Western Union

New mobile apps in Canada and Mexico.

Case Study

THE PROBLEM

Western Union is one of the world’s largest payment processing and payment transactions providers. 2022 revenue reported at $4.5B (down from FY 2021; resulting in a renewed focus, detailed below). As of 2020, Western Union offers money transfer services to every country on Earth, except Iran and North Korea. It has a network of 500,000+ agents with a digital platform that averages 24 transactions per second.

Migrants, unbanked and other underserved communities need a financial foothold they can use to reach for the more traditional suite of banking products. Some of these consumers do not trust that traditional banks or existing financial institutions are really looking out for their interests. Others cannot open traditional bank accounts or access lines of credit in their new country of residence due to a lack of trusted financial documents. 

From a digital product perspective, these customers are tired of the “one size fits all” approach. They are looking for utilitarian features that support them in meeting current and ongoing monetary obligations and give them access to the building blocks of a bright financial future. 

THE APPROACH

I led the Product craft to create a strategy brief and app vision for a redesigned Western Union mobile app, with Canada as a first target market. In close partnership with Western Union’s leadership and product team, I conducted a multi-day strategy workshop to define a feature set, carved out a core feature set for Huge to own, and created a roadmap for the redesign efforts encompassing master states to production screens and a development handoff.

THE SOLUTION

Thorough, flow-based design built on extensive user research, that led to internal and external validation cycles, a C-suite presentation, and eventually, production states for development. Western Union wrote tickets and developed against this annotated collection of screens to create an iOS and an Android app. These apps pushed their traditional money transfer experience to speak more plainly, be more transparent about pricing, and put people at the center instead of transaction ID numbers.

THE IMPACT

  • Rolled out to 100% of users in Canada after clearing multiple stage gates

  • 10% conversion lift from transfer overview to set up

  • New atomic design system supports hundreds of states

Screenshots

 

REVIEWs FROM THE TEAM

“In fact, I need multiple “Spencers” all across the board, but haven’t find [sic] a way to clone you (just yet)!.”

— Esteban Dominguez, Mexico Digital Bank (IFPE) Director

“Working with Spencer on Western Union has been one of the joys of my time at Huge. He is, at once, insightful, diligent, creative and kind. Spencer is an incredibly quick study, having picked up the complexities of the international money transfer industry and the nuanced workings of Western Union itself. His calm, steady hand at the wheel, has kept a high risk/high stakes project on rails.”

— Yaniv Kanfi, Executive Consultant

“You are incredibly skilled at making sense of complex products and being the keeper of all the knowledge (plus bringing all the good vibes).”

— Zoe Sherlock, Senior Project Manager