Zing (part of the HSBC Group) officially launched in the UK in January 2024 providing users with a “Worry-free international money app and multi-currency card.” Zing is targeting international users including expats, frequent travellers, and investors with a digital banking proposition that allows users to hold and convert up to 10 different currencies, send money to 30+ countries and spend in over 200 countries.
Zing is targeting international users including expats, frequent travellers, and investors with a digital banking proposition that allows users to hold and convert up to 10 different currencies, send money to 30+ countries and spend in over 200 countries.
The launch of the Zing app is a move by HSBC to capture a piece of the growing international payments market currently dominated by fintech challengers like Wise and Revolut. Whilst the competition is fierce and the challengers are now well embedded in the market (Wise with 16M users and Revolut with 30M users), Zing benefits from HSBC’s global reach and brand recognition, which is crucial to building trust and brand loyalty in a crowded market.
HSBC plans to expand Zing globally after its UK launch. The app’s success will depend on its ability to attract and retain users through competitive pricing, innovative features, and a seamless user experience.
The first step to effective user acquisition is a seamless onboarding experience, so we’ve gone behind login to see just how Zing are onboarding new users.
Check out the Onboarding Journey here
In Numbers
A recent study by Behind Login exploring 10 popular FinTech apps onboarding journeys identified an average onboarding time of 5 minutes, 29 seconds with an average of 27 steps in the journey. The leader, Chip, trumped the competition with a quick 2 minutes, 48 seconds onboarding time and only 18 steps from first open to activation.
Comparing these findings to Zing, we can see that Zing are jostling at the bottom of the table with a total of 4 minutes, 37 seconds and 46 steps.
Streamlining the user journey to reduce completion time and minimise steps enhances user experience and influences conversion rates. While these metrics may not dictate the entirety of user engagement, they provide insights and opportunities for optimisation for Zing’s onboarding.
Three Key Takeaways from Zing's Onboarding Journey
Compelling Copy & Call To Actions:
“We need to review your application. This can take a while, feel free to close the app and check later. We’ll notify you when ready”
The use of clear and simple language to explain to users what is happening in the journey reduces confusion and frustration for users who are unable to progress (even if no specific timescales are provided).
A well architected journey and simple copy informing users they can “close the app and check later” reduces any anxieties of applications being lost.
Providing a Call To Action to “notify you when ready” and then triggering the iOS notification prompt both increases the likelihood of users accepting notifications (valuable for the future communications) and provides a simple way for users to progress with their application when ready.
Great use of iOS location technology:
Zing’s clever way to verify your address through offering users the option to verify their address using your device location.
Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) are international regulations that mandate financial institutions to verify the identity and address of their customers to mitigate risks of financial crime.
Offering users the ability to quickly verify their address using their device location is an excellent way to reduce cognitive load and the input required by users. Further to this, offering an alternative way to verify addresses with databases reduces the risk of drop-off where users aren’t at home.
Room for improvement:
When signing up, there is no information on what you’re going to need to complete the onboarding or how long it typically takes.
Users require a Driving licence, Passport or Residence permit card to hand and must need to record a selfie video. This is likely to cause a drop off and frustration in the journey for users that don’t have these items to hand or aren’t in an appropriate setting to provide them. A recent study by FinTech Global identified that a third of UK adults don’t carry a wallet or purse at all.
By providing a “user requirements” screen before starting the onboarding journey, informing users of what they’ll need to complete the application is likely to boost conversion. In Behind Login’s recent FinTech onboarding, we identified that CMC Invest have effectively delivered this functionality, and we recommend adopting this approach for onboarding. Don’t believe us – try an A/B test!
