UX Audit: Revamping User Experience-A Case Study on Redesigning the Google Pay App
Google Pay’s tagline, “Google Pay sab jagah chalta hai” indeed reflects its widespread acceptance and usability across various transactions and scenarios. With its versatility and widespread acceptance, Google Pay offers you the flexibility to handle a wide range of transactions, from everyday purchases to peer-to-peer transfers and even bill payments
This case study delves into the process of redesigning the Google Pay app to enhance user experience and functionality. It outlines the challenges faced with the existing app layout and features. Through user-centric design principles, the redesign focuses on optimizing space utilization, improving navigation efficiency, increasing usability, and driving user engagement. Ultimately, the redesign aims to create a more intuitive, efficient, and satisfying experience for Google Pay users.
About Google Pay:
Google Pay is a digital payment platform that allows users to send and receive money securely from anywhere in the country. With Google Pay, users can make transactions quickly and conveniently using their mobile devices, eliminating the need for cash or physical cards. The platform offers various features and functionalities, including peer-to-peer payments, bill payments, online and in-store purchases, and even international money transfers in some regions. Google Pay leverages advanced security measures, such as encryption and multi-factor authentication, to ensure the safety and privacy of users’ financial information.
Google Pay’s features include:
- Contactless payments
- Buying items online or in apps
- Sending money to friends and family
- Making group payments and splitting bills
- Earning rewards for eligible transactions and referrals
- Getting insights about your money and transactions
- Storing and accessing event tickets, boarding passes, and other digital passes
- Paying utility bills, mobile phone bills, and more
High-level overview of the app from the perspective of two different users, their core job-to-be done and the success criteria/measures for the core job-to-be done.
Empathise: Analysis of user needs of multiple demographics, preferences, and behaviours
A high-level overview of the app from the perspective of two different users, their core job-to-be-done and the success criteria/measures for the core job-to-be-done.
User 1: An elderly retiree who is not tech-savvy and wishes to invest money and manage a small business. Let’s learn a high-level overview of how Google Pay is tailored to meet their needs:
- Google Pay offers simplified investment options such as mutual funds or savings plans with low entry barriers and easy-to-understand terms.
- The app provides educational resources and guidance for novice investors, including tutorials, articles, and access to financial advisors for personalized advice.
- Google Pay offers intuitive interfaces, clear instructions, and personalized support to help her navigate digital platforms effectively.
- Google Pay provides a user-friendly interface and straightforward navigation, making it easy for her to make payments, send money to family members, and manage her finances.
Core Job-to-be-Done:
- The core job to be done for the retiree is to invest their savings wisely to generate additional income or secure their financial future.
- The retiree’s core job to be done for their small business is to effectively manage finances, track income and expenses, and maintain financial records.
- Uses Google Pay to pay for groceries, utilities, bills, recharge and other everyday expenses, taking advantage of features like contactless payments and digital receipts to simplify her transactions.
- Uses the app to send money to her grandchildren for special occasions or emergencies.
- Uses Google Pay to check her account balances, review transaction history, and set up automatic bill payments.
Success Criteria/Measures:
- Maintaining accurate and up-to-date financial records, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.
- Seamless and hassle-free payment experience at grocery stores, utilities, and other merchants.
- Consistent use of contactless payments and digital receipts to simplify transactions and reduce physical paperwork.
- Ability to customize payment amounts and add personalized messages for a thoughtful touch.
- Accurate and real-time visibility into account balances and transaction history within the Google Pay app.
- Diversification of investment portfolio to mitigate risk.
User 2: Everyday Shopper who works in an IT firm quite familiar with digital app.
- Create a personalized rewards feed that showcases relevant offers and cashback opportunities based on user spending patterns and preferences. Utilize machine learning to continuously refine recommendations and increase user engagement.
- Google Pay allows users to split bills with friends or groups.
- This app highlights any pending payment
- Can check transaction history.
Core Job-to-be-Done:
Primarily uses Google Pay for everyday purchases such as groceries, meals, and retail shopping. Their core job-to-be-done is to make seamless and secure payments quickly while earning rewards or cashback where applicable.
Success Criteria/Measures:
- Smooth and fast checkout process: Success is measured by the time taken to complete a transaction, ideally within a few seconds.
- Availability of loyalty programs and rewards: Success is measured by the ease of accessing and redeeming rewards or cashback offers within the app.
- Security of transactions: Success is measured by the user’s confidence in the app’s security features, such as tokenization and fraud detection, leading to increased usage and trust.
- Clear transaction history: Success is measured by the clarity and transparency of transaction records.
Walk through each workflow and assess the efficacy of the experience according to how well the app supports each user type. List of design or product issues.
User 1: An elderly retiree
Workflow 1: Investing Savings Wisely: The retiree navigates to the investment section of Google Pay and explores simplified investment options such as mutual funds or savings plans. They may also access educational resources and seek guidance from financial advisors.
Assessment: Google Pay effectively offers simplified investment options and educational resources tailored to novice investors.
Design/Product Issues:
- Lack of prominent visibility for investment features within the app’s navigation menu.
- Insufficient clarity in educational resources, leading to confusion for users with limited financial literacy.
- This people and Business section one after other making the UI clutter and making user to scroll a lot and no personalised action is provided.Workflow 2: Using Google Pay for Everyday Expenses: The retiree utilizes Google Pay to pay for groceries, utilities, bills, and other everyday expenses, leveraging features like contactless payments and digital receipts.
Assessment: Google Pay offers a user-friendly interface and straightforward navigation for making payments and managing expenses. The retiree benefits from features such as contactless payments and digital receipts, which simplify transactions and reduce physical paperwork.
Design/Product Issues:
- Difficulty in locating specific payment options or merchants within the app’s interface.
- Lack of personalized recommendations or reminders for managing recurring expenses or budgeting effectively.
- QR code Scanner located in far reach zone.Workflow 3: Sending Money to Grandchildren: The retiree uses Google Pay to send money to their grandchildren for special occasions or emergencies, leveraging peer-to-peer payment features.
Design/Product Issues:
- Lack of prominent visibility for peer-to-peer payment features within the app’s interface, leading to difficulty in initiating transfers.
- No filter option in payment made accounts so that they don’t need to find from the contact list and add. They simply can see in the list of people.Workflow 4: Checking Account Balances and Transaction History: The retiree checks their account balances, reviews transaction history, and sets up automatic bill payments using Google Pay.
Assessment:
Google Pay offers a straightforward interface for checking account balances, reviewing transaction history, and managing automatic bill payments.
Design/Product Issues:
- Lack of analytics visual of transaction history of current and previous months to monitor spending patterns of each account and compare between spending and receiving money in each account.
User 2:
Workflow 1: Highlighting Pending Payments: The user receives notifications or alerts within Google Pay highlighting any pending payments or outstanding balances.
Assessment: Google Pay highlights pending payments or outstanding balances, ensuring transparency and clarity in financial transactions.
Design/Product Issues:
- Week indicator for any pending payment.Workflow 2: Checking Transaction History: The user accesses Google Pay to review their transaction history and track past purchases and payments.
Assessment: Google Pay offers a clear and comprehensive transaction history feature, allowing users to view detailed records of past transactions.
Design/Product Issues:
- No prominent visibility of offers from business to claim personalised rewards based on the spending history from business.
- No clear placement for UPI account and relevant feature without involving much exploration.
- No sort filter is available in people and business categories for further exploration for example Alphabetical sorting, last payment made, highest payment made, highest money received, pending payments etc.
- Transaction history and check balance is kept at bottom of the page which makes it Impractical.
Problems I have explored from the list above
Problem 1: Transaction history and check balance are kept at the bottom of the page which makes it Impractical. Lack of analytics visual of transaction history of current and previous months to monitor spending patterns of each account and compare between spending and receiving money in each account.
Problem 2: No clear placement for UPI account and relevant features without involving much exploration.
Problem 3: Week indicator for any pending payment.
Problem 4: Lack of analytics visual of transaction history of current and previous months to monitor spending patterns of each account and compare between spending and receiving money in each account.
Problem 5: No sort filter is available in people and business categories for further exploration for example Alphabetical sorting, last payment made, highest payment made, highest money received, pending payments etc. This people and Business section one after another makes the UI clutter and makes users scroll a lot and no personalised action is provided.
Problem 6: QR code Scanner located in the far-reach zone.
I have worked on home screen of this app though this research has made me come up with several other design solution to enhance usability and User experience on other respective screens for example user profile sort and filter UI, Analytical UI etc. Please see below side by side comparison.
New Prototype
Note: To learn about user engagement I did take support google review section for this app during my research phase and got help to understand user’s pain point and usability failure while performing specific task. But Hands down it still my go to payment app in comparison to rest of others.
