Designing Seamless Financial Mobile Transactions

What makes a solid transactional mobile experience in finance? At its core, a mobile app just needs to be simple. No one wants to repeatedly drill-down just to accomplish a single task. No one wants to tap and swipe a hundred times to get one thing done.

Beyond simplicity, banking and transactional apps need to feel reliable, secure, perhaps even customizable. After all, we’re sharing our most sensitive data. We should be able to exert a certain level of control to see, search, and filter the data and information we want, even better if the process feels enjoyable and delightful to use as these tasks regularly appear in our day-to-day lives. 

Understanding what goes into an effective mobile transaction flow is essential for any financial services organization looking to meet user expectations and stay ahead of the curve. With that in mind, let us focus on core mobile functionality like navigation, stepped flows, and micro-interactions, as these comprise some of the most crucial aspects of a comfortable user experience.  

Navigation 

While instinctually people may want the navigation bar to reflect their organization’s content from the top down, it is better for it to reflect some of the most common actions users take when they login; they should not need to navigate three screens down to begin the task they originally wanted to complete.  

For this reason, we would recommend highlighting one core action in the primary navigation such as payments or transferring funds. It could be highlighted and centrally-positioned, potentially reinforcing the brand identity and making it more visually-evident. 

Perhaps it is a floating action button that persists as the user reads and scrolls from page to page, making this action only one-tap away. For other screens, it may be better to consider the concept of the “next best action,” essentially guiding the user towards their next logical step as it pertains to their specific context and situation.  

The right choice will vary depending upon a company’s goals and intentions, but the important thing is to make it easy for the user to find and use at any time. Remember that users do not always move linearly!  

Stepped Flows 

Within a financial space, there are going to be times when users or other entities want to add new products to their existing account. These can range greatly from low complexity with very few inputs and steps to several pages of decision-making and fields to fill-out. 

From the technical side, consider what information can be pre-filled based on known inputs, especially content that does not change particularly often or is less dynamic, such as names, addresses, or other information that tends to be more evergreen. The fewer input fields a user needs to fill in, the quicker the overall flow will feel.   

Another aspect to consider is the default option for any form field. This is well-outlined and referenced in the book “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness.” While it may be tempting to make the default option “Select One,” it may be better to default to a defined value.

For a percentage of users, this will already be the right choice, so they can move onto the next question, thus saving time. For the remaining percentage, they simply have to verify if it is correct for them, and if it is not, then they can change it.  

Broadly-speaking if the number of steps a user needs to take is comfortably countable, consider labeling it as such e.g. Step 1 of 5. If, however, the overall process is rather lengthy or has sub-chapters, consider instead a percentage to represent the amount completed.

This simultaneously communicates to the user that their actions are being ingested by the system as well as informs them how close they are to finishing the task at hand.  

Micro-Interactions  

Text color changing on hover, icons shifting subtly on page load, and toast notifications sliding in upon the press of a button comprise just a few of the innumerable examples of micro-interactions or indicators we provide to app users that let them know their actions are recognized.  

This type of feedback may be positive, neutral, or negative. Examples of positive feedback may entail a success or confirmation message when a user saves a change or submits information. Neutral feedback may be remaining characters allotted in a text box or loading animation. Negative feedback may be an invalid credit card number or unaccepted file type.  

Regardless of the feedback type, it is always useful to communicate statuses to users, both at the small level, such as a forbidden character in a password, or a high-level, such as the status of a document approval, so they are always made aware, and there is no ambiguity.  

While thoughtful and intentional app design can be an extensive topic, if organizations give special focus to navigation, stepped flows, and micro-interactions, it can go a long way towards guiding users towards more streamlined and seamless transactional experiences.  

Building Trust and Simplicity in Financial Mobile Apps

By prioritizing simplicity, reliability, and clarity, organizations can remove friction and build confidence. A well-designed transactional app doesn’t just help users complete tasks faster; it empowers them to feel in control of their financial lives. When done right, even the most routine transactions become opportunities to reinforce trust, strengthen brand loyalty, and create genuinely delightful experiences that users will return to again and again.

For decades, Orion Innovation has been helping the Financial Services industry enhance customer experiences, develop new digital products, and rethink, reimagine, and reinvent their business. Learn more about our Experience Design offerings.

Amanda Chan is a Senior UX/UI designer in New York, driven by a passion for devising scalable solutions with a strong visual impact for clients across a range of industries.