Cashcow

Web App

Helping Nigerian Millennials make the most of their money.

Design Lead
 2019 - 2020

Overview


As the design lead of Cashcow, a wealth technology product, our aim was to provide tailored diversified investment opportunities for Nigerians. We worked developing an investment vehicle that recommends the best-performing assets in the financial market, coupled with strategies to guide people in making profitable investment decisions.

The Problem & Solution


Cashcow aims to simplify investment opportunities for Nigerians by providing low-cost options that are accessible compared to traditional methods. By collecting user data, Cashcow creates investment portfolios tailored to each individual's investment history, current budget, investment goals, risk tolerance, and investment duration. This personalized approach ensures that each user receives a portfolio that aligns with their unique needs and expected goals. For example, an individual saving for retirement at age 50 will receive a different asset portfolio compared to someone investing for a vacation. The product is designed to be used across various platforms such as web, mobile, and tablet devices.
As a team, we encountered two significant inquiries:
  1. In what ways can we provide Nigerians with access to local investment opportunities?
  2. How can we promote investment education in the process?

Design Process

Conducting Research


At the outset of my tenure at Cashow, I collaborated with the entire team, but primarily worked alongside the product manager and a junior designer. Together, we conducted research activities, defined features, developed wireframes and prototypes, and carried out tests. Our data collection was a combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods. As part of our research, I administered a questionnaire to potential users from various age groups via Google Forms, and analyzed their responses. The questionnaire aimed to comprehend users' investment habits, motivations, challenges, as well as their familiarity with financial tools and instruments.
The Product Manager and I took the initiative to arrange interviews with potential users to gather further insights through their feedback. After analyzing the responses, we noticed several common issues. Our target audience is Nigerian millennials who are generally more adept with technology. However, they possess limited knowledge regarding investments, although they have some savings. They are employed and have greater responsibilities than the average demographic, along with diverse investment objectives. Foreign assets appear to be their preferred investment option, and they use platforms such as Rise, Bamboo, PiggyVest, BuyCoins, and Thrive Agric. Nonetheless, they are uncertain about which assets to invest in.
After conducting a competitor analysis on investment platforms in Nigeria, I uncovered several noteworthy insights:
  • Users are experiencing trust issues with the current investment platforms.
  • Users desire a broader range of asset classes to diversify their investment portfolios.
  • Users prefer to receive automated investment recommendations.
  • Users would like the flexibility to withdraw their investments at their convenience.

These findings provided us with valuable information to define our product's features and functionalities. The design team was also able to align our design goals with the expectations of our target users.

Cashcow’s Identity

The Marketing Site


To ensure that prospective users have a comprehensive understanding of Cashcow and its features, the marketing site must effectively communicate the benefits of the product. As such, we decided to incorporate illustrations and icons into the site's visual design to support the content. These visuals were created with specific sections of the site in mind, based on direction from the Product Manager, and aim to illustrate concepts such as investment, growth, risk, business, saving, and lending. In addition to visuals, the content was developed collaboratively by marketing and content specialists, utilizing persuasive language and buzzwords to effectively sell the product's unique features.

Marketing Site – Home Page, Invest
Cashcow provides users with the opportunity to borrow funds, save for investment, and earn a higher interest rate compared to what they would typically receive from their bank's savings account.

Marketing Site – Save, Borrow

The Onboarding Experience


Our initial goal, while collaborating with the product and engineering teams, was to create a seamless onboarding process for our users. We aimed to provide them with a comprehensive understanding of Cashcow's features and offerings, while also enabling them to create an investment portfolio.

User Onboarding
We went through several iterations and testing to refine the onboarding experience. Ultimately, we arrived at a point where users are presented with a recommended portfolio composition for their desired investment plan upon completion of the onboarding process. However, we discovered that users would appreciate the ability to tailor their recommended portfolio to better fit their individual needs.

A user gets to see and edit his/her portfolio composition

User Authentication


Our design pattern for Cashcow incorporates minimal user authentication, ensuring that only the necessary user data is collected and utilized for security purposes.

Authentication – Log In/Sign Up

The User Dashboard


An intuitive user dashboard was designed to display the performance of a user's investment portfolio. The dashboard allowed users to access all their investment plans and view which plans were on or off-target to meet their investment goals. It also provided users with the ability to calculate the current value and returns of their plans. In addition, the dashboard facilitated the easy creation of new investment plans for users.

User Dashboard showing a user’s account overview and current investments
On the investment plan, users were able to see precise information about all their investment activities including the type, deposits, start date, maturity date, investment composition, the total amount invested, estimated value, and investment risk. This form of transparency helped to build trust with our users.

In addition, users had the option to top-up an investment plan either from their credit card or bank account.

User Dashboard – Investment Profile, Deposit
One of the key features that users found important was the ability to withdraw from their investment plan as they wished. When we were designing Cashcow, we made it a priority to ensure that this feature was available to them.

Withdraw From Investment, Successful

Providing multiple payment options allowed users to have more flexibility when creating, withdrawing, or depositing into an investment plan. The availability of different payment options ensured that users were not restricted in their transactions and could choose the option that best suited their needs. This, in turn, helped to enhance the overall user experience and satisfaction with the investment platform.

Payment Method
In the past, the profile section served as a tool for users to enter or update their personal information on Cashcow's platform. Additionally, this section provided Cashcow with valuable insights into the types and categories of users who were investing with them.

User Profile

The Admin Dashboard


The admin dashboard was the hub of Cashcow, providing insights into the platform's users, investment plans, allocated assets, fund managers, and transactions made. Through the admin section, Cashcow was able to monitor its users' activities and gain insights into asset performance. This allowed Cashcow to make informed decisions about which assets were performing well and which ones were not.

Admin Dashboard – Overview

On the dashboard, the user had a dedicated fund manager who helped to implement the fund's investment strategy and managed its trading activities.

Admin Dashboard – Investments, User Profile

Optimizing for tablet and mobile


Cashcow adopted a responsive design approach to ensure that its users could access their accounts seamlessly across various devices, including web, mobile, and tablet.

Left – Account Overview (mobile), Right – Account Overview (tablet)
Left – User Investments (mobile), Right User Investments (tablet)
Left – Create an investment plan (mobile), Right – Creative an investment plan (tablet)

Cards


The cards we used employed a simple visual layout that brought the product to life.

Simple card design used on Cashcow

Cashcow Style Guide


Cashcow's style guide followed a minimal pattern, consisting of several key components:

Typography and Buttons
Forms and Tables
Colors and Icons

Conclusion


While working on Cashcow, I was exposed to the world of investing. Through my work, I had the opportunity to learn more about investment and the importance of conducting thorough research. Over time, it became apparent that many people lacked knowledge about investing and that traditional investment methods were not always effective.

In response to these observations, we decided to introduce new features to Cashcow, including saving to invest and investing with a loan. Our goal was to provide users with a more comprehensive investing experience that could help them achieve their financial goals.

Credits


I am grateful for the collaboration of the Cashcow product team (PM, design, engineering, business) in the past. They worked with me to shape the experiences on Cashcow.