Super App with Financial and Lifestyle Services

IZI neobank

IZI is a neobank targeted at younger audiences. It is an independent business that sprouted out from a big European bank, which we cannot disclose under the provisions of the NDA.

IZI operates online and doesn’t have brick-and-mortar locations. Its convenient financial platform offers users to issue digital bank cards, shop online, send, save, receive, and withdraw money to make purchases or reservations with its in-app lifestyle services.

4.5

months to create super app design and prototype

90+

super app screens designed

10+

lifestyle mini-apps from partner companies

Business challenge

Expanding into the new demographic

The IZI parent bank was figuring out a way to reach a new, younger customer base. Back then, it covered mostly adults and felt that it was missing out on a new prospective category of users.

To compete with emerging neobanks and online banking platforms, which were the preferred choice of the new target audience, the company decided to create a fresh brand image and launch a new neobank that wouldn’t be associated with the activities of its head office.

Breaking free of the 30-year-old bank's IT infrastructure

The parent bank had been developing its financial infrastructure for nearly 30 years. With such a complex structure of stacks and frameworks, it was impossible to quickly launch a brand-new platform on its base.

At the same time, they had all the required legal prerequisites and a well-oiled workflow of banking services. That’s why the bank decided to launch IZI as a separate company, shift the development to an outsourced team, and provide its financial and banking capabilities on their part.

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Standing out from modern competitors

To reach their goal, the IZI team had to develop a simple but powerful banking solution. For that, they turned to HeyInnovations, and together, we came up with the idea of creating a super app, a one-stop digital platform that would combine its financial tools with various ancillary services on one screen.

We looked into the different options of making the super app more appealing to the target audience. Just introducing a new application to the market was not enough—it was pivotal to create a solution that would make IZI stand out from its competitors.

To offer more value to clients than other neobanks, we came up with the idea of creating an ecosystem of banking tools supported by lifestyle services that are popular among the younger generation.

This way, we aimed to turn the new IZI super app into a convenient money management and lifestyle tool that would attract customers who are used to solving their everyday tasks on their smartphones.

Key tasks

Get the super app to market in just 4.5 months.
Come up with catchy design concepts.
Develop an MVP and an API documentation from scratch.
Pick user-relevant lifestyle services and integrate them into the super app as mini-apps.
Unite the ancillary mini-apps with the financial core to provide a seamless user experience.

How we tackled the tasks

Created lively designs to stand out from the crowd and keep user-friendly for younger audiences

IZI put a special emphasis on attracting young people to its super app and banking services. The app had to come off as a modern and simple tool that helps manage everyday tasks. That’s why the right design was crucial.

To give the app a less formal and more user-friendly look, we created a funky color block design with a contrasting background and vibrant base colors.

Made clear interfaces for effortless navigation and seamless user experience

A super app houses multiple services and mini-apps in one place. To help users find their way and quickly get to the needed section, we developed a clear and intuitive interface design.

To streamline user experience, we placed all the relevant services on the main screen. Upon opening the app, a user sees a personalized feed of offers based on their preferences: buying movie tickets and booking restaurants, or visiting new gyms and hair salons in their area.

Placing personalized offers instead of banking services on the main screen incentivizes users to shop the categories they like and, as a result, use IZI cards more often.

Users can get to the full service catalog by tapping the Home button on the main screen. Each service in the super app is color-coded, so it is quite easy to navigate the interface without even reading the captions.

Added partner lifestyle services to increase user engagement and in-app transactions

To engage users in a new ecosystem and prompt more purchases, we researched the everyday wants and needs of our target audience and added the corresponding services into the super app.

Instead of developing its own solutions from scratch, IZI integrates ready–made services. It partners with various companies, adds them to its ecosystem, and features in its super app. This is called an open ecosystem model. For example, IZI integrated a restaurant-booking app that allows users to discover and book tables in the restaurants near them.

Partnering with other companies accelerates the development of the ecosystem and helps to cut costs, since IZI doesn’t have to spend time and money building new services from scratch. Additionally, lifestyle services from partner companies bring their own audiences to the new ecosystem and help win more customers by creating a wider offering.

Implemented cross-selling to boost in-app sales and support all ecosystem services

We studied user scenarios and added smart cross-selling that recommends relevant services to complement the main purchase.

All the upselling services are task-relevant and picked to facilitate the specific steps in the user journey. This way, we create a simple and comprehensive experience that motivates users to make purchases in the IZI app.

For example, when a user gets a movie ticket, we offer them to book a taxi ride to the movie theater, and show a selection of restaurants near it, in case they get hungry after the movie.

Integrated lifestyle services as separate mini-apps to enhance usability

A mini-app is a small program within a regular mobile application. It is represented by its own icon, has basic functionalities often targeted at one or two user tasks, and connects to the main app as a simple standalone module. Implementing mini-apps helps declutter the interface, and diversify user experience without spending much time on development.

For this project, IZI partnered with various companies, and we integrated their mini-apps into the super app.

Restaurant booking and food delivery

A restaurant booking mini app allows users to explore various food locations in their area. To book a table, they choose a restaurant, leave their contact info, and specify the date and time of the visit.

To order food, users go to another mini app, choose a restaurant, place an order, and pay for it with their IZI card.

Movie ticket aggregator

This service allows users to browse genres and purchase tickets to theaters nearby.

For that, they specify their location, select the movie theater and the date, and pay for the tickets with their IZI card.

All-in-one gym subscription service

This service offers an all-in-one pass to multiple gyms and workout studios. Users purchase the service subscription in the app with their IZI cards, and unlock access to various gyms, workouts, and sports studios in their area.

Appointment scheduling and service discovery

Online appointment booking lets users discover small and medium businesses nearby. They browse the catalog of barbershops, beauty salons, vet clinics and car services, and schedule their visits right in the app.

Deals and discounts to offer extra value

This service finds hot deals and offers coupons and discounts on select items.

Users can buy coupons with their IZI cards and enjoy discounts in stores, restaurants, beauty salons, and travel agencies.

Outcomes

We helped IZI create the super app with banking and lifestyle services that they envisioned. We implemented user-relevant lifestyle services and united them with the banking core to create an ecosystem of useful everyday tools and promote IZI banking solutions.

In just 4.5 months, we developed a super app prototype, API documentation, and design concepts, which later became the super app interfaces. After that, we performed the scheduled project handover to the IZI development team.

4.5

months to create super app design and prototype

90+

super app screens designed

10+

lifestyle mini-apps from partner companies

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