What Basic Features do Robinhood App Users Need? A Product Perspective and Redesign

If you had queried me as to what my favorite product is, I would have immediately answered Robinhood; yet, it is not flawless.ivity This article contains two sections: Business and Productivity Who is this article intended for? Are you unfamiliar with trading or brokerage and looking to learn all about it from the beginning? This is the perfect article to read and become more familiar with its details and inner workings! Even if you have a product background or are aspiring to have one, this article is still for you! The original text: I have been involved in this field for many years. Rewritten: I possess a considerable amount of experience in this area. When I first got my TAship payment from UCSB Engineering as part of my master's degree, I was elated. As anyone would be, I was delighted to have money in my possession. I decided to put some away by using Robinhood to invest in stocks. What began as anticipation for the future soon turned into frustration and a deeper investigation into how other people felt about investing. Partly because the first exposure to investing is unforgettable and partly due to my ambition to progress professionally, this alteration took place. Robinhood has been pioneering the concept of commission-free trading, minimizing the hurdles for budding traders and, in effect, introducing trading to younger investors. The average age of Robinhood users is 31 years old. This platform provides investors with the ability to purchase and sell conventional shares, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options, American depositary receipts (ADRs), as well as cryptocurrencies. At the outset, one must either download the app or use a website to set up a brokerage account with Robinhood. The process requires the submission of personal details such as employment, bank, and Social Security numbers, which will then be verified against the bank. It usually takes 5-7 business days to activate the account. Subsequent to that, users can move money between their Robinhood brokerage account and a bank account, at no charge. This includes transferring funds from a bank account to the brokerage, as well as vice-versa. Moreover, there is no cost for setting up and maintaining the accounts. It should be kept in mind that while Robinhood doesn't take a commission from traders for trading, a fee is charged that is collected by regulatory bodies. You can find the documentation about this on the website. The amazing aspect about the platform is that it requires only $1 to begin trading. This feature was first implemented by M1 Finance in 2017 and later adopted by Robinhood. What's so remarkable about this is that Robinhood is one of the few brokers that enables customers to cast ballots by combining their fractional votes and submitting them to the firm. Without collecting money from traders, how does Robinhood generate revenue and sustain the business? The organization has 6 sources of income: Rebates or compensation received for order flow is a type of payment. Whenever a trader orders shares of a company such as ABC Inc., which are trading at $10, Robinhood will pass the trade order to one or more market makers -- such as Citadel Securities, Two Sigma Securities, or others -- to complete the transaction. Market makers and trading venues compete with exchanges by paying brokerages, such as Robinhood, typically fractions of a cent for buy/sell orders. This is referred to as payment for order flow (PFOF). Market makers ultimately reap a benefit by selling the shares at a slightly higher price than what they bought from the exchange, such as $10.05. Additionally, the exchange offers financial incentive to those market makers who take on the risk of buying securities. are examples of revenue sources generated from card payment transactions. Cash reserves and Interchange fees can both be seen as sources of income originating from card payments. Similarly to banks, Robinhood diverts un-invested cash that customers keep in their Robinhood account to pools, in return earning interest on the money, part of which can come back to the customers. Furthermore, Robinhood provides users with debit cards through its Robinhood Spending Account program. When customers make payments with their Robinhood debit cards, the business earns a small amount of money from interchange fees. These fees are basically the payment processing costs charged by card issuers. are very dangerous Trading on margin can be risky. Traders can take advantage of Robinhood's margin lending program to purchase securities, up to a 50% limit. This gives the trader extra buying power, as their loan will be subject to higher interest rates the more margin is used. Therefore, with this program, opportunities can be further explored without having to have a large amount of cash on hand. Opportunistic for traders as it may be, failing to fulfill the loan amount can result in brokerages issuing margin calls (although they're not obligated to). If, however, the value of their investment drops, investors may find themselves even deeper in the hole. Robinhood Gold-Premium is a service offering advanced features. It is designed to provide users with further investment options and more control. Basic trading is offered on a freemium basis, with extra advantages available for Robinhood Gold premium account holders. These include increased instant deposit sums, Level II market data from NASDAQ, professional research reports from Morningstar, and access to margin trading. are noticeably lower than those of other brokers. Robinhood has noticeably lower API fees than other brokers. Developers and companies are able to make use of Robinhood's application programming interfaces (APIs) by integrating them with their platform. Robinhood charges fees for API access, allowing them to generate income through these partnerships and integrations. The buying and selling of securities is known as securities trading. By using Robinhood, investors can generate income from their stocks by permitting the application to provide their shares to banking entities covering deficits, settling trades, and making short sales. Borrowers are obliged to disburse interest for the loan to Robinhood, and a section of the revenue is then given to Robinhood customers. This is the broad overview of Robinhood's revenue for 2021: After comprehending the commercial side of Robinhood, let's now discuss it from a product outlook. Since April, I have been utilizing it to track and put money into stocks. The application of gamification makes this product remarkable. The intuitive and smooth UI captures users’ attention, and the addition of minor touches, such as the blinking dot featured during daily tracking, strengthens the user’s experience. While there may be worries about gamification increasing negative patterns, I believe it serves as an efficient way to motivate users and aid them in understanding new material. I acknowledge the platform as an effective educational resource, driving a constant enthusiasm from users. The user-friendly interface is simple and slick, compelling users to stay connected to the platform. The minute interactions, such as the blinking dot during usual tracking, boost the general user experience. I appreciated the connection between the key UI colour and the market timetable, making it simple for users to connect colours with market conditions. Robinhood's methodology of incorporating significant data directly into the UI is something I found to be quite remarkable when contrasted with other stock trading platforms. I compared how long it takes to launch Robinhood compared to its competitors and found that it is much faster. It only requires 2-3 seconds to open, while the others take 6-7. Clearly, Robinhood has put a lot of effort into design and engineering. If I liked the app, it was easy to use, etc., what issues do I have? Even though I liked the straightforward user interface, I was let down to observe essential functions not easy to locate or nonexistent, and the one helpful tab was full of every feature within the same spot. It had simplicity and style, but I wanted more, so I started to search if other people had problems with it, and that's where the journey started. After scouring through reviews and conversations on several platforms, my hypothesis was corroborated; subsequently, I sent queries to numerous Reddit users to probe what they disliked and why. Thankfully, three people consented to being interviewed via chat. I had to hear out their input and maintain objectivity. By studying data from almost 3 interviews, 100+ user reviews, and comments, I was able to gain a better understanding of the type of behaviors I should be addressing. My analysis enabled me to paint a clearer picture of the issues that I would be working to resolve, not only for myself but also for others. In brief, the customers' pain points are: Having pinpointed the client discomfort areas, let us embark on the resolution. Our aim is to give users the features they want, regardless of whether or not they take advantage of all the app's services, so that customer loyalty is enhanced. Our product falls into a certain section and we have verified the needs, so after considering 21 different product frameworks, I figured the Kano Model is the best for creating a solution. In order to construct our solution and order our priorities, we will progress through four stages. Portfolio Worth: Present and Invested Incorporating a portfolio diversity button into your financial plan can be beneficial. Benefiting from a portfolio diversity button can be part of your financial strategy. Incorporating this into your plan can be advantageous. fluctuate constantly over time The relative changes in value of stocks vary continually over time. Create your own custom watchlist and access it easily. on Home page Display a search bar on the Home page. in customer account screen Choice of tabs visible on the customer account screen (including Crypto, IRA, etc.) Integrated news regarding stock positions i. Customer Assistance button Replace the term "Customer Support" with "Customer Assistance" and vice versa. We can observe that when considering the totality of features, they range from essential to providing significant advantages, depending on the user's desires. I sought to find out how certain features affect the ability of Reddit interviewers to use the product, so I surveyed them to gain this knowledge. We gathered the survey data and categorized it into the following classes: My research sought to identify the distinguishing features that separate Robinhood from its competitors. To gain further visibility into the matter, I created accounts on two additional trading platforms - TD Ameritrade and Fidelity. I then examined the characteristics of each platform and the types of traders it was likely to draw. Since I wasn't financially invested in any platform, I based my findings largely on other people's observations. I investigated the shared features of these trading platforms in order to determine both the similarities and distinctions among them. Interestingly, the two companies with large market shares were not providing all the features desired by our users. We must compare our Kano model to the features these competitors have implemented. It is important to make sure our rivals have all of the must-have features, and that a certain level of performance benefits are carried out. When it comes to delighters, we need to determine if it is worth investing in them as they may not have much of an impact on user needs. Despite having solutions and features that can address the issues, how can we ensure we achieve success? We are going to guarantee the success of our solution implementation by following this plan. We have now reached the point where we can begin constructing our features. I am grateful for you taking the time to read what I have written so far. To demonstrate how I feel about this project, here is a GIF. This is the final and enjoyable part. To start, I developed and designed the product prototype, creating a user journey via Figjam and Figma. Although this was my initial try, I could tell that my focus on detail had possibly gone too far. This app has been rated 4.2/5 by 4.2 million iOS users on The App Store and 4.1 out of five stars among 478,920 Android users on Google Play. Despite this popularity, the data indicates that the number of funded accounts has steadily gone up but the amount of active users has dwindled. This significant discrepancy shows that a lot of people may have set up a Robinhood account but don't use it on a regular basis, implying that it remains a popular platform. Additionally, the ability to reach new markets in Europe and the option of multiple services in one spot make it very appealing to millions of potential users. If 10% of American adults are now taking advantage of the app, and these potential users join in as well, this could be the greatest app that the financial tech industry has seen in its initial stages. Therefore, I decided to take it upon myself to analyze and redesign it, partly also as a way to push forward in my career in Product. What began as a feeling of unease transformed into a profound investigation of how brokerage firms work in the #Fintech world. During the course of the past week, I probed into the complexities of trading, studying the Reddit comments and user reviews on app stores and reaching out to anonymous strangers for interviews. This pursuit enabled me to gain experience in aspects of a Product role and hone key skills required in that field. From my investigation, I concluded that my enthusiasm for problem-solving is rooted in my deep care for people. I accepted the challenge of this mini project to test my own capabilities. Through it, I valued the importance of writing extended pieces as well as the necessity of iterating during prototyping and paying attention to detail. Above all, I became aware of the vastness of knowledge needed related to product development, outlook, and problem-solving. I'm unsure of my exact destination at the moment, yet what I do know is that I'm embarking on a path of never-ending education; aiming to become a product manager; and striving to go beyond the stars! You're welcome to explore my website further or contact me on LinkedIn if you'd like to know more. Appreciate you taking the time to read this!

Source: https://medium.com/@prasad_j/are-robinhood-app-users-craving-more-basic-features-a-product-perspective-and-redesign-a848289ec609?source=rss------fintech-5