Design for FinTech
A Two-Part Ecosystem for Card-Linked Offers: Merchant Dashboard and Consumer Mobile App
Final products
Mercury dashboard
Mercury mobile app
About the project
Mercury is the result of a capstone project my team completed for the Master’s program in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. In seven months, we worked closely with our client, numo, a subsidiary Fintech lab launched by PNC Bank, to explore more possibilities of card-linked offers.
My role
Research
- Conducted primary research on merchants and consumers
Prototype
- Created and iterated on prototypes with Figma
- Tested prototypes on target users
Design
- Led the design of both Mercury dashboard and mobile app
- Created and maintained the Mercury design system
- Conducted usability tests on UserTesting.com
Deliver
- Designed components for implementation
- Assisted with website development with ReactJS
Mercury is a two-part product with a merchant-oriented dashboard that focuses on creation and control of Card-Linked Offers (CLO) and its metrics, as well as a consumer-oriented mobile App to share, receive and use the deals.
Point-of-Sales Onboarding
Consumers opting to download Mercury App will save immediately through PoS when they check out at stores.
Dashboard for merchants
Merchants will be able to create CLOs and view informative metrics on Mercury dashboard to grow their businesses.
Mobile app for consumers
Consumers can find personalized deals on Mercury App to use and share with friends.
Data flow
Why Mercury
Committed to Helping Local Merchants Grow Their Businesses with More Confidence
Exclusive access to Mercury services
Unique business metrics from the combination of CLO and PoS data
More targeted, relevant and effective marketing
Full control over the deals being offered
Personalizes Deals for Consumers to Use and Share with Friends
Simple PoS onboarding
Immediate savings at checkout as opposed to traditional cash-back rewards
Deals shareable with friends
Closer connection with local merchants
Key features
Mercury dashboard
Mercury dashboard allows small local merchants to target their markets more effectively with CLOs. They can track actionable metrics and adjust their marketing strategies accordingly.
Showing unique metrics possible through CLO’s: traffic, business performance, popularity of products, and demographic info.
Sending deals to users directly (with the ability to narrow down audience based on interests and other factors) and creating deals for users of the consumer app to send to their friends.
Setting up the information for the business page on the consumer app.
Mercury mobile app
Mercury mobile app is for consumers to receive, share and use deals from local merchants. The app is able to learn consumers’ shopping habit so as to personalize deals and provide more targeted CLOs. Users are not only able to socialize with friends by sharing deals but also discover new businesses together to form a community supporting local merchants.
Receiving targeted deals from friends and businesses, and sending deals to friends.
Finding businesses to patronise through the map and list (with the ability to filter and search).
Viewing updates and posts from businesses as well as new reviews from friends.
Result
100% of merchants (6/6) we interviewed expressed strong interest in using Mercury.
“Why would I spend so much time sending an email versus doing something like this that I know people are going to open”
- Artisan store owner
“I would definitely want to see a comparison of other businesses. That’s my competition!”
- Retail store owner
“Customers with deals vs. without the deals -- that’s brilliant”
- Retail store owner
“If everyone during this covid period is having a hard time, This [industry insights] would confirm it’s not my fault.”
- Gourmet snacks shop owner
Consumers loved the idea of creating a community with their merchants and friends
“I’m more likely to tell them about it [restaurant] because they’re getting something to do it.”
“[Because of COVID], I’m more aware of them [local businesses] and their struggles... and I want to help out the local community.”
“I can show my friends I care about them.”
“It’s actually really cool that it tells me why a merchant is sending me a deal”
Our approach
For this project, we delved deep into researching not only our stakeholders (merchants and consumers) but the complex and rapidly growing market of CLOs to better understand how we can support local businesses while enhancing the consumer experience with local commerce. After multiple rounds of designing, testing and iterating, we managed to integrate the findings into a comprehensive solution for our stakeholders and created the final product: Mercury.
