“Brand value is the ‘perceived value’, and how often people will choose one brand over alternatives. Brand value is important because when people perceive that a brand is distinct and aligns with their personal values, it’s a really powerful competitive advantage.”
– Rani Cohen
Most successful companies began their journey by creating a set of brand values which enable them to connect to their customer; promising that they will uphold admirable qualities that will in some way benefit the audience’s experience interacting with a service or product. It is important that before I begin designing visual elements for my banking brand and even thinking of the company’s name, I consider who my target audience is and what values I wish to uphold to create a good relationship with this audience. My brand’s values will act as foundation which my designs will strive to project to appeal to customers.
I have decided that I would like my bank’s target audience to be university students as I think that this is an interesting time in a young person’s life financially as this may be their first experience moving away from home and the financial security that comes with it; learning to navigate new experiences and duties like rent, loans and everyday tasks like paying for groceries, balancing work and a social life etc.
Many of the university students I asked felt a huge range of negative emotions in relation to banking and their finances. All participants confirmed they have in some shape or form, finance related applications downloaded to their mobile devices. Most services belonged to banks which held their main accounts such as: Nationwide, Santander, Danske Bank, Ulster Bank, Halifax, NatWest and AIB. Many also mentioned other apps that they used to handle their finances beyond the traditional holding of accounts. Alternative services like Monzo, Revolut and PayPal were also mentioned as well as UNiDays.
I found the inclusion of UNiDAYs significant as while it is a service that does not handle a student’s bank account or transfers; it is an incredibly popular company with over 20 million members registered internationally under the requirement they belong to an academic institution with 1 in 3 students being UNiDAYS members in UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, Italy and Spain and 7 million of these members also being UNiDAYS app users. The company does not allow students to utilise their finances in the traditional sense e.g., accessing account balance, transferring and receiving amounts, holding income; but it does provide financial advice to students through providing deals and discounts.With more than half of the responses from university students to my survey citing UNiDAYS as a financial service they have downloaded and use frequently, saving money is vital to this demographic. According to the UNiDAYS website: “UNiDAYS provides access to spending power in excess of $150billion in the US alone. Gen Z are the most disruptive consumers in history, their media and retail behaviours are influencing Millennials, Gen X and Generation Alpha following them.”
I also asked students what emotions they experienced when using banking apps and associated with banking as a whole. The response from over 30 participants was overwhelmingly similar and disheartening. Many responses were the same, using descriptors like “anxious”, “not interested”; that they “dreaded” having to look at their bank balance and it was also interesting to note almost all stated they were “worried about their future” financially. It was also interesting that some expressed a sense of hopelessness or at the very least “confusion” in relation to banking, citing a lack of practical financial education provided prior to entering into university debt and living away from home for the first time.
These observations have also led me to consider how my bank could possibly work as an educational tool; providing advice and terminology to students on their finances. I concluded from my questions that there was clearly only negative associations with banking amongst university students which I had already predicted. It is common knowledge that while being a university student is an exciting time in many young people’s lives in which you are able to explore new cities, meet and social with new people and delay entering the workforce for a couple of years – for a large majority reflected in my questions posed, university life also comes with the stress of “exams”, “balancing work with a social life” and also “balancing work with education”. Thus, my main takeaway from my questions is that my bank should prioritise easing the burden banking has within the already busy life of a student.
According to marketing expert, Louis Grenier, a user persona “is a semi-fictional character based on your current (or ideal) customer. Personas can be created by talking to users and segmenting by various demographic and psychographic data to improve your product marketing” . A user persona was really useful to create when I was considering my brand values as it allowed me to summarise my findings from my questionnaire and understand what the main problems students face. Similarly, an empathy map allows a designer to note what a customer may interact with daily, allowing me to understand what is practical and useful to my target audience.
I want to create a banking app that ensures student’s feel supported by the company, easing their financial stress and encouraging its user’s to take an active role in improving their financial future and security.