Reserve Account
Ensures small and medium-sized businesses could process refunds during low cash periods by holding funds upfront, increasing refund success rates by 13%.
Role
Product Designer
Researcher
Responsibilities
Discovery Research
UX/UI Design
Usability Test
Design System
Team
1 Product Owner
3 Developers
Timeline
6 Weeks, 2023
APay is a fintech company. Using its merchant app, merchants can:
When refunds exceed a business’s account balance, transactions enter a “pending” state. Businesses often delay adding funds, which leads to failed refunds and an average success rate of only 84%—below the industry benchmark of 90%. This not only damages businesses’ reputations and erodes customer trust, but also reduces APay’s merchant retention.
Cash shortages and an inefficient money-adding flow were the root causes of money-adding delays. Because cash shortages were the primary issue, the cross-functional team prioritized addressing it to ensure refunds even during low-cash periods.
Reserve Account
Access from the homepage. Educational content helps merchants onboard to the Reserve Account
Digital Funding Process
With just a few clicks, you can add money to the Reserve Account as a refund buffer
Auto-refill
Once auto-refill is set up, it automatically tops up the Reserve Account from a linked bank account when the balance drops below the required amount
Timely Alerts
SMS alerts keep merchants instantly updated, even offline, with a direct action link for quick and effortless responses
+13%
Refund success rate
Low cash and an inefficient funding process caused delays in adding funds
Refund failures were caused by delays in adding funds. To identify the root causes of these delays, I consulted the customer service team, who interact closely with users, as direct user interviews were not feasible due to time constraints. I found 2 key causes of delays, with low cash flow being the most common among our users.
Merchants lack funds to top up their balance during slow sales periods
The process heavily relies on manual effort, slowing down transactions
At the start, the team had no clear solution. I took the initiative to analyze 5 global competitors to understand industry practices and proposed 3 potential solutions. After evaluating them with the cross-functional team, we selected the 'Reserve Account,' which holds a fixed amount of business funds upfront as a buffer to ensure refunds during low-cash periods. To maintain this balance, we paired it with 2 digital funding options.
When designing the key add-money flow, I considered that merchants are busy and need an efficient, easy-to-resume experience. Although the consolidated design best met these needs, the step-by-step approach followed our existing patterns, was easier to implement, fit the tight deadline, and ensured design consistency across the app. As a result, I chose the step-by-step flow for this release.
After aligning with the product owner and dev team, I put the consolidated idea in the design backlog and replace it with the step-by-step flow for a future efficiency upgrade.
Due to the convenience of auto-refill, we encourage merchants to use it, so a clear and motivating entry point is essential. I began by analyzing indirect competitors with similar experiences for inspiration. They placed 'setup' and 'disable' under a single 'Add Funds' button, which caused confusion—why go to 'Add Funds' just to disable the feature?
To enhance clarity, I proposed separate entry points for setup and disable. After exploring options with low-fi sketches, I selected one, tested it, and iterated based on feedback.
For scenarios not addressed by flow optimization, I introduced alerts. Developing a 5-step mapping process, I identified 20 potential alerts across 2 tasks, 3 states, 2 communication methods, and 2 urgency levels.
5-step alert mapping process
Detailed design specs for on-time launch
To deliver high-quality designs on time, I anticipated challenges and provided detailed specs (flows, wireframes, assets, copy, scenarios). Also, I synced daily with engineers to ensure accurate implementation.
Design specifications + content for alerts
If I had more time, I would
