through each main and edge case. We properly documented each flow, updated the interface design based on the backend functionality. Working with the content strategist we aded the right copy to each screen ensure the user is properly inform of each step.
Major work has been done on the error screens. Each error message now has a clear explanation of what happened and the next step to take.
Results
Zelle app was released in June 2017. It has successfully gained high ratings in both the iOS App Store and Google Play.
Since June 2017, Zelle Network Banks and Credit Unions have seen up to 300% increases in new customer enrollments. An average of more than 50,000 new consumers enroll with Zelle daily. These consumers join a person-to-person (P2P) payments network already established to reach more than 86-million customers via the mobile banking app with Zelle Network of participating banks and credit unions.
We continue working to enhance the Zelle experience. Now our main focus is to improve user experience within the banking apps. We are also looking into adding new features to make Zelle even more valuable to not only enrolled individuals but with companies that wish to use Zelle for their business.
My Role
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UX/UI
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Motion
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UX Documentation
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Prototyping
As one of the first designers on the team I was part of the first launch of the platform and the app. My initial tasks included documenting every user flows and use case. In close collaboration with Product Managers, Developers and Content Strategist I worked on the UX and UI of each screen and flow to prepare the app for launch.
As a Senior Visual Designer I made sure to follow brand guidelines and apply consistent style throughout the experience.
