The world is changing rapidly, and new concepts and technologies are being created constantly. This unstoppable evolution has touched every single part of our lives. Within the last century, the world has witnessed the emergence of hundreds of thousands of new inventions. While some of them were initially met with a lot of criticism, those that have proven to be helpful have taken firm positions in our day-to-day lives.
The Financial Technology, or Fintech, applications have introduced a unique and innovative experience to the world of finance. The development of FinTech startups began less than 15 years ago as a way of improving and challenging the existing financial system.
These applications provided a new view of routine tasks and quickly emerged in a variety of suggestions for peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfers, investments, e-banking, lending, insurance, and much more.
Why did FinTech solutions become so popular? One of the key factors is that they made living easier. They partially or completely eliminated the necessity to use physical services and, thus, provided their users with more time and freedom — less operations, less paperwork, less stress. Add to this, the flexibility for consumers to choose when and how to manage financial operations, and it is clear to see how FinTech has conquered the market.
The investments in FinTech have risen from a bit more than $900 million to an impressive mark of almost $18 billion just within the last 10 years. It is believed that this figure will keep on growing. However, in order to create a truly incredible application, there are a few things to know. So, how to build a fintech app in a right way? Below, we’ll cover the 7 tips for efficient FinTech application development.
How to Build a Fintech App: 7 Pro Tips to Follow
1. How to find FinTech software developers
When creating any kind of product or experience, it has to be flawless. Who can help with that better than a team of professionals? In the long run, the best and cheapest solution is hiring a development team who already has had successful experience in creating similar applications. Don’t hesitate to ask questions or request a portfolio. After all, investments should be wisely and thoroughly evaluated.
The company chosen should be trustworthy, understand specific requirements, and meet consumer needs. At the same time, they should be able to explain the product and process, answer questions, react quickly to any necessary bug fixes, and provide internal support for the application.
An important thing to understand is that building and testing an app is only part of the work, sustaining it is also important. For this reason, a team of experts who can work throughout the app’s entire life cycle is a smart investment. This will make problem-solving along the way much easier and less time-consuming.
2. You cannot have too much security
Security in the modern world is one of the top priorities both online and offline. With so many possibilities, there are also many dangers. As much as people are excited nowadays to try out new technologies and applications, they are also concerned about security. No one wants to provide their data if they are unsure if it will be safe. This especially goes for payment processing, banking, or any other types of FinTech applications.
Security measures should cover both internal and external parts of your app. The internal part is your code, your servers, and, more particularly, the database where you store sensitive information. If any of this data is jeopardized, you can lose money, reputation, and your customers. Every step of the way from the login page to submitting, transferring, processing, and storing, all of your data must be protected. So, how do you keep it safe?
Depending on how your app is developed, the means to keep information safe may differ. The team helping you create your app might be in the best position to give advice on how to understand all of the security information you’ll need to consider. One of the things you might consider is blockchain. Even if you’re not dealing with cryptocurrency, the blockchain technology can keep your information safe, thanks to the unique way it is built.
The external part of your app’s security is something your end-user can actually see, like login protection and the way information is stored or transmitted. Multi-factor authentication, a combination of two or three different verification methods, is the best way to implement this. No system can be proven to be 100% secure, but multi-factor authentication greatly reduces the possibility of a breach compared to other conventional methods.
3. Create a user-friendly environment
The app has to be easy to use and visually appealing. Explore the designs of applications you like and take what’s important from them, while adding something of your own at the same time.
An original design is important for the app to be instantly recognizable. This can help you in two ways. First of all, if the app is well made, people will stick with it and treat the app as something they can recommend to others. It’s also an environment where they feel comfortable and where they want to come back.
Secondly, it can be a part of your security. When your design is unique and recognizable, there is a much less chance your users will get scammed by someone pretending to be you. So, whether it’s a specific color you use or your logo, it should show users that it’s really you.
One more thing to consider is that you don’t want the application to be too flashy and in your face. Extremely loud colors or exotic fonts will not do you any good. In other words, design your UI in such a way that you would be comfortable using it yourself. It’s likely the development team you hired has a UX specialist, or can recommend one to you that they have already worked with.
4. Functionality
A nice-looking app is definitely great to have, but it will be worthless if the application is not usable. This is the reason to consider, in advance, what you want your application to be like. This will both provide a clearer vision for you to aim for, and make your communication with developers much easier.
The key point is to provide users with everything they require while not overcrowding the app. Displaying too many options at once is irritating and confusing. The main dashboard should be neat and clean and include only the most important options. If you have more functions available, you can always hide them in such a way that it’s intuitively clear where to find them.
It might be useful to test the app UI, not just with the development team but also outside of it. For example, you can ask your employees to test, or even outsource this to an organization that can provide you with hundreds, or even thousands, of potential users to test your application.
In this way you can get valuable information first-hand and make the necessary adjustments to improve user’ experience.
5. Personalization
One thing that can differentiate you from others is personalization. As much as your app may be useful in general terms, you still can’t make it fit every person’s individual needs. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Giving your customers the opportunity to have something of their own is priceless.
You can allow them to modify their favorite features in the dashboard, create templates for frequently performed actions, or simply change the visual theme.
The usage of AI (Artificial Intelligence) can help a great deal in automating this process and making things easier, both for your customers and yourself. The app will analyze itself to find what can be improved for a particular client. It can also make appropriate suggestions. The information can be obtained from the previous history of application usage or in relation to any other applications or services.
If you are operating in different countries, you may want to consider providing the possibility to modify the language or to suggest the language based on the device’s internal settings.
One more point that can include personalization is security. Multi-factor authentication includes a wide range of possibilities. The one thing that everyone wants is a choice. So, why not let your customers choose what they prefer?
6. Diversity
Unless you are aiming only for a very particular group of people, who all use exactly the same devices, diversity is something you should never forget about. The variety of mobile and desktop devices nowadays is just crazy — different screen sizes, RAM, processors, functionality, and design. You definitely cannot cover all of them, but the more you can include, the better. Your FinTech software development can include possibilities for as many devices as possible.
Don’t forget that your customers differ as much as their devices do. Their preferences, needs, technical knowledge and even physical abilities will affect the way they interact with your application. Companies that can be flexible will always be way ahead of those who stand still.
7. Support
Last but not least, you should pay attention to support. Customers will always have questions and something will eventually go wrong, but a great Customer Support Team can fix negative experiences, as well as become one of your USPs.
There are a few things you should consider in terms of gathering a Support Team.
- Availability
One of the things that distinguishes FinTech from the conventional financing systems is that you don’t have to stick to certain hours. The system is available to perform your operations 24/7/365, and ideally, so should your Support Team. However, this matter is flexible depending on the size of your business and its area of operation. Even if you can’t create a team that is available at any time, or don’t feel the need to do so right now, make sure your customers know when and how they can contact you and how long it will take you to respond. Most importantly, stick to what you promise your customers.
- Knowledge
The Support Team should be very well trained in regards to the possibilities of the application, as well as its advantages and disadvantages. They should be able to answer any questions related to the service, give advice, or even provide a quick fix if required.
Since your app deals with financing, your team should be educated in the matters of the financial field. You can hire people with some previous experience or train them in-house. One way or another, they should have a very clear understanding of the product.
- Access & security
To reduce the possibility of a security breach, the Support Team should have limited access to information. You can split the team into several levels with various types of clearance. Alternatively, or in addition to that, internal processes should be created prior to the launch of the product. These processes should clearly state the domain within which the Support Team is allowed to act, information which can be requested from or provided to the user, and any escalation or emergency contacts.
- The extra mile
One of the things that makes people come back is the attention dedicated to them. Providing them with the information they need even before they ask for it, making suggestions based on their needs, or even helping them realize that they don’t need the product at all, are one of the many things that people remember and value. You can develop this kind of attitude within your Support Team.
The main point about going the extra mile is valuing the customer’s needs more than your own profit. As weird as it may sound, it actually improves your company image and brings you many benefits in the end.
How to Build a Fintech App: Conclusion
The FinTech industry is a very rapidly growing niche which provides many opportunities along with some risks. In the long run, the benefits of taking on this business are great. Initially, FinTech appeared as a response to the old, and partially outdated, ways of doing business, but the industry is catching up, so the technology has to evolve to stay competitive.
It is very hard to be innovative in a field where so much has already been done, but you can always learn on your own and from competitors’ mistakes. Don’t hesitate to take inspiration from businesses you like. In the end, you don’t just want to create something new but to improve something that already exists.
The cost of creating a FinTech application might be high, but the benefits of a high-quality product will make it 100% worth it. So, make sure to choose a development team that knows how to build software for FinTech companies, knows exactly you want, and is able make the most of it.
If you have an idea for your future FinTech app and would like to start implementing it, our highly experienced development team at Sloboda Studio will be thrilled to help you make it a reality.
