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Airtime as a Fintech Vertical
Client
SafeBoda
Industry
Fintech
Transport
Role
Lead Product Designer
Quality Assurance Lead
Stakeholders
Product Manager
Developers
Data Analysts
About SafeBoda
SafeBoda, aims to create Africa's most reliable urban transportation network. Starting as a ride-hailing service, SafeBoda has evolved into a super-app, providing Ugandans with a wide range of services including ride-hailing, parcel delivery, food ordering, bill payments, and a digital wallet.
Overview of the product
As SafeBoda scaled its operations, there was a strategic imperative to diversify revenue streams and enhance customer lifetime value. To achieve this, multiple verticals including; Fintech, Food, and Delivery, were introduced. The Fintech vertical that included Airtime, in particular, required extensive validation and proof of concept to ensure product-market fit prior to launch.
Objective
With an average purchase of 2-3 times a week, buying airtime through USSD required navigating 7-10 steps - a painful experience. Without a better option, everyone opted to endure the pain - and therein, lied the opportunity.
The main objective was to launch Airtime initially to;
- Pilot fintech product offerings
- Improve customer retention and stickiness through in-app airtime purchase.
- Pilot SafeBoda Wallet as a secure option to support Fintech offers.
Key metrics to track
Building out the feature, these were the high level metrics we wanted to achieve
30%
Improved customer retention rate
3
Airtime purchase maximum steps
90%
Uptime of the Airtime product
5s
Maximum Airtime delivery rate
Impact
Impact of launching in-app airtime purchase and proof of concept of fintech offerings was quite the success.
3s
Avg delivery time of airtime
99.9%
Uptime of airtime product
2
No. of clicks to buy airtime
60%
Increase in retention pool
100%
Confidence in SafeBoda Wallet
1st
Fastest adopted feature on app.
Existing challenges
Back then, buying airtime, which is essentially the credit purchased to make calls and send messages over a cellular network, was a cumbersome process. It was either done through a scratch card, where you would have to carefully scratch off the coating to reveal the code, or through a USSD menu that required navigating through at least six slow and tedious steps. This often left users frustrated as they waited for the system to respond, making the whole experience feel like a chore rather than a simple task.
USSD steps to buy Airtime from Airtel Uganda Telecom network
Research and insights
Research through focus group discussions, surveys, problem interviews to telecom agents, customer interviews among other lasted a while and these are some of the high level research questions we asked
About buying airtime
How often do you buy airtime in a week?
What’s the fastest way for you to buy Airtime?
What’s the most painful thing about buying airtime?
How do you buy airtime and how much do you usually buy?
About introducing a feature to buy airtime in the app
What would you like to do if you can buy airtime in the app?
What do you care about most in such a feature?
What would you do if the purchase fails?
Where have you seen better experiences to buy airtime?
We gathered data insights from more than 50 current Safeboda customers, analyzing their feedback on ride experiences, app usability, and payment preferences. These insights revealed key trends that directly influenced our design decisions, such as enhancing the user interface for easier navigation and implementing a more streamlined payment process to improve overall customer satisfaction.
95%
Almost all customers admit to buying airtime via USSD as painful.
86%
Customers prefer convenience above all else.
54%
Customers don’t know about other better options.
Ideation, iterations and prioritisation
A lot of the iterations came down to convenience and prioritizing the experience of buying for self vs buying for self and others.
Prioritise the customer buying for themselves
- Enters amount to buy.
- Presses the CTA to proceed.
- Enters the PIN.
- Selects a pre-filled amount.
- Presses the CTA to proceed.
- Enters the PIN.
The customer’s number is already pre-filled.
Prioritise flexibility.
The customer can buy for themselves or another person
- Enters their number.
- Enter the amount.
- Press the CTA to proceed
- Enter the PIN and buy.
- Selecting a telecom.
- Then enters the number.
- Then enters the amount.
- Then enters the PIN.
- Then they press the CTA to initiate the purchase.
Prioritise the customer buying for themselves
Preference with more than 60% out of all the rest
Prioritise flexibility.
The customer can buy for themselves or another person
Not preferred because 90% of the time users are buying for themselves so they should be priority.
The in-app Airtime flow. Literally 2 clicks and airtime is delivered in 3 seconds on average
Optimised features of the Airtime purchase screen
A customer using the getting onboarded to the Airtime feature.
Learnings and reflections
There are some things that went really well but also some challenges that created great learning opportunities.
Problem-solving with data
Initial data collected through research and early solution validation gave us enough confidence to launch the product.
Empathy is key
The feature provided a significant opportunity to experience the challenges of something I had previously overlooked - USSD.
Retention vs acquisition
While the feature sparked joy and enthusiasm among current SafeBoda users, it highlighted the importance of striking a careful balance between retaining existing customers and attracting new ones.
Leading the customer app experience, I contributed to refining the other verticals; Food and Send.
I also significantly contributed to transforming the Driver App experience.
Airtime as a Fintech Vertical
Client
Industry
Fintech
Transport
Role
Lead Product Designer
Quality Assurance Lead
Stakeholders
Product Manager
Developers
Data Analysts
About SafeBoda
SafeBoda, aims to create Africa's most reliable urban transportation network. Starting as a ride-hailing service, SafeBoda has evolved into a super-app, providing Ugandans with a wide range of services including ride-hailing, parcel delivery, food ordering, bill payments, and a digital wallet.
Overview of the product
As SafeBoda scaled its operations, there was a strategic imperative to diversify revenue streams and enhance customer lifetime value. To achieve this, multiple verticals including; Fintech, Food, and Delivery, were introduced. The Fintech vertical that included Airtime, in particular, required extensive validation and proof of concept to ensure product-market fit prior to launch.
Objective
With an average purchase of 2-3 times a week, buying airtime through USSD required navigating 7-10 steps - a painful experience. Without a better option, everyone opted to endure the pain - and therein, lied the opportunity.
The main objective was to launch Airtime initially to;
- Pilot fintech product offerings
- Improve customer retention and stickiness through in-app airtime purchase.
- Pilot SafeBoda Wallet as a secure option to support Fintech offers.
Key metrics to track
Building out the feature, these were the high level metrics we wanted to achieve
30%
Improved customer retention rate
3
Airtime purchase maximum steps
90%
Uptime of the Airtime product
5s
Maximum Airtime delivery rate
Impact
Impact of launching in-app airtime purchase and proof of concept of fintech offerings was quite the success.
3s
Avg delivery time of airtime
2
No. of clicks to buy airtime
99.9%
Uptime of airtime product
60%
Increase in retention pool
100%
Confidence in SafeBoda Wallet
1st
Fastest adopted feature on app.
Existing challenges
Back then, buying airtime, which is essentially the credit purchased to make calls and send messages over a cellular network, was a cumbersome process. It was either done through a scratch card, where you would have to carefully scratch off the coating to reveal the code, or through a USSD menu that required navigating through at least six slow and tedious steps. This often left users frustrated as they waited for the system to respond, making the whole experience feel like a chore rather than a simple task.
USSD steps to buy Airtime from Airtel Uganda Telecom network
Research and insights
Research through focus group discussions, surveys, problem interviews to telecom agents, customer interviews among other lasted a while and these are some of the high level research questions we asked
About buying airtime
How do you buy airtime and how much do you usually buy?
How often do you buy airtime in a week?
What’s the fastest way for you to buy Airtime?
What’s the most painful thing about buying airtime?
About introducing a feature to buy airtime in the app
What would you like to do if you can buy airtime in the app?
What do you care about most in such a feature?
What would you do if the purchase fails?
Where have you seen better experiences to buy airtime?
We gathered data insights from more than 50 current Safeboda customers, analyzing their feedback on ride experiences, app usability, and payment preferences. These insights revealed key trends that directly influenced our design decisions, such as enhancing the user interface for easier navigation and implementing a more streamlined payment process to improve overall customer satisfaction.
95%
Almost all customers admit to buying airtime via USSD as painful.
86%
Customers prefer convenience above all else.
54%
Customers don’t know about other better options.
Ideation, iterations and prioritisation
A lot of the iterations came down to convenience and prioritizing the experience of buying for self vs buying for self and others.
Prioritise the customer buying for themselves
- Enters amount to buy.
- Presses the CTA to proceed.
- Enters the PIN.
- Selects a pre-filled amount.
- Presses the CTA to proceed.
- Enters the PIN.
The customer’s number is already pre-filled.
Prioritise flexibility.
The customer can buy for themselves or another person
- Enters their number.
- Enter the amount.
- Press the CTA to proceed
- Enter the PIN and buy.
- Selecting a telecom.
- Then enters the number.
- Then enters the amount.
- Then enters the PIN.
- Then they press the CTA to initiate the purchase.
Prioritise the customer buying for themselves
Preference with more than 60% out of all the rest
Prioritise flexibility.
The customer can buy for themselves or another person
Not preferred because 90% of the time users are buying for themselves so they should be priority.
The in-app Airtime flow. Literally 2 clicks and airtime is delivered in 3 seconds on average
Optimised features of the Airtime purchase screen
A customer using the getting onboarded to the Airtime feature.
Learnings and reflections
There are some things that went really well but also some challenges that created great learning opportunities.
Problem-solving with data
Initial data collected through research and early solution validation gave us enough confidence to launch the product.
Empathy is key
The feature provided a significant opportunity to experience the challenges of something I had previously overlooked - USSD.
Retention vs acquisition
While the feature sparked joy and enthusiasm among current SafeBoda users, it highlighted the importance of striking a careful balance between retaining existing customers and attracting new ones.
Leading the customer app experience, I contributed to refining the other verticals; Food and Send.
I also significantly contributed to transforming the Driver App experience.
Airtime as a Fintech Vertical
Client
Industry
Fintech
Transport
Role
Lead Product Designer
Quality Assurance Lead
Stakeholders
Product Manager
Developers
Data Analysts
About SafeBoda
SafeBoda, aims to create Africa's most reliable urban transportation network. Starting as a ride-hailing service, SafeBoda has evolved into a super-app, providing Ugandans with a wide range of services including ride-hailing, parcel delivery, food ordering, bill payments, and a digital wallet.
Overview of the product
As SafeBoda scaled its operations, there was a strategic imperative to diversify revenue streams and enhance customer lifetime value. To achieve this, multiple verticals including; Fintech, Food, and Delivery, were introduced. The Fintech vertical that included Airtime, in particular, required extensive validation and proof of concept to ensure product-market fit prior to launch.
Objective
With an average purchase of 2-3 times a week, buying airtime through USSD required navigating 7-10 steps - a painful experience. Without a better option, everyone opted to endure the pain - and therein, lied the opportunity.
The main objective was to launch Airtime initially to;
- Pilot fintech product offerings
- Improve customer retention and stickiness through in-app airtime purchase.
- Pilot SafeBoda Wallet as a secure option to support Fintech offers.
Key metrics to track
Building out the feature, these were the high level metrics we wanted to achieve
30%
Improved customer retention rate
3
Airtime purchase maximum steps
90%
Uptime of the Airtime product
5s
Maximum Airtime delivery rate
Impact
Impact of launching in-app airtime purchase and proof of concept of fintech offerings was quite the success.
3s
Avg delivery time of airtime
2
No. of clicks to buy airtime
99.9%
Uptime of airtime product
60%
Increase in retention pool
100%
Confidence in SafeBoda Wallet
1st
Fastest adopted feature on app.
Existing challenges
Back then, buying airtime, which is essentially the credit purchased to make calls and send messages over a cellular network, was a cumbersome process. It was either done through a scratch card, where you would have to carefully scratch off the coating to reveal the code, or through a USSD menu that required navigating through at least six slow and tedious steps. This often left users frustrated as they waited for the system to respond, making the whole experience feel like a chore rather than a simple task.
USSD steps to buy Airtime from Airtel Uganda Telecom network
Research and insights
Research through focus group discussions, surveys, problem interviews to telecom agents, customer interviews among other lasted a while and these are some of the high level research questions we asked
About buying airtime
How do you buy airtime and how much do you usually buy?
How often do you buy airtime in a week?
What’s the fastest way for you to buy Airtime?
What’s the most painful thing about buying airtime?
About introducing a feature to buy airtime in the app
What would you like to do if you can buy airtime in the app?
What do you care about most in such a feature?
What would you do if the purchase fails?
Where have you seen better experiences to buy airtime?
We gathered data insights from more than 50 current Safeboda customers, analyzing their feedback on ride experiences, app usability, and payment preferences. These insights revealed key trends that directly influenced our design decisions, such as enhancing the user interface for easier navigation and implementing a more streamlined payment process to improve overall customer satisfaction.
95%
Almost all customers admit to buying airtime via USSD as painful.
86%
Customers prefer convenience above all else.
54%
Customers don’t know about other better options.
Ideation, iterations and prioritisation
A lot of the iterations came down to convenience and prioritizing the experience of buying for self vs buying for self and others.
Prioritise the customer buying for themselves
- Enters amount to buy.
- Presses the CTA to proceed.
- Enters the PIN.
- Selects a pre-filled amount.
- Presses the CTA to proceed.
- Enters the PIN.
The customer’s number is already pre-filled.
Prioritise flexibility.
The customer can buy for themselves or another person
- Enters their number.
- Enter the amount.
- Press the CTA to proceed
- Enter the PIN and buy.
- Selecting a telecom.
- Then enters the number.
- Then enters the amount.
- Then enters the PIN.
- Then they press the CTA to initiate the purchase.
Prioritise the customer buying for themselves
Preference with more than 60% out of all the rest
Prioritise flexibility.
The customer can buy for themselves or another person
Not preferred because 90% of the time users are buying for themselves so they should be priority.
The in-app Airtime flow. Literally 2 clicks and airtime is delivered in 3 seconds on average
Optimised features of the Airtime purchase screen
A customer using the Airtime feature getting onboarded the first time.
Learnings and reflections
There are some things that went really well but also some challenges that created great learning opportunities.
Problem-solving with data
Initial data collected through research and early solution validation gave us enough confidence to launch the product.
Empathy is key
The feature provided a significant opportunity to experience the challenges of something I had previously overlooked - USSD.
Retention vs acquisition
While the feature sparked joy and enthusiasm among current SafeBoda users, it highlighted the importance of striking a careful balance between retaining existing customers and attracting new ones.
Leading the customer app experience, I contributed to refining the other verticals; Food and Send.
I also significantly contributed to transforming the Driver App experience.
