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Project Summary

The Client
The client is a UK-based fintech startup that specializes in subscription switching services.
The Challenge
The client wanted to get a deep understanding of its consumers and learn which ApTap app features people would love most.
The Solution
We worked with the client to create an Upsiide survey and test different existing and new app features.
The Impact
The client found demographic and behavioural insights about its target audience and identified top features to be prioritized for the app launch.

Have you ever found a charge on your bank account and quickly realized that you forgot to cancel that subscription trial you signed up to on a whim a few months back? Yeah, we’ve all been there.

ApTap, a UK-based fintech startup, was founded by a group of friends who also happened to be scientists and engineers. Having experienced the frustration of switching providers, or forgetting to cancel subscriptions, Nadal Sarkytbayev (CEO), Will Billingsley (CCO) and Isa Ibrahim (CTO) decided to create an app that would empower people to manage their finances and subscriptions easily.

After going through rounds and rounds of investor meetings and getting support from the UK banks like TSB, ApTap took shape, and it currently helps people manage their energy bills and telecom providers.

What does that all mean? Let’s say you’ve been wanting to switch electricity providers for awhile, but didn’t want to deal with the admin (nobody likes to sit on the phone with customer service for hours at a time, or browse through comparison websites, right?).

ApTap makes that user experience easy by allowing customers to switch providers within their banking app. With your consent, ApTap uses the financial data from your bank, analyzes your spending habits, and finds the best deals for you. Then, you can simply switch your service in a few taps in the app (hence, the name).

One of ApTap’s founders, Nadal, comments on his vision for the company:

The ultimate vision of ApTap is to build what we call a Subscription Store. You can think of it as an app store for subscriptions where we're essentially partnering with merchants, bringing their deals and products into one place, using data analytics to recommend the three best deals and then bringing that embedded journey into customers' hands through their trusted banking or fintech apps.

What makes ApTap different from its competitors is its proposition - the company essentially created a new category. Lachlan Shaw-Stewart, ApTap’s Product Manager, comments on the company’s competitive advantage:

Our competitors come in various shapes and sizes; comparison websites, challenger banks and personal financial management apps are some of the types of companies we go head-to-head with. But ApTap is different because it takes and blends the best things from all those categories to create a seamless experience for the end-user. Our key USP is that we use open banking data to learn about customers' spending habits and tailor the deals that are best suited for each individual user to take action.

Developing New Features

As the company grew in size and got funded, their development team began considering which features to develop first. Lachlan has been working with the team to identify and develop the specific mobile features that would benefit their customers, and the team had a short-list of viable options.

But to secure investment funding and focus their efforts, ApTap’s team needed to understand how to prioritize feature development. To make this happen, Lachlan wanted to see which new and existing features would be interesting to potential customers and compare that feedback with feedback from existing ApTap customers.

Nadal adds:

The key thing was to have a data-driven approach. Oftentimes, when you develop one new feature, you get too attached to your idea. But for me, the most important thing was to solve a big pain point and build features that correlate with consumers' wants and needs, something that they would find really valuable in their lives. And using consumer data is the best approach to achieving that goal.

Besides finding the best features for their customers, Nadal and his team needed some tangible proof to show ApTap’s value to potential and existing investors, as well as the team members themselves. That way they could secure future funding and motivate their employees to focus on a few key milestones.

The Testing Process

To help find the winning features, we leveraged Upsiide’s Idea Screening feature to screen new and existing ideas. ApTap’s team launched several surveys to their existing customers, as well as targeted UK audiences, to rank feature ideas and better understand spending and subscription habits.

What did the team find out?

ApTap found deep insights about its target audience. Lachlan notes that he was glad to have detailed information like demographic data and behavioural attitudes to leverage as filters, which he could compare with the internal data they have on hand.
ApTap found a clear direction and structure for their feature roadmap. Thanks to Upsiide’s Idea Map, the team found correlational connections between different ideas. They were able to identify territories and clusters of ideas into which they could tap into. This insight helped them prioritize the ideas within that territory and make sure that they streamline their app development process efficiently.

Nadal seems to have especially liked the Scores we have on our platform:

I was impressed by the ability to compare the features based on what the respondents like and then what they’d commit to above all else. In addition, comparing the favourite features against each other using Upsiide's platform is an extremely useful way of prioritizing the solution. Upsiide showed that the “Remaining spending balance” feature will perform well with prospective and existing customers, which gave us confidence in prioritizing it in the next development sprint.

ApTap’s Future

In one word, it’s bright. Lachlan comments on his journey of building surveys with Upsiide:

The experience of putting together a survey taught us a lot about writing and structuring them for respondents. We want to use all this knowledge in the future as we start to incorporate consumer research into more of our business planning. Not only will we be using Upsiide again for more product launches, but working with the Upsiide team taught us how to do good research. You can’t put a price on that kind of education.

ApTap’s team is already in the process of implementing new features, using the insights they found in their studies. We’re super excited to hear more about the new launch!

If you’re in the UK, download the new ApTap app or check them out here.

If you want help prioritizing product features, give Upsiide a try - we’d love to show you what we’ve got!

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