EXPLORATION

PNC’s Product Gap

However, it’s crucial to recognize the opportunity that lies between these two products. There is a distinct demographic that falls in this gap - young adults who have outgrown the simplicity of S is for Savings, but may not need the whole suite of features that exist in Virtual Wallet. Our project focuses on capturing this audience and providing them with a tailored banking solution that aligns with their unique needs.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

The “Smartphone Generation” has immense spending power

The age group between 11 and 22 is commonly referred to as the “smartphone generation.” They are tech savvy and heavily reliant on smartphones for activities in their daily lives. In 2022, 90% of teens owned a smartphone regardless of household income, according to Pew Research Center. Our research revealed a staggering $34 billion in spending money that teens have at their disposal. By capturing even a fraction of this market, our youth banking experience can thrive and make a significant impact. 

There’s a need for more youth financial learning resources

Many teenagers lack proper educational support in areas like financial literacy, budgeting skills, and personal finance management. In fact, only 21 states currently require a personal finance credit to graduate high school, which means it often becomes their own responsibility to learn or their parents’ responsibility to teach financial habits. Our app aims to address this issue by introducing financial education tools and resources, which will empower teens to make informed financial decisions from an early age.

IDEATION

Initial Direction

Because the age gap between S is for Savings and Virtual Wallet is from 9 - 16 years old, our initial direction focused on a younger demographic of 9 - 12 years old. Taking inspiration from the Duolingo app, we began to design for a younger demographic through a more gamified approach that would prioritize customer experience. Features specific to this age group, such as chore management tools, were meant to introduce topics of saving and budgeting.

However, after conducting further research, we discovered that a chore management tool would likely be too much work for busy parents to verify. Children at this young age group also need specific design elements, such as bright colors and large touchpoints. Furthermore, rather than creating a design system from scratch, we came to the conclusion that PNC would need an experience that was more brand consistent with their upcoming mobile app redesign.

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

Primary Research

We surveyed 150 parents of children aged 6 - 18 (via UserZoom) to better understand their biggest pain points. Parents were most worried about their children’s potential overspending issues, trouble with card security, monitoring their child’s transactions, and having to take the time to teach their kids about financial literacy. We wanted to consider these pain points so that our experience would account for them. From our survey, we found that overspending issues and card security were parents’ top concerns.

51% of parents were worried about overspending issues.

21% of parents were worried about card security.

Parents also thought that it is most important for children of high school age (from 14-18 years old) to start managing their finances. Starting financial management at this age group was reported to be more important than during middle school and elementary school age groups, which further solidified our focus on the user group of 13 - 17 year olds. Many parents stated that 13.7 years old was the best age because their child would start earning income through part time or side jobs. Thus, they realize that their children need an avenue to manage their income and gain more financial independence.

13.7 years old - average age parents think their youngest child will be ready for a debit card with controls.

Competitive Landscape

Mobile banking for teens is steadily growing in popularity and necessity, as the amount using mobile or online banking has increased by 14% from 2019 to 2022, according to Citizens Financial Group. Subsequently, the amount of parents who use apps for money management has increased 11% in this period. 

Fintech companies, such as GoHenry and Greenlight, have capitalized on this demographic, with over 8 million users between the two of them. They attract their users with gamified and customizable features that make finances more digestible for a younger audience. These companies, however, are not directly associated with a major bank. Thus, one benefit of StartPNC is that customers can stay within a trusted and traditional banking group.

User Group Segments

Our revised user group includes two key segments - teens in the 13- to 17-year-old age group and their parents. The teen segment includes users who are digital natives, as discovered in our secondary research. They are starting to earn money from part time jobs or allowances and have specific financial goals, such as saving for large purchases like concerts or laptops. The parental segment includes users who are PNC customers and fall within a financially stable socioeconomic status. They have disposable income and are looking for secure and reliable banking options for their family with added safety measures and control over their children’s finances. 

FINAL PRODUCT

StartPNC is an interconnected ecosystem where parents can monitor and guide their children’s financial growth while fostering a sense of financial responsibility in their teens. Two versions of the experience would be available depending on parent or child status, which would both be incorporated within the current PNC mobile app. The components we used align with the PNC mobile app redesign design system, so all elements have already been checked for accessibility.

Parent Flow

Account Screens

Nancy, our parent, would see the above screens when she opens the StartPNC portion of her PNC banking app. Here, she can view and click into Quinn’s account for more actions, such as sending him money, managing his allowance, and viewing his recent activity.

Safety Net Feature

The safety net feature is intended to quickly cover the teen user’s needs if they run out of money in their accounts. This feature needs to be set up by parents initially, but afterward it will be up to the teen to manage to teach them about the importance of proper financial responsibility. 

For example, Nancy can give Quinn two safety nets of $20 this month. If Quinn runs out of money in his accounts, he can deploy the safety net without the need for Nancy’s approval. This also reduces the cognitive load on busy parents, as they might not have time to constantly monitor their children’s transactions.

Teen Flow

Accounts & Checking

In the accounts and checking screens, our teen - Quinn - can see an overview of his funds and how much money he has remaining this week from his weekly spending limit. 

Spending & Budgets

Here, Quinn can view and enact suggested budgets that are created based on his spending patterns, which would be supported in the app’s backend by Personetics. Personetics is AI that analyzes customer financial behavior to give the best spending recommendations. Quinn can create personalized budgets and will be alerted if he overspends. 

Savings & Savings Goals

We wanted to introduce teens to the idea of saving for larger purchases, which is why we created the savings and savings goals screens. Through these features, Quinn can create personalized goals to save up for future purchases. In this flow, Quinn is creating a savings goal for a new skateboard he wants to buy by the end of July. The app will then recommend the amount he must save daily or weekly for him to meet this goal.

Learning

On the learning screen, Quinn can improve his financial literacy through Zogo, a third party integration within the PNC app that partners with banks to teach users about smart money habits and financial topics. Quinn can earn rewards if he completes his learnings via modules, quizzes, and/or daily goals. He can also view the leaderboard to see where he stands against his friends. The learning modules are presented in a swiping story format to create content that is more digestible for teens.

Customize Card

On the card actions screen, Quinn can view his rewards, customize his card, and take security actions in case his card is stolen or misplaced. Above is the screen Quinn sees when he’d like to edit the design of his card. In our research, we found that teens are specifically drawn toward features that allow them to add customization. Thus, we included a customizable card feature to increase appeal for StartPNC.

NEXT STEPS

There are still many features we would like to add to StartPNC to provide customers with the best experience. These include additional usability testing, exploring edge cases, and expanding the parental app experience.