Design thinking is about empathy and understanding of the users, as a result making choices based on what will benefit them the most and create a great customer experience.

Hi Vivian! First off, could you give us a brief introduction to yourself and the role of the design team at Neonomics?

So, I’m Vivian and I joined Neonomics as a senior UX/UI designer in the old portal team (RIP), back in January 2021. For the last 12+ years, my background prior to Neonomics has mostly been from working in agencies, and my role has been everything from Art Director to UX designer. No matter the role though, my focus has always been on creating stuff users will love, whether it’s an ad campaign or a digital product. When leaving the agency world, I wanted to be a part of a company where UX and UI is at the core of product development, and I have really found this at Neonomics.

Over the last year, we had a companywide shift to focus more on off-the-shelf open banking products, which meant UX (user-experience) and UI (user interface) design became even more important, if not the most important, to create user-oriented products that would make the difference.   On the daily basis, the design team is working on user research, user testing and user experience on our products, both external and internal. But, since design is important everywhere, we also contribute to the marketing team and business development team, giving them tools to make sure we present Neonomics in the best possible way. As the owner of the brand, the design team are also responsible for our design system, building and maintain it.

Puh, a lot for a small team! The team is small, but we are looking to grow further as our responsibilities continue to increase (so, if you read this and thinks you’re the perfect candidate, don’t be shy!)

At Neonomics, our products are design-led. What does this mean and why is it important?

Being design-led is not just about visuals. Some people can be a bit confused by this, by assuming design is only about color and shapes. When something is design-led, it means that design thinking has been at the core of the product development. Design thinking is about empathy and understanding of the users, as a result making choices based on what will benefit them the most and create a great customer experience. This might sometimes result in new features that are not the easiest for developers to develop or the cheapest to build, but really make the difference in delivering high conversion rates in our payment flows for our customers (which means happier customers!).  

Abandoned checkouts and low conversions are common problems that many businesses face. Could you share some tips for a business to increase their payment conversions?  

End-users want a frictionless and convenient payment experience; they don’t want to have to think what to do – just do. They also don’t want to spend a lot of time going through a checkout, so a solution must be fast. This can be accomplished by a shorter checkout journey, autofill’s and a stored profile which basically enables a one-click payment solution. When it comes to one-click checkouts, there are so many providers out there. In order to be a real contestant, new checkouts must be better than the services the users are used to use today. So, my best tip would be what I already stated: understand your users.

The solution also needs to look trustworthy, so in this sense it is about colors and shapes too. When using open banking-based checkouts like Neonomics, open banking is still relatively new to people outside our little open-banking sphere and in the early adoption phase, so we still need to educate users. This must happen outside the checkout, so that when the user meets an open banking-checkout, they know what it’s about and understand that it is a better and safer choice than to pay with their card.

Oh, and tone of voice! Don’t be afraid of giving the checkout some personality, talk to your customers in your products the same way you would when meeting them. I often get a smile on my face when products have a well-thought tone-of-voice – and it is a huge plus if the product share my sense of humor too!  

At Neonomics, not only do businesses get access to an open banking checkout which offers a better and safer user-experience whilst also lowering the transaction costs, we also work with our customers to improve their UX/UI design to increase conversion – we’re always happy to help!

‍