A product people needed but could not use
Users often started transfers but got stuck around rates, fees, and confirmation steps. Many completed only after contacting support, then failed to return for the next transaction.
The product had useful capability, but the interaction model made users uncertain at each step.
Support intervention during money movement undermined trust, repeat usage stayed low, and the experience lacked a clear reason for users to choose VitalSwap over other remittance apps.
What users actually cared about
Before designing, I reviewed support tickets, user complaints, and internal feedback to identify the deeper behavior pattern behind drop-off.
Diaspora users were highly rate-sensitive. Many compared rates across multiple apps every time, saved screenshots, and manually calculated spread differences before deciding.
This reframed the design problem from improving flow usability to building a system that delivered better exchange outcomes and made that advantage visible in-product.
Designing the marketplace
The core concept connected two intents: users holding USD who wanted NGN, and users holding NGN who wanted USD. Instead of forcing all transactions through bank rates, users could match directly in a marketplace.
Offer creation and discovery were designed around the information users actually optimize for: rate, amount, and availability.
The highest-risk moment was swap completion, where trust either holds or breaks. The final flow emphasized clarity at commitment.
- You send / you receive anchored confirmation so users saw exact amounts, rate, and fees in one view without mental math.
- Rate benchmarks showed how each offer compared to market context, helping users judge fairness quickly.
- Verified status created a baseline of trust for peer-to-peer matching with unfamiliar counterparties.
- Explicit next-step states reduced anxiety after confirmation by showing what happens next and when.
- Core adjacent flows (send money, buy currency, bill payments) were also simplified so marketplace adoption had a stable usability foundation.
Trust vs. flexibility
The key product tension was giving users control without creating uncertainty.
Unlimited flexibility made the marketplace feel powerful but increased hesitation around fairness, reliability, and failure handling.
The version that worked balanced both: users controlled rates and match choices, while system guardrails provided market comparisons, verified counterparties, and a structured transaction path.
User control drove relevance. System confidence drove completion.
Results
- Transactions doubled in the first month after launch.
- Marketplace adoption was strong immediately after release.
- Retention improved as users had a clear reason to return beyond one-off transfers.
- Support requests decreased as users completed transactions end-to-end on their own.
What I took away
In consumer fintech, interface quality is a trust layer. Users cannot inspect the underlying rails, so product clarity determines whether they feel safe transacting.
The marketplace succeeded not only because rates were better, but because users could understand what was happening with their money at every step.
Freelance product design engagement with VitalSwap.