Designing for Mobile Payments

Editor's Notes

1. Hi, My name is Skip Allums. I’m an interaction designer living near San Francisco. This is a short talk on the world of mobile payments, presented at MobX Conference in Berlin, Nov. 2012. You can find me here:Twitter: @skipprBlog: http://skipallums.com
2. I work for a company called Monitise. We’re based in London, and we’re famous for building super useful mobile apps for banking and payments.http://www.monitise.com
3. We do a lot of experiences like this, were users can manage their money from their device without having to set foot in bank branch. As our apps grew in popularity, we found that people would check their balance 2 or 3 times a DAY, whereas before web or mobile banking was around… you might check your balance at an ATM once a week, or a few times a month.
4. You can even transfer money between accounts, to other people, or top up your mobile phone plans!
5. We also work on a few mobile payment experiences.
6. Paying for things with your phone is becoming more common in parts of Europe and Asia Pacific, but its off to a slow start in the US. Its getting better though! This map from WIRED shows the volume of transactions processed by Square merchants in ONE HOUR during lunchtime on the East Coast (breakfast time on the West Coast). http://www.wired.com/business/2012/06/one-hour-in-squares-world/
7. There’s lots of ways to do this. These are just a few examples, and they each have their drawbacks or benefits. For example, QR Codes are very easy to implement… but are severely lacking in security. Someone could easily get a screenshot of your app’s QR Code and start charging with it.NFC is highly secure and more devices are supporting them, but the network ecosystem that is required to support it is very complex.
8. We started off paying for stuff with... other stuff, like cattle.
9. You would ask the merchant the price of something you wanted…
10. … and then you would hand over your cows. Then came coins, then paper currency, then checks, then cards… etc. Mobile payments is the next evolution of transacting.
11. Right now, the banking world is being disrupted by all these other entities who want to get a slice of each transaction.
12. This is an example of the network components and business partners you might need to get an NFC payment solution into market. Notice that the Bank and the User is not really mentioned 
13. But, our users don’t care about all this stuff. To them, payments should be very simple. Whats the big deal?
14. Our general user feedback usually ends up into two columns: OMG YES PLEASE I NEED THIS NOW… versus NO, THANK YOU. I DON’T TRUST YOU.
15. A sampling of user’s concerns with using their phone to pay for things with their bank accounts:http://www.bostonfed.org/bankinfo/payment-strategies/publications/2012/opportunities-and-challanges-to-broad-acceptance-of-mobile-payments.pdf
16. How can we address these concerns? With GOOD UX of course!
17. Kuapay provides a sign-up experience that is less abrasive, transparent and welcoming.https://www.kuapay.com/
18. Apple Store gives you a simple visual tutorial explaining how payments work before you start using it. It allows you to purchase small-ticket items and check out all with your mobile device, by charging your iTunes account.https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/apple-store/id375380948?mt=8
19. First name/Last name can just be “Name on Card”Two address lines are not neededZip/Postal Code should provide you with City & State automagically
20. LevelUp uses a very simple form that meets verification standards… and they also allow you to scan the card with your device’s camera.https://www.thelevelup.com/
21. Usability and Security don’t usually get along :/
22. Users want to know that their payment data is secure and that there is some level of fraud prevention, and PINs or passcodes are a great way to provide that. Of course, its still up to the user to pick a code that is not easy to guess.
23. Square Wallet uses a more personal form of authorization… when you check in to your favorite café, the merchant can simply find your name & face on his POS display and charge the bill to your Square account.https://squareup.com/wallet
24. PayPal uses a similar model, though I have never once been refused a transaction because my user icon is actually my great-great-great-grand-uncle Benjamin Silas Allums, who died in 1866.
25. Biometric will soon be prevalent, allowing user authentication with fingerprints, vein patterns, retina scans, etc
26. Your payment experience should be informed by detailed use cases, while considering all the possible outcomes that could happen in the midst of a transaction: what if the transaction fails, what if I need to provide a PIN code, what if I hold the device the wrong way, etc.
27. Right now, the prevalent design pattern for mobile wallets consists of two components: A carousel, where I can select a card & view my balanceA large call to action to Pay or some other user instructionhttp://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/mobile-apps
28. You should also provide some sort of visual cue that tells the user how they need to interact with any peripherals.http://www.nfcworld.com/2012/07/24/317011/razorfish-dispenses-mobile-content-with-nfc-bubble-gum-machine/
29. The transaction is over. What happens next? In the old world, I would hear a beep from the POS register, or maybe get a paper receipt.
30. Devices can offer much more relevant feedback, such as haptic cues (vibrations) or notifications to tell me how much, where and when.
31. Google Wallet does a great job of handling negative cases, with helpful illustrations of how best to hold the device over the reader.http://www.google.com/wallet/
32. The “receipt” pattern is one the user will expect, some validation of a past payment, with the card that was used, detailed descriptions of what I purchased, the name of the merchant, etc.
33. These apps will also hold your loyalty or discount cards as well, so showing users visualizations of their progress or contextual offers really bring the mobile wallet experience full circle.[Square]
34. As with any interactive product dealing with sensitive, personal information… a familiar and pain-free experience will build trust, reduce hesitation, and encourage them to keep using it.
35. Danke!Twitter: @skipprBlog: http://skipallums.com