Fintech

December 17, 2024

Why Fintech Products Are Losing Their Clients Due to Bad UX

Do you remember the days when all financial transactions involved filling out unnecessary extra forms and going to the bank? It's great that financial services are now a step up from 10 years ago, and now you only need the Internet and a banking app to conduct most banking transactions.

The global fintech industry experienced positive revenue growth from 2017 to 2023, reaching an estimated 79.38 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Statista Market Insights projects that this upward trend will continue, with the industry's revenue expected to surpass 141.18 billion U.S. dollars from 2024 to 2028.

Analytical data confirms that fintech solutions are in high customer demand, especially if they have a high-quality UX design. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the success of a fintech product lies in three main attributes: rich functionality, security measures, and fintech UX design.

It is important to note that user expectations are growing dynamically every year. Fintech companies should constantly be aware of the study and implementation of innovative trends to ensure financial technology' high-quality and convenient use. In one of our guides on Fintech app development and modernisation in 2025, we reviewed the main market trends, where UX quality was identified as one of the reasons for modernisation. This can be confirmed by the fact that if the existing fintech software needs to be updated, it may need an intuitive interfaces and functions. As a result, it can frustrate customers and lead them to switch to a more advanced competitor.

However, implementing or updating UX design, such as seamless experience payment options, AI-powered personalisation, or integrating advanced features, will increase long-term customer loyalty. Moreover, CX is one of the most critical aspects of product interaction. One of our case studies on user experience issues in online banking systems confirms this. Based on one of our case studies, we found that the main pillars of fintech UX should be usability related to contextual information and fast navigation, consistency of functionality and design itself, which should be reinforced by harmonious stylistic homogeneity of online channels, namely colours, fonts and layouts, and the workflow between the user and the product.

The most common UX problems in Fintech apps

Unclear navigation

For the Fintech industry, a comfortable navigation design is not just an element of the interface but also a strategic component that directly links to customer acquisition. It also results in high user engagement and positive brand perception. The technical element of fintech UX design should be analysed as an investment in CX and overall operational efficiency and competitive advantage. The most common components of navigation problems include:

Complex menu structure - It can be an incomprehensible information hierarchy with many attachments for a user with basic knowledge of personal finance. As a result, it takes longer to complete certain internal operations and further abandonment of basic processes, such as making a deposit or applying for a loan.
Lack of a search function - Users need help finding the service they need when performing essential features because there is no autocomplete or optimised search function. This can irritate and decrease customer interest in the fintech app.
Hidden CTAs - This is especially important for the insurance process and many accounts where fast navigation is a priority for fintech users. When a user is confronted with an excess of buttons leading to CTAs, various images, and markers, it can also cause churn. The key actions in the financial product should be quickly accessible, and only then should the CTAs be well-designed. If CTAs are too hidden or do not exist at all, they can confuse the user and lead to the loss of potential profit and loyal customers. If the application has an unclear hierarchy of actions, it can disrupt the overall process of promoting a fintech product and reduce the business's competitiveness.

Lack of onboarding

The onboarding process is one of the critical stages for fintech companies that is a crucial point of user retention, their degree of engagement and future profitability potential. If the onboarding process is not built efficiently, it can lead to customer churn and operational costs as the number of support requests increases. On the UX design side, this should be a strategic initiative aligned with the company's business goals of scalability and Customer Lifetime Value, as these are relevant to the bottom line. This includes from the first purchase to when the customer stops interacting.

The main problems are related to the onboarding process:

Lengthy KYC process - This can be an inefficient use of progressive disclosure, which results in too long forms. Due to the need for more transparent and clear progress indicators, there may be a high rate of rejections even during identity verification. It is a staggering fact that around 27% of customers abandon the process when providing an identity document.
Lack of technical support - At critical stages, the absence of contextual cues and micro-interactions can lead to product abandonment, which may increase the volume of support requests. Usability testing can identify these issues early, allowing fintech companies to implement timely fixes that enhance the user experience and reduce churn.
Bureaucracy - Many fintech companies continue the tradition of conventional financial institutions by requiring users to provide many documents at the onboarding stage. Customers lose their urgency when they can't skip steps at the first stage due to the large number of required fields instead of returning to them when they have time.

In one of our business cases, we investigated the most common ux issues in fintech products of fintech onboarding from the UX side. Our practical experience has resulted in our clients achieving stimulated sales and increased profits.

Misalignment to the customer

When creating fintech UX, it is worth considering that fintech users groups are different, from retail banking clients to investors. Therefore, a template-based approach is unsuitable, as it will lead to a loss of engagement by a particular group. Thus, the potential of fintech platforms can only be unlocked with a personalisation process. Several signs may indicate problems with customer personalisation: lack of use of behavioural segmentation and research of pain points and goals. Failure to integrate localisation frameworks and inclusive design principles. As a result, part of the audience may simply disappear.

Lack of WCAG compliance - This can lead to the exclusion of users with special needs or disabilities. WCAG is based on the core principles of POUR, which include accessibility when available, such as using text alternatives to images or subtitles for videos, and general controllability when navigating without a computer mouse or using a keyboard only. This further includes the clarity of the interface and its navigation and the robustness of assistive technologies such as text magnification software or screen readers.

Similarly, it is worth following the ADA and EAA because these laws aim to ensure access for people with special needs. These laws also extend to financial apps and are adjacent to WCAG as a guarantee of accessibility for those who need it. Compliance with these accessibility standards will ensure the competitiveness of fintech companies that provide users with disabilities with various adaptations when they have problems with vision or hearing impairment and design their financial products to be accessible to everyone.

Inconsistency across devices

Customers frequently switch between different devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops and always expect a unified and easily intuitive interface. Suppose there is a mismatch between the functionality of the mobile and web versions. This can be a serious strategic vulnerability, especially when logging in from the web version, which automatically logs you out of the mobile app. The main UX challenges in this matter are several factors:

Functionality gaps - For example, when key functions such as investment monitoring or transaction history are not available on one of the devices.
Visual discrepancy - When the system's UI style is deviated, the user may observe inconsistencies in layouts, fonts, and colours. This can be perceived as a significant distinction that will reduce the degree of trust.
High navigation variability - When there are many different IAs between platforms, it can shift the user's attention and force them to explore them repeatedly. Such cognitive load leads to a decreased customer base and irritation.

High cognitive load

This concept is one of the fundamental concepts that refers to the amount of mental effort a user makes to process a flow of information. The primary function of the cognitive load should be to make it easy to use depending on the user's request. The main problems with high cognitive load:

Inefficient IA - It makes it difficult to understand the differences between different sections of a fintech product. In practice, this looks like this when a user needs to make many clicks to find basic functions such as portfolio analytics or transaction history.
Over-saturation with specialised terms - When specialised terms such as ‘margin calls’, ‘derivative contracts’, or others are used without proper context and explicit indication of what this may result in, the user may be confused. It is important to note that the specifics of these terms should be aligned with the needs of the main target audience, for example, investors or financial experts. That is why inconsistent app terminology is a direct obstacle to organic interaction. To make it widespread, guides or tips should be adapted for different fintech users. The UX should also be intuitive.
Poor Progressive Disclosure - Failure to adhere to this design principle results in too much information and disclosure of all functions, which causes confusion between the request and its implementation. Similarly, you may see a complex interface that looks too crowded with various details, such as promotional offers, analytics, and account details. Also, a negative consequence may be the lack of use of the 'card sorting' method, as it may not be indicated in the interface.

To avoid these problems, you need to deeply understand the fintech sector and the speed of its updates. The ARTKAI team deals with these issues and more. In particular, our team specialises in the complete cycle of digital product development and improvement. We take responsibility for the process from concept to a workable solution regarding high-quality product design. We also conduct a product validation sprint to test the client's ideas in practice and then create prototypes to test their effectiveness. Ensuring high-quality and original UX design is one of the priorities for our team, as well as unique branding that will make your product stand out.

Impact of quality UX design on customers

Practical and unique UX design improves the comfort of use and contributes to the growth of interaction with the user engagement. First, it is worth emphasising what a high-quality fintech UX design in a fintech product should include. Basic principles of UX in Fintech:

A well-thought-out information architecture (IA) means quickly searching for necessary functions or personal customer data. This is based on the methods of Decision Trees, heat maps, and user research using sorting maps.
Personalisation is about building interactive adaptations for a specific user. Today, it is possible thanks to AI and ML technologies. Thus, in the practice of a fintech product, it looks like personalised financial forecasts and financial recommendations. The creation of chatbots has become an organic addition to many applications, such as the TD Clari chatbot, which provides users with support for various queries.
Consistency. Visually, this should be achieved with the help of design systems such as Ant Design and Material Design and specific modular approaches such as the Atomic Design methodology, which guarantees specific unified parts for easy scalability.
Security is one of the key aspects of a financial app. In this regard, 2FA and the use of biometric data to guarantee security should be mandatory. Also, one of the most relevant approaches is to filter transactions and display suspicious actions, if any.
Analytics provides a qualitative analysis of the use of the product. It is worth paying attention to constantly updating and using tools such as Google Analytics and Hotjar, which will allow you to collect data on user behaviour. Based on the interpretation of the indicators, you can conduct A/B testing and implement changes if necessary. The key metrics to pay attention to when analysing are CRR and NPS to show the percentage of customers who stay for a specific time and to assess customer satisfaction.

One of our interviews with Technical Advisor Janos Oros about the importance of UX in private banking confirmed the above aspects. After all, one of the indicators of a fintech product's success is its simplicity and ease of use. However, it is worth analysing the type of audience according to its 'digital maturity', which includes five levels: digital gift, digitally active, digital engagement, digital competitiveness, and digital maturity. These levels are relevant for business analysts.

How to create high-quality UX for fintech products: Artkai Cases

ProCredit Bank

The ARTKAI team has been working with ProCredit Group for over five years, providing fintech UX design and development services to its branches worldwide. However, one of our recent goals was to redesign and create an even more responsive design for ProCredit Georgia's online banking interface, which was scheduled to be rolled out across 13 countries on online platforms.

Our cooperation with the client focused on achieving specific goals, particularly remote access to services, which will enable the digitalisation process and others based on a jointly built strategy. To achieve this, we sought to improve the overall interaction process, and for this purpose, we created a standalone banking app that integrated all existing online banking functions.

At the beginning of the work, we conducted an in-depth user research of the target audience, among which we identified two main groups: business entities and individuals. Thanks to the qualitative segmentation, we successfully adjusted the app's functionality and design to meet the user needs of each group. Along the way, we also identified several critical ux issues in fintech products, such as complicated navigation and underdeveloped interface elements that were difficult to notice intuitive interfaces.

Another problem was the long and complicated login process, which resulted in losing a certain percentage of users. Our team solved this problem and optimised the login process by introducing faster authentication methods and adding navigation elements. Another challenge was the fragmented interaction between the web version and the mobile app. However, we managed to overcome this with consistent design elements and functional consistency.

In addition, we focused on optimising performance, creating improved responsiveness, and reducing overall load times. We could digitise 99% of the available banking services and provide many functions online, eliminating the need for physical visits to bank branches. As a result, it has yielded positive user feedback based on successful user engagement.

The ARTKAI team solved existing problems thanks to practical approaches and laid a solid foundation for a consistently convenient banking experience. This resulted in a strong, fintech product for our client.

DNA Payments

Developing and redesigning the Intelligent Payment Ecosystem for DNA Payments allowed merchants to manage their online payments easily. DNA Payments Group is one of the largest independent, fully vertically integrated omni-channel payment companies in the UK and EU. ARTKAI's collaboration with DNA Payments aimed to transform the existing portal and fundamentally redesign it.

We were involved in developing a booking platform with additional tools to support operational and marketing functions. Our first step was to conduct a UX audit of the existing product, using qualitative analysis to identify key issues. The process included user journey mapping, performance evaluation, and testing sessions with real users. As a result, it gave us an understanding of the key issues in the adoption process. For example, new users found the registration process to be quite complicated and time-consuming, with a large number of required fields and not enough prompts.

The situation was similar to the navigation process, which was not intuitive, had an inorganic structure, and had inconsistent design elements on the pages, which created internal difficulties in use. To solve these problems, we simplified the onboarding process by reducing unnecessary items and introducing a system of contextual tips.

We also provided a clear progress indicator for the user and restructured the navigation system by grouping logically interconnected elements. One of the most significant improvements was the creation of easy access to the user experience and the implementation of a fast booking process.

During the UX audit, we found that it was quite difficult for users to understand the platform's value aspects due to unclear messages and a wide range of information. To solve this issue, we created a dashboard with a practical interface. The introduction of new improvements not only improved the user experience but also increased engagement and contributed to the achievement of fintech products.

As a result, we created a unique user interface design, stepper authorisation, role clarification to eliminate ambiguity, a deferred registration option, and an online support chat. We understand the importance of digital product auditing, as it helps businesses see ways to improve their product and build a strategy to achieve their goals. It is worth emphasising that a UX audit helps to solve usability problems, ensures smooth user interaction with the product, and helps to modernise an outdated product. Our team's experience auditing over 50 products has become a solid foundation that allowed us to create successful fintech products for our clients.

Conclusions

The specificity of a UX audit is a professional assessment of usability from the practical side. It is also one of the primary first steps for improvement and further detailed research by experts to understand the dynamics. Our UX Audit guide shows how it works in accurate and effective practices.

Real successful cases and statistics confirm the importance of investing in UX audit. First, you should start with a UX audit, which is the first step towards improving your financial product. With this, the ARTKAI team will be able to conduct a comprehensive analysis of user behaviour and identify critical usability issues, so with our audit services, you will get a roadmap and start your successful redesign story. If you have any questions about our services or have an interesting suggestion, please get in touch with us.