2 ways to make your fintech app stand out

As of 2018, 63% of people with smartphones had at least one finance app installed. From Chime to the Cash app, there’s a bank, peer-to-peer payment platform, budgeting app, or investing app for everyone.  

Competition is fierce, and everyone, including Google, is eyeing a piece of the pie.

There are hundreds of players, but they all seem to be playing the same game. 

For example, all the new-age banks on the market offer the same features:

• Get paid two days early

• No overdraft fees

• No hidden fees

• Fun-looking debit card

• Convenient mobile app

• There are more, but you get the gist.

And there’s a reason for that–not every finance app can reinvent the wheel. So, the question becomes, how do you stand out from the crowd?

I have an answer, and it doesn’t involve building a safe, secure app. That should be a given, not an optimization. My answer has nothing to do with marketing, sales, user research, loading speeds, pricing, or reviews.

My answer attacks an edgier side of things–it requires you to break the norm, for the better of your app.

If you’re building something new or struggling to fit into the financial app market, this answer is for you.

1. Use an opinionated voice for your finance app

Fintech apps usually aren’t fun.

They’re functional, and, because of that, most entrepreneurs and product managers think finance apps need to convey a literal interpretation of safety, security, and trust. This usually translates to homogenous copy that blends in instead of standing out. Because of that, 95% of finance apps sound the same.

See for yourself–take a look at the first screen you see when you download the top five finance apps in the Apple app store today:

This is the first interaction between a potential user and your app–a pretty important moment.

*If* these apps say anything, they don’t say much, and they all say it the same way. Bank of America, the Cash App, PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle all sound:

• Straightforward

• Clear

• Trustworthy 

Which is not to say that is bad (at all.) There are some very talented UX writers and designers behind these products. They position themselves like this to appeal to a broad audience.

Appealing to a broad audience is the goal, right? Not in a saturated market, but more on this later.

By failing in differentiation, these apps fail to stand out. All of these finance apps could be following the same brand voice guidelines, and you would never know.

Now, take a look at what we did at Twine:

How does this screen make you feel? Can you relate to it more? Do you relate to it less? Do you think it’s funny? Do you think it’s cheesy?

It doesn’t matter what you think–what matters is you had a thought.

By taking a stance, Twine gives a potential user the opportunity to:

• Feel empathy (or not)

• Feel excited (or not)

• Feel understood (or not)

• Smile (or not)

• Laugh (or not)

By sounding like everyone else, you blend into the sea of apps that already exist. Sure, Twine may turn off some people. But, by being opinionated, the people its voice and tone appeals to have a higher likelihood of becoming evangelists and feeling like a friend of the app instead of a number in a generic experience.

2. Make your finance app appeal to a niche audience

This is a hypothesis. I have no idea if the following apps are financially successful. All I can say is that they left an impression.

Ellevest and Earthfolio are lesser-known than finance apps like Credit Karma and Robinhood, and that’s not surprising.

Ellevest is a women-only “money membership” for saving and investing. Earthfolio lets you invest exclusively in ESG funds & ETFs that promote people and the environment.  

A skeptic would say both Ellvest and Earthfolio slashed their potential market. Perhaps they did, but they are more likely to win the business of the market they do attract.

Let’s take a made-up user, for example. We’ll call her Ali, and getting inside her mindset will help us empathize with a common situation.

Ali is in her early twenties and wants to start investing the money she’s making from her first job out of college. She has no idea how to invest her money, and she feels intimidated by all of her options. She has heard of Robo-advisors, and she thinks she’d like that since she doesn’t know what to do.

After finding NerdWallet’s ‘12 Best Robo-Advisors of July 2020’ article, she understands that the best overall options, according to NerdWallet, would be:

• Betterment

• Wealthfront

• Ellevest

• SoFi

So, as any twenty-something would do, she visits each of their websites. This is what she sees:

Given Ali’s needs, she’s drawn to Ellevest (appealing to the new grad and woman in her) and Wealthfront (appealing to the advice and educational side of things.)

Consider this:

• Betterment and Wealthfront were founded in 2008

• SoFi was founded in 2011

• Ellevest was founded in 2014

Ellevest is behind time-wise, yet, even with a “slashed” market, they break through the competition and get noticed by sources like NerdWallet because they take an (aggressive) stance and give their brand a persona.

What to do now

Here are two action items for you to give your app an opinion:

• Analyze which 20% of users make up 80% of your revenue. Interview these users. Look for a demographic, psychographic, or value-based trend. Then, reposition. Pick and niche and nail it. It can be scary and can feel risky, but it can pay off incrementally. 

• Audit all of your content–in-app and external. Define your brand voice and its consistency. Then, pick a stance. Pick a voice–a human, opinionated, real voice. Test this voice on a sample of potential new users. See how they react, and iterate until you find a voice that differentiates your business while growing it simultaneously.

And let me know how it goes!

I’d love to hear if you found this helpful and, if you plan to implement some of these tactics in your fintech app, how you plan to approach it.

As always, feel free to email me at slater@madebyslater.com.