This document discusses best practices for architecting developer experience (DX) through developer portals. It outlines the developer journey in 6 stages: discover/research, evaluate, get started, develop & troubleshoot, celebrate, and maintain. For each stage, it provides examples of how banking and fintech portals can support developers through features like API catalogs, documentation, tutorials, support options, feedback mechanisms, and release notes. The goal is to reduce API friction and engage developers at each stage of use to improve overall experience.

1. Architecting Developer
eXperience
Banking and FinTech Devportals Case Studies
Kathleen De Roo
@kat_deroo
Technical Content Writer & Information Architect

3. Thank you!
3
THANK YOU

4. Developer eXperience (DX)
Reduce API friction & engage users along
the developer journey
Case studies
How do banking and fintech portals
build great DX?
OVERVIEW Developer portals
Characteristics & stakeholders

5. Inspire all of your
developers

6. OVERVIEW Developer portals
Characteristics & stakeholders

7. What is a
developer
portal?
7

8. Devportals
are a
communication
nexus for all API
stakeholders
8

9. Devportals as
self-service
support hubs
9

10. Support to
get started

11. Devportals as
trust signals
11

12. Legal
documentation
is a trust signal
12

13. Information on
security
is a trust signal

14. Pricing
information
is a trust signal
14

15. Devportals as
documentation
database
15

16. OVERVIEW
Developer eXperience
Reduce API friction & engage users
along the developer journey

17. What is
Developer
eXperience?
17

18. The
developer
portal as a
place to
acquire,
convert &
retain users

19. Developer
eXperience
is about
engagement,
achievement
&
the right tools
19

20. Dev er Xpe ce =
1
AP f i t

21. API friction destroys API value

22. How can you reduce API friction and
engage & motivate users?

23. Developers
can have
different skills
& background
knowledge
23

24. Developers
can have
different
needs & goals
24

25. The developer
portal enables
user journeys

26. DOWNSTREAM
DEVELOPER
JOURNEY
The journey of
the developer
that uses the
API
1. Discover/Research
2. Evaluate
3. Get started
4. Develop & Troubleshoot
5. Celebrate
6. Maintain

27. Addressing
user needs
along journey
stages
results in a
better overall
experience
27

28. OVERVIEW
Case studies
How do banking and fintech portals
build great DX?

29. 23
developer
portals
in this talk
29

30. DOWNSTREAM
DEVELOPER
JOURNEY
The journey of
the developer
that uses the
API
1. Discover/Research
2. Evaluate
3. Get started
4. Develop & Troubleshoot
5. Celebrate
6. Maintain

31. 31
1.
Discover
and
research
How can this
portal help me
solve my specific
task?

32. Overview
page:
questions to
answer
MENU / IN-LINKS
Where can I find resources?
SEARCH FUNCTION
Where can I find resources?
REFERENCES
How can I start integrating?
TRUST SIGNALS
Can I trust this API?
HELP AND SUPPORT
SAMPLE CODE
How can I start
integrating?
GETTING
STARTED
How can I start
integrating?
OVERVIEW
What is the API about?
How does the API work?

33. How does the
API work?
Visuals on API
architecture
33

34. Direct users
on landing
page:
entry points

35. Direct users
on landing
page:
entry points
35

36. Direct users
on landing
page:
entry points
36

37. Landing page
scope on use
cases
37

38. API catalogue
38

39. API catalogue
39

40. 1.
Discover
and
research
How can this
portal help me
solve my specific
task?
● LANDING PAGES
● API CATALOGUE

41. 41
2.
Evaluate
Can I trust this
organization’s
commitment to its
APIs?

42. Use cases

43. Blog

44. Try-out options
44

45. 45
Try-out options

46. Changelog,
API status
page
Trust signal

47. Is this API
even for me?
47

48. 48
2.
Evaluate
Can I trust this
organization’s
commitment to its
APIs?
● BLOG, USE CASES
● TRY-OUT/TEST OPTIONS
● TRUST SIGNALS

49. 49
3.
Get started
Where do I begin?

50. Self-service
Get started
outline

51. Self-service
Make processes
understandable
51

52. Self-service
Tutorials &
step-by-step
guides

53. Self-service
Explaining
how to obtain
API keys,
tokens

54. Self-service
Software
Development
Kits
(SDKs)
54

55. Self-service
Concepts:
industry
related terms

56. 56
3.
Get started
Where do I begin? ● ONBOARDING PROCESS
● ONBOARDING DOCS
● SELF-SERVICE SUPPORT
ELEMENTS

57. 57
4.
Develop and
troubleshoot
Do I know
everything to
make this work?

58. API
references
58

59. Make code
handling easy
59

60. Best practices
on
integrations

61. Support
options
Organise
FAQs
61

62. Support
options:
Audience
focused FAQs
62

63. Support
options:
Contact form
63

64. Support
options:
Support
overview
page

65. Support
options:
Forum,
community
page for
peer-to-peer
support

66. 66
4.
Develop and
troubleshoot
Do I know
everything to
make this work?
● REFERENCES
● FAQ PAGES
● SUPPORT OPTIONS IN 1 PLACE
● COMMUNITY PAGE
● (DISCUSSION) FORUM

67. 67
5.
Celebrate
Will they care
about my work?

68. Engage users:
Ask for
feedback
68

69. Boost your
community:
engage users
&
show
appreciation

70. Interact with
your
community

71. 5.
Celebrate
Will they care
about my work?
● DEVELOPER DOCS
● BLOG
● ASK FOR FEEDBACK
● ORGANIZE EVENTS

72. 72
6.
Maintain
How hard will it
be to keep this
running?

73. Release notes
& updates

74. Reveal future
plans

75. 75
6.
Maintain
How hard will it
be to keep this
running?
● RELEASE NOTES
● STATUS PAGE
● VERSIONING INFO
● LEGAL DOCS
● FUTURE PLANS

76. Takeaways

77. Inspire all of your
developers

78. Benefits
when you
take care of
Developer
eXperience
Higher
perceived
API value
Higher API
usage
Less
friction
Engaged
API
advocates
Developer
eXperience

79. Developer
eXperience
best practices
STAGE THINK ABOUT...
Discover
Landing page
Information on security
Visuals on the working of the APIs
API catalogue
Evaluate
Information on versioning & changes
Testing options
Blog
Use cases, case studies
Get started
Quick and clear onboarding process
Visuals
Terminology
Implement
and
troubleshoot
Reference docs
FAQ section, contact form
Peer-to-peer support
Tools to make implementing easier
Celebrate
News & Events
Blog
Asking for feedback
Maintain
Changelog
Future plans
Legal docs

80. NEWSLETTER
bit.ly/devportals
READ MORE
pronovix.com/articles
THANK YOU

81. Image, screenshot and other attributions
Unsplash.com
Developer portals
ABN Amro, Adyen, Braintree, Capital One, Chargify,
Citi, CyberSource, Deutsche Bank, Dwolla, Erste, MasterCard,
Nordea, Paymentwall, PayPal, Saxo Bank, Shopify, Starling Bank,
Stripe, Square, Veem, Visa, Worldpay, Yodlee.
Research results of Meng et al. (Merseburg University of Applied Sciences)
Research results of Pronovix