Group Payment 🧧 🧨

Payme By HSBC, Hong Kong

In 2021, PayMe introduced a new group payment feature that transforms the Chinese tradition of giving and receiving red envelope (lai-see). The feature allows users to send lucky money (Fix/ Random amount) to a group of people simultaneously.

5.3M

Total Laisee Sent

$84M HKD

Value

TIMELINE

April - July 2021

MY ROLE & CONTRIBUTION

Research owner.

  • Designed & led user studies

    • Research Plan

    • Interview Guide

    • Participant Recruitment

    • Interview & Usability Testing

  • Designed & Facilitated Workshop

    • MVP & Long term vision

  • Designed Mock up & Prototype

THE TEAM

UX UI Designer | Copy Writer | Product Manager | Developer | Senior Leadership

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

P2P & P2M User Base

User Acquisition

Increase Transaction

Transaction

MAU & DAU

User Engagement

Increase Retention

User Retention

BACKGROUND

Digitalising Tradition in Social Payment

In China, a longstanding tradition sees elders give 'lucky money' in physical envelopes to the younger generation during Chinese New Year, symbolising good fortune and blessings.

Evolving Payments: From 'Split Bill' to Group 'Laisee’

In March 2021, PayMe launched 'Split Bill' feature, enabling users to split bills among groups. Building on its success, the team wanted to further innovate by developing a feature that allows users to digitally send 'laisee' to multiple recipients during CNY.

PAY MULTIPLE & SPLIT BILL
CHALLENGES

User Demand Vs Stakeholder Vision

Does the initiative reflects stakeholder vision, or actual user needs?

Limitation on Use case

Primary use case for Laisee is concentrated around Chinese New Year. There are concerns about user adoption outside this seasonal event.

DESIGN PROCESS 🎨

Facilitating Stakeholder Alignment with Shared Vision

  1. Led initial session with Data, Design, and Product teams to align on consumer usage data:

    • How consumers use PayMe for group payment

    • Core use case: Pay, Request, Split bill

    2. Collaborated with PM to integrate leadership’s vision and business goals into the design process.

DATA & INSIGHT

Identified a correlation between user behavior in P2P & P2M transactions.

WORKSHOPS

Co-design Workshops to Align, Brainstorm & Ideate MVP & Long Term Vision

I initiated a design challenge and asked Design, Product and CX team to prepare a proof of concept to envision our proposed concept:

  • What does the feature looks like in long term.

  • What is the smallest possible thing we can build and deliver (MVP).

RESEARCH 01

Interview & Usability Testing

I conducted Virtual Interview & Usability Testing sessions with PayMe Insiders, specifically selected for their extensive experience with the 'Split Bill' feature:

  • Understand Group payment behaviours:
    Group creation, bill splitting, and executing multiple payments in group.

  • Validate the market needs for the 'Pay Multiple' feature

KEY FINDINGS

Due to confidentiality, specific insights and detailed findings cannot be share.

ITERATION

Using Lai-see as Main Use Case for Pay Multiple

  • Identified potential to expand 'Pay Multiple' beyond CNY.

  • Initial findings showed group payments could enhance P2M interactions, guiding our design focus.

  • Conduct second testing, making Lai-see the central use case for 'Pay Multiple', aiming for a user-centric design that mirrors the traditional practice in a digital format.

RESEARCH

Interview & Usability Testing 2

Understand the nature of Lai-see and how it can be designed in Group payment

  • Payment Comparisons
    What are the differences between traditional general payments and Lai-see transactions.

  • Cultural and Behavioral Insights

    What are the nature, social etiquette, and expectations for both payers and receivers in giving and receiving Lai-see, comparing the dynamics of traditional physical transactions with digital interactions.

  • Feature Design
    How should e-Laisee looks like in pay multiple format.

KEY FINDINGS

Due to confidentiality, specific insights and detailed findings cannot be share.

RESULTS

e-Laisee

Launched in February 2022, e-Laisee enables users to send fixed or random amounts to both existing and new users simultaneously. In 4 weeks, over 5.3 million Laisees worth $84 million were sent, with PayMe downloads surging by 500%, a record for e-Wallets in Hong Kong.

5.3M+

Total Lai-see Sent

$84M HKD

Value

DESIGN

New Entry Point

  • Users can send Lai-see to multiple friends via ‘Send Group Lai-see’ in new action sheet.

  • Even better, the Laisee can be sent to:

    • Anyone (Non-PayMe users)

    • Selected friends (Existing users in Payme account)

DESIGN

Laisee - Fixed Amount

The Laisee amount can be assigned in 2 ways: Fixed or Random. Inspired by the research findings, the random amount uses surprise as an element to gamify the payment experience between payer and receiver when giving out (avoid embarrassment) and receiving lai-see (foster anticipation).

Laisee - Random Amount

USER FLOW
Feature Demo
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