Re-imagining the merchant onboarding experience as a white-label
Youtap Technology
Timeframe
Mar '24 - Ongoing
My responsibilities
Overview
Youtap's original merchant application, under the name "YouPay" was severely outdated, didn't have the required features for many businesses, and even had accessibility issues.
With a growing client base Youtap's merchant application was in need of a re-design.
Goal
The unique selling point of white-label is it's customisation, but this leaves us unable to control what a user may experience when business needs and requirements come into play.
Our goal is to balance the vast feature set a white-label can offer, without compromising on user experience.
Introduction
What is a white-label product?
Youtap provides a blank canvas app, or white-label products, that can be configured and rebranded to a client's own branding identity to create a unique product under their own name. You'll never see a Youtap app on the market, but you might recognise the layout.
Why did we start this?
Before Youtap Merchant, there was YouPay. The YouPay merchant application was designed before my time, and thus there were very few resources on the actual base app. After gaining more interest from potential clients, the plan was to re-design and update Youpay into an official Youtap product.
Kickoff
We began by identifying our end-users and potential clients, prioritising their complex needs and preferences
We initiated the start of the project by diving into who our users may be. However, on top of the users, we also had to consider who our clients may be as a white-label product and what we could offer them. We chose to focus our primary persona on potential clients and their complexity.
Traditional
banks
Requires secure and reliable customer verification process, with integration into their own existing systems to follow their own business standards.
Fintech
startups
To meet a range of business needs for different companies, a range of features would be best for the company to select by preference and standard.
E-commerce
platforms
To cater to a diverse range of customers, onboarding requires flexible customisation and a easy account setup that will allow users to get started quickly.
An audit revealed user related issues with UI and the journey.
We also conducted a user experience audit on the current state of the application, which helped me to establish the key problems user's may face when attempting to onboard.
Next was to breakdown the key issues that needed to be addressed going forward, both from a user and a business perspective
Onboarding process offered limited features, even with the full journey, failing to offer the unique selling point of a white label app.
Merchant onboarding, KYB and KYC have been combined, but lack proper differentiation, causing the full journey to be overwhelming for users.
The problem
How might we streamline the onboarding process for users, while maintaining a large range of customisation for white-label clients?
Prioritisation
Building our feature list for a white-label app against the fintech market by comparing competitors
A competitive analysis was our first step to understanding the market and how we could apply opportunities that were missing to our own app. By also researching global competitors, especially in Asia and Europe, we identified opportunities to differentiate our app and potentially expand internationally.
Categorising the features to narrow the list down further
Utilising a close-card sort allowed us to categorise our expanding feature list into specific categories, which we could then prioritise feature sets within.
We chose the cards "Personal", "KYC" and "KYB" to maintain clear differences between the stages of the onboarding process, with an additional category for system based features that were outside of these.
By visually distinguishing these parts of the journey, we aimed to provide a less overwhelming experience for users overall.
Prioritising the essentials to meet product delivery
Given the limited resources and the timeframe for this MVP, the full extensive feature list would be overwhelming to tackle. Instead of focusing on the full picture my best bet was narrowing down the list to core functions to prioritise over optional add-ons, so that we could deliver a valuable product.
Design process
Designing from sketches to MVP was made easier with an established component library
Fast iteration happened during our sketching stage, which allowed us to make changes with ease before anchoring down on the digital design.
Due to already having an established component library, and the importance of consistency throughout our products, we skipped low-fi designing and opted to go straight to hi-fi. This allowed us to use our assets in a puzzle-building way quickly, resulting in an easier transition to the MVP.
The solution
Balancing simplistic, streamlined journeys for users and a large range of customisation options for clients
Overall our solution aimed to reduce stress on the users by breaking down the onboarding journey into more manageable steps, while also maintaining a priority for expanding our feature set to meet diverse business requirements.
For our users -
Progress indicators for better user visibility to reduce drop out
While we can't control the length of the process in a white-label, we can control what users see.
Simplistic and straightforward forms
The simplistic design ensured users wouldn't be overwhelmed with the amount of information needed onboard on one page.
For our clients -
16+ customisable features for onboarding customers
Endless combinations for security, verification and store account to support any business requirements or standards.
Easily rebranding for any client
Designs that will support any branding choice, whether it be text, colour or content.
Reflections
Notes for the future
Keeping the scope minimal to meet delivery expectations
The challenge of balancing feature sets with user experience, within the context of a white-label, required us to rethink and refine our approach. I learned first hand the importance of focusing on the essential product value and avoiding feature creep. Although this is just the beginning, we have set a solid foundation for the future of the Merchant app.