Guaranty Trust Bank PLC is planning to lead the future of digital banking with the launch of a mobile banking app that is designed to cater to all that’s important to customers easily and seamlessly. It will be a model update of the current mobile app.

In the past, the Nigerian banking space and especially Guaranty Trust Bank PLC could lay no hold to an online banking platform that simplified daily banking processes. It wasn’t uncommon to have customers flock the bank to pay utility bills and transfers. At the time, the bank had an unstable app that crashed more than it worked, hence customers spent an average of 7 mins utilising the bank’s financial services. The financial implication of the situation on the bank was a loss of revenue due to the inert nature of the app. This challenging situation needed the utmost change. Nigeria’s 60% youth population who constituted 73% of the bank’s customer base became a driving force to lead the future of digital banking.

The design problem necessitated the launch of a mobile banking app designed to cater to the younger demographic bankable age. With the need for an urgent enhancement, Guaranty Trust Bank PLC decided to upgrade its existing bland app into the best customer-centric banking app in the banking industry. The approach to this goal was to redevelop and redesign the most used modules while improving the user experience of existing features. To reach the vibrant customer base with the message of a global solution, the name GTWorld was adopted.

To achieve this feat, a number of modules were included to enhance the customer experience on the app. These include;

1. Multiple transfers: With this feature, the user would carry out more than one transfer transaction to the same or multiple accounts with one single click. This novel idea became a basis for rating other banking apps.

2. Account manager: Here, we created a direct link between the customer and their relationship manager such that the customer could receive expert advice, banking solutions through direct dialogue without visiting any bank branch or calling a customer care line. We also added the star rating feature for the customers to rate the advice or solutions they were given.

3. Augmented reality (GTLocate): We added this feature so that customers can locate in real-time our branches and ATMs while using the Map feature on the app. Subsequent data showed that this single feature skyrocketed the use of GTB’s ATMs contrary to the pre-exisitng usage of competitors facilities.

4. GTWorld on Apple Watch: First of its kind in the Nigeria banking sector, the app was made available on Apple watch. The tech-savvy customer base was given an opportunity to explore their banking possibilities simply from their Apple watch.

5. GT-Invest: This provides market insight and financial solutions to help customers achieve their investment goals and manage their portfolios especially with treasury bills.

6. GT-Target: This service was created to encourage customers in financial discipline and aid them in saving towards their dreams and specific target.

7. Quick Credit: With the quick credit function, customers had access to instant loans from the comfort of their mobile phones. This facility was the bank’s idea of promoting small businesses without physically presenting at the banking halls.

8. Airtime Purchase: The airtime purchase module was further enhanced with improved interaction so that customers can purchase airtime in quicker steps.

The first major challenge we encountered were stakeholders who disagreed on many fronts. To convince them and achieve a level playing field, we utilized available data to shift their mindset towards the desirable goal. Upon crossing that hurdle, the next big question became deciphering the most impactful module to customers. We had to rely on analytics to fish this out and discovered that money transfers were the most used and therefore the most impactful module on the entire app.

From the usage data gathered from customers, it was glaring that it was excruciatingly difficult to navigate around the first version of the app. One of the glaring problems was accessibility, which caused uneasiness and frustrations for users. The UX research that was conducted unravelled what customers really wanted which included the possibility of a multiple transfer function that is made possible in a single transfer interaction.

A few users also stated that the old bank app was too boring, unengaging and not interactive. We had to employ data visualization for most of the modules that has a lot of numbers. It was not possible to have all the modules and features on the Apple watch. So we only included the most viable products like transfers, accounts, airtime purchase and GTLocate.

To achieve the novel feat which we did in the Nigerian banking industry, a number of events built-up to the eventual app success.

Stakeholder’s meeting: As the lead UX/UI designer on this project, I initiated and conducted the stakeholders meeting which included some top management staff, senior-level, middle-level managers, executives and customers. These meetings were essentially held to frame the scope of the redesign, gather all the project requirements and capture customers feedback. Of the different management levels, we incorporated staff from across the management team, product, marketing, customer service and the development team.

UX Research: A comprehensive UX research was then duly conducted to capture customer usage of the existing app. To fully capture this, techniques such as onsite and remote usability testing, field studies, interviews and eye movement tracking were employed. These resulted in key customer engagement resulting in the procurement of essential metrics which formed the foundation for the new app (GTWorld)

UX Design: Upon full access to the data gathered from our UX research, I approached the design board first to sort the information into viable data. Next, we began to develop probable UX solutions using Adobe creative suite tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe XD. We provided wireframes and mock-ups using these tools

Prototyping: I had to prototype the experience for stakeholders and customers, so they can have exact interaction of the app before it is developed. The Adobe XD and Protopie tools (for advance prototyping)  were used for this.

Usability Testing: At practical completion, a comprehensive usability testing was carried out where staff were first invited to try out the app across varying platforms. 

The success of the project and satisfaction gained was largely due the uplifting and positive feedback from customers and staff as well. Worthy of note is the fact that many other banks began to incorporate a number of our novel feats into their app solutions. Most importantly, we achieved for our customers:

Improved accessibility

Enhanced interaction

Reformed user experience

Improved wellbeing of customers

Revamped user flow

Upgraded user interface

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