Empowering small business owners to manage finances on the go

The problem

Small business owners weren’t being served by the consumer mobile app. Things important to them like knowing whether they had enough cash to cover next month, not losing receipts or getting paid in person weren’t things the app was built for.

ANZ didn’t have a clear small business proposition. Part of this project involved making the case that one was needed.

Concept testing a range of different ways to address key business owner challenges in the app

Design approach

We began with exploratory research. That led us to three key priorities: cash flow visibility, reducing admin load and business owners feeling more in control of their finances.

From there we designed features that addressed those directly:

A cash flow bucketing system — separate allocations within a single account, so owners could manage money without opening multiple accounts
Digital receipt capture — reducing the end-of-month admin that was eating into people’s time
Mobile EFTPOS — so taking payment in the field was a native part of the banking app, not a separate tool

We also did foundational research into small business owner maturity understanding how their needs and networks change as their business grows. That shaped the longer-term product thinking beyond this release.

I worked closely with Marketing to make sure the prototype and value proposition were aligned so that our work landed as a credible strategic bet.

Developing a proposition that appeals to business owners

Outcomes

A new small business proposition that influenced ANZ’s longer-term strategy for the segment
Research artefacts, including a maturity model, that continued to be used after the project
Cross-functional alignment between design, marketing and strategy on a segment that hadn’t had dedicated focus