The opportunity
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After consolidating the operation in Colombia and Panama, Nequi wanted to go to the next level taking its value proposition to other countries.
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After a prior market study, the decision was to research deeply in Mexico and Peru due to the potential these countries have to scale the business and the similarities with the current Nequi market.
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Together with Designit, an international strategic design firm, we did a 4 month research in the countries to understand how Nequi's value proposition could be quickly adopted in the daily lives of Peruvian and Mexican consumers.
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Through validation with potential users and stakeholders we were able to explore social, cultural, economic factors and regulatory issues that may facilitate or generate some tension, as well as the attributes and characteristics that allowed us to came with a roadmap and a definition of MVP.
The challenge
My role
UR
User research: study of money management of Mexican and Peruvian people.
UXR
User experience research: design of tools and a research methodology to validate a value proposition to find the minimum viable product to get into each country.
UX
User experience preview design with a brand and communication strategy.
Research process
O
H
U
On boarding
Hearing
Understanding
V
Validation
R
Resolution
Kick off
O
With some ideation sessions and a kick off starter, we dropped of all the information and we aligned the objectives of the project with the entire team.
We made some agreements to be in the same page about what we expected with the research and we left an open form to specify what we wanted to know and tell while the project was running.
Foundation
In this stage we did some desk research to understand the existing information about communities, cultural and economic ecosystems, past and current realities of the countries in terms of context, potential users and limitations.
We also had some previous conversations with experts and Colombian and Panamanian stakeholders to have a clearer picture of the expectations and required efforts to take Nequi to other country.
H-U
H-U
Exploration Fieldwork (#1)
The aim objective of this first fieldwork was to explore potential users and scenarios to make an initial convergence about different hypotheses that had to be validated in a second fieldwork.
We did the following activities in moderated and unmoderated environments: • In-depth interviews with potencial users and stakeholders • Strategic city spaces visits to do some passive and active observation • Intercept surveys • In-depth interviews to local commerces • User experts Interviews.
The communities we approached to were: • Students • Household heads • Bank and Non-Bank users • Digital app users • Freelancers • Formal and informal commerce owners.
Communities
In-Depht Interviews
With each participant and through different activities in each session, we explored different areas of their lives and financial habits:
We asked participants to draw and describe on a proximity canvas their daily life and how they are related to others in their communities.
Then, with other artifact, we explored their current payments and needs and the most significant emotions about them..
After that, they told us about their financial habits, how they manage their money and their perceptions about banking system.
Finally we tested Nequi's current mantras and brand values through some card sorting. That way, they could pick the most important for them and we could find out its relevance.
Some Findings
U
1
It would be difficult to generate a digital ecosystem because local commerces don't find a value proposition that they could love and take some benefit different from what they already have.
2
The use of cash is still rooted because of the mistrust of digital tools, constant technical failures and lack of visibility of payments in real time.
3
The value propositions of the apps are very similar to Nequi's; the visuals, communication and some benefits like fast, easy, low amounts, free and without "small letter".
4
There is no enough integration of payment systems: There is oversupply of wallets but few places receive all the payment methods.
H-U
Analysis / Hypotheses
From a first construction of users archetypes, we identified key elements to validate the value proposition and users' daily financial ecosystem. With that information and according to the analysis of stakeholders visions, analysis of competitors and financial experts, we created some hypothesis to be validatde in a second fieldwork.
Understanding Fieldwork (#2)
In this second fieldwork, through on-site interviews, triads, intercept surveys, some shadowing, diary studies and deeper passive and active observations, we could get to know better the behaviors of the users versus their money management and the most relevant actors in their ecosystems.
U
With about 50 local commerces and 80 users in both countries we approached to the next detailed communities: • First formal employees • Digital buyers • Bank and Non-bank university students • Local commerces with and without electronic payment solutions • Digital sellers • Food trucks • Catalog sellers.
Some artifacts
U
Value
Proposition
After the analysis of the information we got on this second field, we defined a value proposition for each country, as well as the peculiarities of users and commerces to enter to the market field.
We designed some artifacts that communicated the value propositions to validate them in some sessions in a third fieldwork.
Validation Fieldwork (#3)
V
With this final fieldwork, we could explore perceptions and opinions of users about Nequi's value proposition for each country.
We did quantitative and qualitative validation through triads (50 users per country), a panel of questions (300 users per country) and some Facebook and Google interest evaluation.
That way we were able to define some possible legal and business model scenarios to the market entry and to consolidate a wide competitors benchmark.
Facebook and Google evaluation graphic pieces
Benchmarking
The results
Final Value proposition
R
After 3 fieldworks and one final validation, we defined a value proposition for each country, based on what users expected to have and what was possible to reach with the business model.
Having control of their money, saving without paying commissions, easy payment of their immediate needs, having a clear traceability, easy management of their digital money and sending money through their phones are some of the attributes users wanted to have with a financial digital app.
R
Quantitative results
Here are some of the quantitative results we got with the surveys and social media evaluations.
