Developers explain the process of engaging finance professionals in product testing and modification
At Croesus there is always something new on the go. The UX Research team makes sure everything is ready for portfolio managers, advisors, and investors.
UX Analyst Robert Bouchard told WP his team constantly field questions and undergo research, and that one of the main things they do is usability testing.
He explained: “We take designs from our design teams, show them to users, such as advisors or their assistants, and basically ask them to use that prototype to do their tasks. We look at what they understand. Are they able to complete their tasks? Is there any problem with the design? [This ensures] that when our programmers do create the application, it’s going to be the most user-friendly version possible.”
A lot of people would call that a focus group, he noted, but these tests are done one by one instead. Focus groups can involve a lot of bias, with one or two people influencing the group as a whole, and by doing their tests individually they avoid this complication.
“We do present those designs to users to make sure that they understand the concept, they’re able to use it, and know how much training they will need if it were to go into production in the near future,” he said.
According to Croesus business analyst Rachel Marcotte, an example of what the UX research team does is when they presented a filing system in two views to testers. It was either a grid or file format. “We played around with it and we presented it to users. The design team didn’t know how powerful the grid was and what the end use of that grid actually was. It was quite a positive surprise” she explained.
“As the interviews were going along, the input was coming in too, so we were able to dig more and find out what users were actually doing with the information that was in front of them,” she said. “Sometimes when you present your designs to people, reactions are not the ones we expected. In the end, we learn and adapt our solutions to fit our users’ needs.”
An example from Bouchard of a project the UX research team learned a lot was in testing a Croesus-for-investors product – an interface which advisors can show to investors and in which they can then access all of the information provided by the advisor.
“Basically, the design team started with the idea that investors would like to see the exact same information as their advisor. In the end we learned that it’s too much financial information for an average investor” he said. “A minority of clients like to go into detail but most of them just want to see if their portfolio is performing well.”
At Croesus new projects are presented all of the time. To find out more, visit their website at croesus.com
