Add-a-Feature
Venmo
Bill splitting functionality that allows users to itemize receipts, assign line items, and make payments.
Role
UX Research, UX/UI Design
Project Duration
75 hours
Company Background
As one of the most popular financial apps in the US, Venmo is the go-to transaction app for many social circles. Personal QR codes, friend lists, and contact search make it easy to connect with those you know and those you just met.
The Problem
Venmo currently has limited functionality to auto-calculate shares of a group bill. When it comes to an uneven split of the check, it is up to the user to itemize the receipt and manually calculate owed amounts. This puts the workload on the user and can result in delayed and inaccurate payments.
Research Goals + Objectives
I conducted my research on Venmo users aged 25-40 who regularly split the bill at group meals. The goal was to learn their current processes for bill splitting and gauge their satisfaction level.
My specific objectives were to:
Establish attitude towards bill splitting and payment
Learn current processes of dividing a bill, including any outside apps
Identify inconveniences, frustrations, and pain points of their current methods
Uncover their ideal bill splitting outcome
Research Findings
Interview participants all expressed similar emotional and financial struggles with their individual processes. While the actual time of calculation averaged under 10 minutes, I found that the mental and emotional strain lasted much longer.
Common Pain Points
Stress over perception
At the thought of the bill, Venmo users stated they felt anxious, overwhelm, and dread. Money is a sensitive topic, especially among friends, with a lot of emotional projection around asking for payment.
Lack of transparency
Among participants there is a common fear that someone will question the amount they are charged. Users reported that they round down in calculations to avoid looking like they are overcharging.
Manual calculations
Interviewees currently use at least 2 apps to calculate and send payments. This requires time after the meal recalling what was ordered, estimating tax and tip, and then searching for the correct person to pay.
“Dealing with the bill is just an annoying thing we all have to do.”
While participants stated they were not completely unhappy with their current processes, their emotions seemed to indicate otherwise. The stress they felt lingered long after they had left the restaurant and even after they had paid their share. Some were still haunted by amounts they were owed years ago but never received.
It was clear there needed to be a way to boost automation and reduce their mental and emotional workload.
I began to brainstorm:
How might we…
integrate more automation into the billing process so that we can offload the stress of manual calculations?
bring transparency to the bill splitting process so that the user feels confident in what they are charging and/or paying?
streamline this process by creating a centralized hub within Venmo to accurately divide and pay?
The Ideation Phase
Will users create the group bill at the table or in the days after? How can non-Venmo users be factored into the split? Can the set up process be flexible so users can add either the receipt or members first? With clear need for automation, I wanted to offload as much work as possible onto technology. Leveraging AI to itemize a scanned receipt and calculate individual totals would significantly reduce the mental and emotional strain on the users.
Wireframing
Initial sketches focused on building out an easy to navigate UI that would narrow in on a few key opportunities:
Transparency + accountability
The bill dashboard gives members access to the check details, what each member was assigned, and even the original photo of the receipt.
Offloading responsibility
Users will no longer have to remember what every person ordered or do any calculation. Each bill member can claim their own portion of the check so the workload is evenly spread.
Individual Totals
Every bill member has a clear breakdown of their total, so they no longer have to worry about their math being questioned or overpaying for optics.
Prototyping
The goal was to make this as streamlined as possible, yet include solutions for a wide variety of edge cases.
Automated Calculations
Users all stated their ideal process would be to be told exactly how much they owe. No calculations, no guesstimation, simply the dollar amount they need to send.
One-stop-shop for payments
Bill members can see payment status and when they’re all set and they can complete the payment in only a few clicks. No need for any third-party apps.
Testing Objectives
Validate concept
After setting up and paying their bill, I wanted to get feedback on whether the users found the automations helpful. If these solutions haven’t lessened their anxieties, they won’t use it.
Determine ease of creating a group bill
The set up process should be intuitive and simple to users. Ease was a top priority for them so the overall flow should streamline bill splitting, not further complicate it.
Confirm feature placement
I wanted to ensure that the bill splitting feature is where the user expects it to be within the app.
Assess icon choice
The icon should convey the feature’s functionality (splitting, multiple people, receipts) in a way that will distinguish it from the Groups feature also on Venmo.
Usability Results
There was a very high satisfaction level among testers with zero difficulty locating the feature and identifying the correct icon for the bill splitting functionality.
Reiteration + Refinement
There were two points where some users experienced slight hesitation:
01. Before photographing the receipt
02. Determining how to assign receipt items
Every user that experienced hesitations stated that they felt completely confident their second time through. So while onboarding screens would help circumvent this confusion, I wanted to add permanent solutions to boost users’ confidence in completing these tasks.
“Add Receipt” title to receipt scanner
Not only does adding instruction clearly signal to the user to take or upload a picture, it also helps differentiate this camera screen with that of the QR scanner.
Instructions for item assignment
I wanted to ensure that even users who skipped the onboarding process would experience a seamless flow. Adding instructions allows users to confidently assign items, in addition to highlighting the hidden swipe functionalities.
Final Prototype
“Nice to Haves”
These ideas are not reflected in the prototype, but I believe would positively improve the user experience and further alleviate their pain points.
QR code to join
Some guests may leave early, some may not know each other, so scanning the unique bill QR code will allow users to easily join the bill now and sort out the details later. Keeping the end of the meal focused on the fun, instead of the check.
Auto-reminders
Interviewees expressed that they felt sending payment reminders was aggressive, usually resulting in missed and forgotten payments. Having an automated payment reminder after a few days would take the burden off the user and hopefully result in more timely payments.
Takeaways
When I first pitched this problem, I had no idea how prevalent anxiety around bill splitting was. Money can be a taboo topic which only further exacerbates the user’s internalized stress. The research showed such a universal desire for ease, automation, and transparency that was extremely helpful in ideating solutions.
Consistently evaluating solutions against the problem statements was crucial in determining success and at times course correcting. While this feature addresses the user’s main concerns, there are a variety of edge cases to factor in, such as unclaimed items and multiple payments. Moving forward these present an opportunity to preemptively problem solve while keeping the overall flow ease to use.