Understanding Customer Priorities for Mobile Banking Features

A major UK bank needed to prioritise their mobile app roadmap. They had dozens of features planned but weren't sure which would genuinely engage customers. The brief was threefold:

1. Understand which features would motivate customers
2. Learn what apps customers loved using and why
3. Review existing app functionality to identify what worked and what didn't

I worked with a design agency to plan and facilitate three regional workshops across the UK, gathering insights from 48 banking customers about their digital habits and mobile banking preferences.

A common challenge in group research is ensuring all participants contribute equally. Dominant voices can take over discussions whilst quieter participants hold back valuable insights.

To address this, I created a spinner game as the workshop warm-up. The board featured segments for each existing app feature, from "View transactions" to "Get cash without a card" to "Top up your phone". One special segment offered "Take a sweet treat and spin again!"

Each person took turns spinning and sharing their opinion on whichever feature they landed on: Were they aware of it? Had they used it? What did they think? The randomness meant everyone had equal opportunity to speak, and the game format made it natural for quieter participants to contribute.

This served dual purposes: it warmed up participants for deeper discussion and gathered bonus insights about current features the bank hadn't specifically asked about.

For the main portion of each workshop, I needed participants to imagine using features that didn't exist yet. Abstract descriptions wouldn't work, so I created seven scenarios based on everyday banking moments.

Each scenario told a story about a customer facing a specific situation, showcasing planned features in context. I recruited colleagues to act as characters, photographed them, and created visual narratives with mock UI screens to make the futures feel tangible and plausible.

For example, scenarios covered moments like:

• Needing to freeze a card quickly when it goes missing
• Scanning a cheque using the phone camera instead of visiting a branch
• Setting travel markers before a holiday to keep cards working abroad
• Getting helpful push notifications about account activity

During workshops, I moderated one of four participant groups, narrating these scenarios and bringing people into the moment. The storytelling approach worked. Participants engaged deeply with the scenarios, imagining themselves in those situations and discussing whether features would actually help.

I received numerous compliments afterwards about the narration style and how the scenarios helped them visualise using the app in their own lives.

As groups discussed each scenario, participants captured their reactions and ideas on post-it notes. We gathered feedback on all planned features plus new ideas customers generated during discussions.

Following the three workshops, the team collated everything into three categories:

• Current features - feedback on what existed
• Planned features - reactions to the roadmap
• Future ideas - customer-generated concepts

Customer ideas included things like:

• In-app verification instead of physical card readers
• Live chat with support
• Scanning payee card details to avoid manual setup
• Money management tools
• Regular payment reminders

We then mapped everything onto a customer value versus business value matrix. This gave the bank a clear prioritisation framework, showing which features delivered the most value from both perspectives.

Each zone of the matrix contained a mix of planned features and customer-generated ideas, creating a roadmap grounded in real user priorities rather than assumptions.

The research revealed three strategic directions:

1. Refresh the information architecture - customers struggled to find existing features
2. Focus and refine core functionality - don't add more until basics work brilliantly
3. Use customer ideas as starting points - but more work needed to solve specific problems

The bank used this prioritisation to guide their rollout, gradually implementing the majority of features over time.

Inclusive research methods.
The spinner game democratised participation, ensuring all voices contributed equally regardless of personality type.

Making futures tangible.
By using storytelling and visual scenarios rather than abstract feature descriptions, participants could genuinely imagine using the features in their lives.

Research facilitation.
Moderating groups through structured activities whilst keeping discussion natural and productive.

Translating insights to action.
Moving from raw feedback to a prioritised roadmap the client could actually use for development planning.