ABSA Banking App Peer Review.pptx

OBJECTIVE PEER REVIEW
ABSA Mobile App
Prepared by Trevayne van Niekerk
V1.0

Index
About me Page 3
Brief Summary Page 4
Sign Up Page 6
Secure Environment Page
16
Pay Page
19
QR Payments Page
22
Transfers Page
24
Cash Send Page
26
Lotto & Powerball Page
28
Airtime Page
31
Electricity Page
34
Vouchers Page
36
General Page
39
Summary Page
43

Nice to meet you!
About me
(you can skip this bit if you’re in a rush!)
My name is Trevayne van Niekerk. I’m a freelancer working for Spoton
Consultants.
I’ve been a UX designer since 2015 and I’m a Certified Usability Analyst
with plenty of tricks up my sleeve! I’ve worked as a UI Designer, UX
Researcher, Product Designer and Lead, but mostly I’m a human who really
wants to see people enjoy the things they use and the people they share it
with.
I LOVE to give lectures on UX design fundamentals, and I’ll always do my
best to share my skills and see others succeed!
I’m an old hat at Banking, Insurance, Investment and SAAS/DAAS software
and Logistics.

Brief summary
The Brief
I was asked to have a look at the ABSA Mobile banking app and give an
objective expert peer review on the overall usability, areas of improvement
and areas of success.
I used the ABSA UAT Mobile environment, recording the steps and
processes I took to explore the app.
An Expert Review is less rigid than a Formal Review and is subject to my
skills and experience and observations.
This expert review approach pays full attention to the context, the nature of
the system being evaluated, and the goals of the business. The technique
can be used more flexibly on screen-based technology as well as physical
products and services and aims to fully understand user needs rather than
reducing them down to a checklist.
I try to keep the end user in mind.

First Impressions
So far, I’ve only heard great things about the Absa
App from friends and peers. Some quote I collected
on it were:
Home Page
Some first impressions
“The Talk to Us screen, can this change to being able to delete
multiple messages at one time? Now it’s a delete one by one
situation. Its quite frustrating. The SMS notifications too.”
– Ollie, South African
“I found it really easy to use.”
- Alex, South African
“It’s brilliant. Really! I think it’s the future of banking. There’s
nothing like this in Europe and as a immigrant Absa is your first
banking option in SA. I love the ‘turn on torch’ feature when buying
electricity. Oh. I don’t know how to remove a beneficiary. I normally
swipe left or right on my iphone but it doesn’t work.”
– Marco, UK expat
“I’m 77 years old and I find this app easy to use... and English is my
second language. I do struggle with removing beneficiaries though.
I have City of Cape Town twice in my app and I cannot fix it.”
- Lisa, Italian expat
“My Experience has been pretty positive. Its much easier than some
of the other banking apps I’ve used. FNB keeps changing things and
then it’s a mission to re-learn everything again.”
- Steve, South African

Sign up
Observation:
On opening the app, there isn’t any
overly obvious brand recognition.
Simply ”Welcome to Absa”
Recommendation:
It could be helpful to use more
branding to increase the trust index and
allow users to form a positive
emotional connection with the brand.
(Sign up is quite a nice experience with
this app!)
#Systemvisibility #PET
Observation:
1. Whilst a PDF view is helpful and
can be shared, downloaded or
saved, its not the most optimal
read for a mobile experience.
2. “< who you are” isn’t easy for a
user to understand and a ‘back’
button.
Recommendation:
1. This could be moved to an
external site <iframe> that is more
responsive and easily updated by
legal departments if needed.
2. Rename the back button to make it
more familiar and easier to recover
from if this was an error in navigation.
#usability #usercontrolandfreedom
Landing Page Personal Client Agreement

Sign up
Observation:
When verifying your cell phone
number, the USSD function is helpful in
helping the user quickly confirm and
verify their device. The following
screen is unexpected and a bit
confusing.
Recommendation:
Help users recover and proceed
quicker by either ending the dialogue
on ”1 – Accept” or clarify the copy to
something like:
”You’ve confirmed that this is your
device, Click Dismiss below to
proceed.”
* “Help” is also confusing as its not an
option on this screen. Was there a
number?
#recognize/recover/proceed
Observation:
This is a 3rd Party software solution,
but I have noted when assisting the
elderly and those with vision
impairments, its confusing as to
weather one’s face should be fully in
the oval frame or just the features of
the face. Its takes a bit of work to get
this right.
Recommendation:
Might just be worth a mention to
adjust the oval to encompass of area
to match user expectation and real
world reference.
#recognition #recall #intuitive
Landing Page 3rd Party Face Recognitions Software

Sign up
Observation:
The primary action button is in a
secondary position. Whilst it is closer
to the thumb, its not in alignment with
learned behavior
Recommendation:
Swap the primary and secondary
buttons to help avoid confusion and
dissonance.
#cognitivedisonance #intuitive
#learnedbehaviour
Observation:
Whilst not always possible in line error
messages and input validations help
the user to avoid mistakes such as an
auto-fill that puts in the wrong
information.
Recommendation:
Where possible, allow for in-line error
messages specific to the input field.
Suburb and Code are auto –validated
but no auto-complete is available for
City/Town?
#errorrecovery
Landing Page Where You Live

Sign up
Observation:
This error page does not specify what
the users did wrong or how to recover.
There is also a typo after the words
“…technical error.,”
“Retry” is also a secondary button,
encouraging the user to ‘Close’ which
can cause friction.
Recommendation:
Possibly offer more information about
the error? (This was an input error on
the address line) Correct the
punctuation as minimal resort.
Consider making the ’Close’ action
secondary.
⭐️ ”Retry” returns the user to the previous
page without loss of data or flow – great
experience!
#errorrecovery
Observation:
1. Small front-end error with the
accordion on this page.
2. Visual hierarchy is a bit confusing and
lacks promotion of a great Rewards
feature.
3. What are the Terms & Conditions?
Recommendation:
1. Update the UI to use a “- show me
less information”
2. Give more visual treatment to the
Rewards program. You already have a
open user who is keen to enjoy all
that Absa has to offer.
3. Link to T&C’s if possible?
4. Brand recognition is important.
Perhaps look at using a neutral pallet
logos of partners?
One could assume success and advise the user
that this is already included (POPI applies to
communitcations)
#UI
Error Page Absa Rewards

Sign up
Observation:
A Spinner for a date selection is tricky for users of iOS and
devices that navigate away when swiping up.
Recommendation:
Consider a limited date selection tool or simply a number input
field with a maximum input value. Alternatively move the
spinner up with a cell below to avoid overlap.
Observation:
There are a rather limited number of
options for occupation.
Recommendation:
Could this be expanded, reviewed or made
more precise?
*Note: I may have an information Bias
here.
#Recognition #recall
Input Field What you do

Sign up
Recommendati
on:
This page
might benefit
from an
illustration of
animation to
help prepare
the user for
what is
expected next.
Additonally
some people
might look for
icons for a
quick visual
guide.
#expectation
#orientation.
Observation:
1. When taking a photo of my document, I noticed that it was cropped to a
square and not a A4 as expected. This led to me taking a few photo’s before
realizing I had the wrong document.
2. For those who have attention issues, its easy to forget what you’re taking a
photo for.
Recommendation:
1. Amend the frame to match real-world expectations or offer on screen
suggestions.
2. Remind the user what task they are performing with a title, or indicator.
3. If possible be specific about what error the user made and adjust the
Where you live Where you live: take a photo
In trying to recover, the app
timed out and resulted in the
app needing be be closed and
thus restarting the process!

Sign up
Recommendation:
Great opportunity to promote Absa
and get someone to join up! A positive
recovery to a negative flow.
Last reference but perhaps review the
secondary/primary positions this may
have tested very well but it’s a little
different from expected UI patterns.
#marketingopportunity
#learnedbehaviour
Observation:
1. Is this page necessary? It seems
supurflous somehow? What are you
asking the user to do?
2. There seems to be a spacing issue
with the account number as its too
close to the “Save account details”
creating a grouping of the visual
items.
Recommendation:
This page requires more insights but could
use some review and clarification of the
actions and expectations of the user. i.e.
“copy account number”
or
“a copy of your account details has been
sent to your email address. You can
complete your application in the
meantime and we will notify you once it
has been authorized.”
Link an account: You don’t have an Absa account Welcome to Absa
Incidentally:
There are
cases where a
secondary
button is used
as a primary
and vice
versa. This
might need
an audit.

Sign up
Observation:
Why would Absa want access to my
photo’s now? Didn’t they just access
my camera? Why is it so important to
save a screenshot – I could do this
myself?
Recommendation:
Whilst adding photo’s to beneficiaries
is a great feature, perhaps this could
be asked of the user at a later stage
when permission is necessary.
(Staggered permissions vs. Batch
permissions)
Observation:
As a new user, I did not know what
Surephrase was or what I needed to know
as it was just my name and not a ‘phrase’.
This cause a bit of confusion as I looked
for the phrase in case I needed to use it
again in other parts of the application.
Recommendation:
Perhaps be more explicit as to what a
Surephrase is, where you would find it in
your day-to-day actions and that its your
name?
Welcome to Absa Register

Sign up
Observation:
The password validation was very
helpful, but I didn’t notice it was
helping me until the 3rd attempt. The X
was black and didn’t grab my attention
until I struggled.
Recommendation:
This is a good feature and could be
enhanced by simply using the
red=error, green=correct visual
assistance.
Observation:
I noticed with 3 separate users who have
asked me for assistance in the last few
months, that they didn’t notice the
change in these two pages and simply
entered the code again as they thought
they hadn’t done so properly on the first
attempt.
Recommendation:
This could be alleviated by using a Slide-In
interaction animation to show a change in
status.
#interaction
Welcome to Absa Verification 2
Incidentally:
Security is great on
the app and even
blocked my text
input and passwords
during recording
showing an empty
Ex .1

General Observations
Observation:
I noticed that the Absa app sent
notifications for each login, which is
great, but quickly noticed that the SMS
inbox began to fill up with
notifications as each sms came from a
new number (randomly generated?)
Recommendation:
An external (pre login) app inbox and
notifications could help reduce low-
value messages and notifications whit
a banner rather than an sms.
Alternatively, use the same routing
number to allow native sms inboxes to
group and manage clutter on personal
devices.
Subjectively, this could simply be a
preference and easily managed in the
app by the user.
Observation:
Overall, the style of icons are consistent
and easy to read, apart from a few that
could use some minor refinement.
Recommendation:
Login Notifications Icons
o
r
o
r

Secure site
Observation:
As a rule, checkboxes and radio
buttons should ideally remain on the
left with text to the right as this a
general best practice unless you are
dealing with a language that is right to
left.
Also, I found checkboxes/radio buttons
on both sides which can be confusing
to some users.
Checkboxes Chevrons
Observation:
Generally, chevrons (>) indicate the
direction of an action or flow.
> = begin a flow/go to page/continue
< = Go back
⌵ = Drop down/accordian
Observation:
I noticed that all inputs by default offer
a in-line message on typing, Before
one has completed an action. So the
user is being notified of an error they
haven’t made yet…
In-Line Error Messages

Pay
Observation:
As a rule, its best to avoid using radio
buttons for more than 7 items in a list.
(generally, for 2-4 items max 7 - unless
a multiple selection list such as a
mailbox or a defer create component )
Recommendation:
It might be more helpful removing the
radio check buttons and visually
increasing the affordance of the list
items with visual separator such as a
line or container with an interaction
that shows response on tap and slide
right etc.
Also, one could help the user search by
adding a A,B,C… index above.
Observation:
The Beneficiary name and following
banking information is quite close to each
other creating a visual friction.
Recommendation:
Enhance visual groupings by adding space
between grouped input fields. i.e. Banking
details one group, Beneficiary name another.
Chose Listed Beneficiary Beneficiary Details

Pay
Observation:
It seemed a bit superfluous to have a
currency drop down active if only one
currecy was available?
Recommendation:
Is this for countries with more than
one currency?
Chose Listed Beneficiary

QR Payments
Observation:
1. I noticed that the square of the QR
code scanner felt unintuitive and it felt
strange to orient the code with some of
the screen blurred out.
2. Should a user get distracted (like me
with my ADHD) I was looking for an
action word/verb to tell me what I was
doing.
3. Where is the flash?
Recommendation:
1. Perhaps change the microcopy to ‘Scan
QR Code to make payment’ or provide
a simple icon to align users to a real-
world actions.
2. Remove the blur to help the user orient
the barcode or provide a frame that
better guides the user (see eg. 1)
3. Add the option for flash if in a dark
area.
The “unique code” was a nice enhancement!
#reconition #recall
QR Scanning
eg. 1 -
SnapScan
eg. 2 - Zapper
Competitor QR Scanners

Transfers
Observation:
I noticed when doing an inter-account
transfer it asked for a ’From-To’
reference, which I found a bit odd as
this was to myself. I do this on FNB as
well and simply put ‘card’ when I’m
paying off my Credit Card.
Recommendation:
Perhaps pre-populating the field with
the account names/nick names could
be of help
This is very minor as it seems to be a
great flow!
Transfer
“Its REALLY easy to use. I don’t’ understand the
from/to bit since I’m just putting money in my
savings. But other than that, its dead easy.”
– Marco, UK expat

Cash Send
Observation:
When confirming a transaction, a
‘suspicious transaction’ message
abruptly interrupts the flow. This can
be a shock to the user and may feel
like something illegal has been done.
Recommendation:
If this is a confirmation dialogue,
perhaps amend the micro-copy to read
‘Attention!’.
NB this may have been a UAT or
behaviorally triggered issue by myself;
please ignore if this is the case.
Observation:
Due to the patterns learnt on other pages
I assumed that I was meant to fill in the
entire name on one text input field and
not two.
Recommendation:
Consider amending the grouping of the
input fields, or simply moving the profile
image above the fields to allow alignment to
the left.
Keen to know:
How much is the profile image used (adding
a photo)? Perhaps simply using the initial is
enough.
Cash Send Security Message Beneficiary Details

Lotto & PowerBall
Observation:
Whilst this is one INCREDIBLE feature, there was
confusion around the tab at the top and the
secondary/primary action buttons below.
I couldn’t understand why I could toggle the two
options above and below and have an action
button to the left of what was essentially a
toggle?
Additionally, to the carousel slotted in between
adds more confusion due to the proximity of the
other components
Recommendation:
Perhaps it might help to move the ‘Quick Pick’
down as a separate action button and either use
the tabs above alone or reduce cognitive load by
using components that clarify actions.
Lotto page Powerball
Enhanced Tab with
Icon
Tab with higher
affordance
Grouped segmented
controller
Signal
Signal
Noise
Noise
Signal to Noise ratio is low

Lotto & PowerBall
Recommendation:
For more information on Noise to Signal ratio and
how it applies to design, check out this great little
video article from Nielson Norman Group.
Noise/signal possibilities

Cash Send
Observation:
When doing a once off purchase I was
confused as to why I would need or
want to add a photo of the person I
was sending it to?
Recommendation:
It may make more sense to simply
remove this for ad hoc purchases.
NB this may have been a UAT or
behaviorally triggered issue by myself;
please ignore if this is the case.
Observation:
It seemed counter productive to enter a
USSD confirmation dialogue whilst I am
logged into a secure app that has
confirmed all biometrics and
location/device.
Recommendation:
This may be a security measure or a UAT
environment error, but this adds friction to
low priority events within in a secure
environment.
Once off Prepaid Purchase Verification on purchase

Cash Send
Observation:
Something that was interesting and came up in
a few conversations was ”How do I REMOVE a
beneficiary?”
Some users mentioned swiping left (iOS) or
holding down (Android?) for more options but
complained of having many beneficiaries and
when they found it, only removing one at a time
was a hassle.
Recommendation:
Whilst the Beneficiaries tab in the menu is
incredible and even offers a timeline and
options to send proof, it wasn’t easily found and
users might forget what task they were trying
to complete when navigating away to find
them.
Perhaps allow users to edit and delete from
within the list anywhere in the app.
Allow for multiple selection when there are over
a certain number of beneficiaries and include a
summarized confirmation dialogue before
completing the action.
Selecting a Beneficiary
UK Banking App
(also keeps a Beneficiary tab in the
overflow menu)
Absa Beneficiaries

Electricity
Observation:
Loved that someone thought about the
physical environment that someone
might be using this feature! The torch
was so clever.
Also the feature that allows you to
send this to someone directly is
wonderful.
Once off Prepaid Purchase

Vouchers
Observation:
Whilst highly functional and possibly
not as profitable for Absa, marketing
partnerships and brand presence is key
to forming lasting retail relationships
with clients. Additionally, trust indexes
can be increased when other
recognized brands partner with Absa –
a type of social proof.
This part of the app seemed utilitarian
and almost ‘in the way’ for the bank as
no special treatment was made in
terms of marketing and advertising.
Recommendation:
Giving this part of the app more effort
and treatment can greatly help in
creating a more receptive client that,
when using other parts of the app,
would be more open to the idea of a
home loan, personal loan or increasing
their portfolio in general.
Q: could airtime and vouchers not
benefit from being placed together?
Digital vouchers
Reasons to treat Vouchers, Airtime and
products with more care:
• Increased brand recognition and trust (User
often prefer to trust their bank over external
promotion apps)
• Increased receptivity to relevant offers and
promotions
• Groomed product offers enhance value and
since this is within the app, bestows an
endowments effect increase its value and
importance.
• Focused product offerings (ethical and
supplementary) build trust as a solution
provider that understand the need of the
client.
• Increase social and off-app conversation.

Vouchers
Banners featuring
new promotions
Please see OFFERS
>
Promotional tiles to
increase engagement
Use of tiles and product tiles
to promote and focus
products
Gamification to
increase engagement

Offers
Observation:
The filter chips, which generally would
allow a user to select multiple chips to
refine a list of results, is limited to one
chip only, which then eliminates the
other chips.
This is more commonly a Choice Chip
and would still show the other options.
(Material). The behavior of this
component is slightly jarring and may
need review.
Observation:
1. Whilst the illustrations are succinct to
the African market, they are somewhat
monotonous and don’t offer much of a
visual landscape to users.
2. White text on a picture with high
contrast makes reading very difficult
and the eye tends to begin ignoring
what it sees, looking for something
recognizable.
3. Illustrations aren’t contextual to the
topic and create a generalized brochure
feeling.
4. The Offers icon looks like and expand
icon and could be amended as per pg.
17
Recommendation:
1. Introduce additional pallet colours to
diversify the visual field or use photo’s
that help create an association to the
user.
2. Consider moving the text off the image,
using a vignette or using a more
traditional card style.
3. Try to contextualize the
image/illustrations to help orient and
categorize cards to a user.
Offers: Choice Chips Product Cards
Choice Chip Filter chips

Hey Abby! What do you call a Bot that
likes to row?
No idea. What are they called?
A ROW-Bot!
Dad jokes…. Oh joy.

Talk to us
Observation:
When entering the chat screen area I
was very confused as to what was
happening on screen. There appeared
to be a conversation on screen already,
then noticed it was multiple. Many red
bells and dots to grab my attention
and the dark grey cards were quite
confusing as they looked disabled and
active.
Below I noticed the ‘Type here… “
dialogue and was abruptly taken into a
new journey with Abby.
Recommendation:
1. Amend the UI to be more familiar to
users
2. Reduce the red notification symbols
and icons (less is more). Are alerts
necessary?
3. Rather that an input field (which
could have tested well!) perhaps
look at a action botton to begin a
chat with Abby, managing
expectations of the user.
4. Allow users to clear their ‘inbox’ or
archive. Alternatively, a tab with
Observation:
1. Apart from the Logo, there is no
system status to indicate where you
are. i.e. Absa’s Abby Chatbot
2. Both Abby and the user have the same
colour chat bubbles. This can be
confusing even with the left right
orientation.
3. The Choice Chips are used a bit
differently from most bots and could
benefit from being in the page its self
as a first response i.e. “What would you
like to do today? Get statements…”
4. Abby had no responses to “how are
you” or other simple greetings that
many users would do out of general
manners and lack of understanding of
what a Chatbot it. (Data science can
work magic in this area!)
Recommendation:
1. Add a label to the page to help orient
users
2. Differentiate the text bubble colours to
reference learned systems i.e.
whatsapp
3. Put some quick options into a response
from Abby as links/buttons
Offers: Choice Chips Abby
Abby is amazing and I think its truly the future of many things
we need to achieve daily. Saying that, there are a few
conventions and best practice that could be used to improve
the interaction

Summary
Interactions and animations
Great work has been done on this app, but taking it one step further
with native actions such a long press, swipe left/right, state changes on
some flows/interactions can greatly improve the ease and
understanding of the app to even novice users.
Remember, system feedback is key to helping a user understand what is
happening and how they can respond.

Summary
Ecommerce, sales and value-added services
Whilst not always front of mind when thinking about a bank, its critical
to take advantage of the opportunity to cross sell, upsell and offer
clients services in na appetizing and helpful manner. Many would trust
their bank as an outlet for buying anything from airtime to cars or
electronics – or even services that might help them protect their home
and cars.
Its also important to use a format that users are familiar with and may
deviate from the brand specific architecture that is currently present. I.e.
creating containers for other brands that have made the effort already
to make their products appealing to their client market segments.
Important marketing points:
• Investment
• Insurance, cover etc.
• Marketplace and services
Possible mechanisms for growth:
• Gamification
• Prizes, benefits, customer rewards and tiers
• Education on products, money wise thinking etc.
• Mobile and market segment specific product promotion

Summary
UI Audit: Components, patterns and errors.
Consistency is king when building a strong brand or product. The same
can be said about software. Users learn how to use a product and build
a passive trust index based on ease of use, expectations vs result and
ability to recover from mistakes.
It might be worthwhile to take a moment to make sure all the pages
are using the same patterns, help the user identify and recover from
errors and have the same experience throughout core action within the
app.
Some good starting points are:
• Icons: just check the context and understanding i.e. offers
• Interactions between screens i.e. show the transition and results etc.
• Buttons; primary, secondary and tertiary consistency.

Summary
Budget and Savings
Saving and Budgeting are key to a healthy banking process. So is debt
management. Step forward and teach users how to avoid debt
problems, get out of debt, create a budget and become low-high
income money wise.
Then share it. Social media, social proof and using recognized
community leaders will all help to trigger and start people (at least
some of them) on a road to better financial health!
Social Good
Find opportunies to help clients give back
to the community, help others or
foundations. This is something that can
easily start a conversation and get people
thinking of Absa as a mechanism for
change too.

Summary
Events and Sponsorships
The app is a perfect place to promote, sell tickets and get users to take
part in Absa sponsored events and experiences.

Summary of findings
Some WOW moments!
This auto select
feature in the
Lotto & Powerball
sections was a
winner for me!
This auto select
feature in the
Lotto & Powerball
sections was a
winner for me!
How do all apps
not have this
amazing tip
feature!
AND it splits a bill
and allows you to
pay for someone
else? Wow.
Lotto & Powerball Pay Beneficiary Tip caluculator Bill Split
A ‘Turn on torch’
feature in the app?
Love this!
Electricity token

That’s it for now!
If you would like to contact or know more about me:
Trevayne van Niekerk CUA (2021-8145)
Travayne.vanniekerk@absa.africa
https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevayne-van-
niekerk/

Summary of findings
Some WOW moments!
I tested for some usability
using the VoiceOver
feature in iOS and was
surprised to find that most
if not all buttons were
tagged and named.
This is a huge win for
visually impaired users.
Voice Over

ABSA Banking App Peer Review.pptx

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