bunq Sustainable Investments

The Context

Poor sustainable investment landscape

In today's investment landscape, more and more people are seeking investment options that align with their values and have a positive impact on society and the environment. This growing trend has created a demand for sustainable investment options.

Recognizing this, we wanted to step up to meet the needs of investors by integrating such features within our app. By doing so, we aimed to empower users to make responsible investment choices that contribute to a better world.

Our goal was to bridge the gap in the market and provide a platform that catered to the unique preferences of investors, helping them align their investments with their values while fostering positive social and environmental outcomes.

The Challenge

How can we navigate investment complexities and empower users?

The world of investing is known for its complexities, jargon, and overwhelming nature, making it a daunting task for individuals.

The challenge we faced was to navigate this intricate investment landscape and create an investment feature within the bunq app that would not only simplify the process but also make it more accessible and enjoyable for users.

Additionally, we aimed to address the limited availability of sustainable investment options in the market by providing users with a diverse range of investment opportunities tailored to their preferences and risk appetite.

Research

Insights

The research phase played a crucial role in ensuring that the sustainable investment feature in the bunq app was user-centered and aligned with the target audience's requirements. The insights gathered from user research and competitor analysis informed the design decisions and set the foundation for creating an intuitive and engaging sustainable investment experience.

The Market

Market research was conducted to analyze the current state of the sustainable investments market. This involved studying industry reports, growth projections, and key players in the sustainable investments space. This research helped bunq identify the market opportunity and positioning for their sustainable investment feature.

The goal: empower users through investments

Competitor Feature Audit

Competitor analysis was also conducted to understand the landscape of sustainable investment platforms and identify industry best practices.

User Interviews

User research involved conducting interviews, surveys, and focus groups with individuals who were interested in sustainable investments but may not have been familiar with traditional investment platforms. The goal was to gather qualitative and quantitative data to inform the design and development of the investment feature.

Through a period of 6 weeks, we conducted 24 interviews to different types of users and we arrived to different key findings.

Limited familiarity
‍Many users who were interested in sustainable investments had limited familiarity with traditional investment platforms. They had a general understanding of the concept of investing but lacked specific knowledge about investment terminology, processes, and strategies.

Perceived complexity
Users often perceived investment apps as complex and intimidating due to the technical nature of investments and the presence of financial jargon. This complexity created a barrier for them to engage with investment platforms and make informed decisions.

Desire for simplicity
Users expressed a strong desire for simplicity and ease-of-use in investment apps. They sought intuitive interfaces, clear explanations, and user-friendly features that would make the investment process more accessible and understandable.

Need for education
Many users expressed a need for educational resources within investment apps. They desired explanations and guidance on sustainable investment concepts, terms, and strategies to enhance their understanding and confidence in making investment decisions.

Transparency and credibility concerns about sustainable investments
Users raised concerns about the authenticity and credibility of investment options marketed as "sustainable." They questioned whether the investments truly have a positive impact or if they are merely greenwashing.

Risk perception of sustainable investments
Some users were concerned that sustainable investment options carry higher risks or that they would underperform compared to traditional investments.

Solution

Empowered investment aligned with the users values

Personalized investment preferences. User creating its own strategy

During onboarding, users need to answer a series of questions to understand their sustainability preferences, risk tolerance, investment goals, and time horizon.
Empowering users through knowledge in the onboarding flow, and making it as easy to understand as possible, allowed them to build trust in our platform but also to decrease their complexity perceived on the topic.

The user can choose from a range of 3 risk appetites and control how its money’s invested. From a low-risk portfolio to earn steady interest on her deposits to increase her risk tolerance for the potential to make bigger gains on her investments.

Additions to the investments account every time the user spends

Investing a little bit more every time the user spends with bunq being able to see their investments grow all on their own allowed them to feel more confident within the feature.

The user's payments are rounded up to the nearest € and the difference added to their investments portfolio.

Performance comparison charts monitoring the investments in real-time

To support transparency and credibility concerns about sustainable investments, we display of a clear and visual charts that compare the performance of different investment options over time. Including benchmark data to help users understand the performance in relation to industry standards.

The users receive instant notifications whenever there’s a change to their portfolio and they get updated predictions on the growth of their investments.

Giving users the trust of an expertise in investment management to invest wisely

Providing the essential benefits to improve workers' overall safety and confidence

Partnering with Birdee, a leading digital investment platform, to provide our users with a seamless and convenient way to invest their money directly from the bunq app. We empower our users with a user-friendly and accessible solution for investing.

Impact

Outcomes

Conversion rate

+84%

Customer satisfaction

2.140€

Median investment amount

Conclusion

A successful initiative. Increased responsible investing

The creation of a sustainable investment experience within the bunq app proved to be a successful initiative considering the conversion metrics we showed above.

By integrating responsible investing options and employing a user-centered design approach, bunq provided its users with an intuitive and engaging investment feature.

The outcomes included increased user engagement, improved financial literacy, expanded sustainable investment options, positive user feedback, increased responsible investing, brand differentiation, and a commitment to continuous improvement.

This case study demonstrates the importance of addressing the investment needs of younger generations while aligning with their values and fostering a sustainable future.

Learnings

Uncovered thanks to this project

Empower users through education
We recognized the importance of educating users about sustainable investing. By providing educational resources, interactive tutorials, and personalized guidance, we empowered users to make informed investment decisions and understand the long-term impact of their choices.
Design for trust and transparency
We learned that building trust with users is essential in the investment realm. By designing with transparency in mind, we provided clear information about investment options, sustainability ratings, and performance indicators.
Emphasize user empowerment
We realized the importance of empowering users to take control of their investment journey. By offering customizable portfolios, personalized goal setting, and risk tolerance options, we enabled users to tailor their investments to their individual preferences and financial aspirations.
Continuously learn and adapt
We embraced a culture of continuous learning throughout the design process. By staying up-to-date with industry trends, monitoring user behavior, and remaining open to feedback, we were able to adapt our design strategies and keep the investment feature relevant and valuable to users.

Mabel Ortega

Info

Projects

Sustainable Investments at the Dutch Fintech Unicorn 🦄

Sustainable investments going towards what matters with the user being in full control.

Company

Product

Role

Team

Design Toolkit

Company

Product

Role

Team

Design Toolkit

The Context

Poor sustainable investment landscape

The Challenge

How can we navigate investment complexities and empower users?

Research

Insights

The Market

The goal: empower users through investments

Competitor Feature Audit

Competitor analysis was also conducted to understand the landscape of sustainable investment platforms and identify industry best practices.

User Interviews

Through a period of 6 weeks, we conducted 24 interviews to different types of users and we arrived to different key findings.

Limited familiarity ‍Many users who were interested in sustainable investments had limited familiarity with traditional investment platforms. They had a general understanding of the concept of investing but lacked specific knowledge about investment terminology, processes, and strategies.

Perceived complexity Users often perceived investment apps as complex and intimidating due to the technical nature of investments and the presence of financial jargon. This complexity created a barrier for them to engage with investment platforms and make informed decisions.

Desire for simplicity Users expressed a strong desire for simplicity and ease-of-use in investment apps. They sought intuitive interfaces, clear explanations, and user-friendly features that would make the investment process more accessible and understandable.

Need for education Many users expressed a need for educational resources within investment apps. They desired explanations and guidance on sustainable investment concepts, terms, and strategies to enhance their understanding and confidence in making investment decisions.

Transparency and credibility concerns about sustainable investmentsUsers raised concerns about the authenticity and credibility of investment options marketed as "sustainable." They questioned whether the investments truly have a positive impact or if they are merely greenwashing.

Risk perception of sustainable investments Some users were concerned that sustainable investment options carry higher risks or that they would underperform compared to traditional investments.

Solution

Empowered investment aligned with the users values

Impact

Outcomes

Conclusion

A successful initiative. Increased responsible investing

Learnings

Uncovered thanks to this project

Empower users through education

Design for trust and transparency

Emphasize user empowerment

Continuously learn and adapt

Booking VIP tables hasnever been so easy

The #1st on-demand job app in the US

Job advertisement platform

I'm always up for a chat about groovy products (or we can go into deep philosophies from which it is impossible to return).

Email

LinkedIn

Spotify 🎶 (some good music there!)

Sustainable Investments
at the Dutch Fintech Unicorn 🦄

Limited familiarity
‍Many users who were interested in sustainable investments had limited familiarity with traditional investment platforms. They had a general understanding of the concept of investing but lacked specific knowledge about investment terminology, processes, and strategies.

Perceived complexity
Users often perceived investment apps as complex and intimidating due to the technical nature of investments and the presence of financial jargon. This complexity created a barrier for them to engage with investment platforms and make informed decisions.

Desire for simplicity
Users expressed a strong desire for simplicity and ease-of-use in investment apps. They sought intuitive interfaces, clear explanations, and user-friendly features that would make the investment process more accessible and understandable.

Need for education
Many users expressed a need for educational resources within investment apps. They desired explanations and guidance on sustainable investment concepts, terms, and strategies to enhance their understanding and confidence in making investment decisions.

Transparency and credibility concerns about sustainable investments
Users raised concerns about the authenticity and credibility of investment options marketed as "sustainable." They questioned whether the investments truly have a positive impact or if they are merely greenwashing.

Risk perception of sustainable investments
Some users were concerned that sustainable investment options carry higher risks or that they would underperform compared to traditional investments.

Booking VIP tables has
never been so easy

I'm always up for a chat about groovy products
(or we can go into deep philosophies from which
it is impossible to return).