UX Research: Message Centre Study (2024)

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Results

Contrary to initial assumptions, survey respondents demonstrated high awareness and usage of the Message Centre and viewed it as a necessary feature within the banking app environment—indicating a clear client need. To validate these self-reported insights, I recommended cross-checking them against actual user behaviour data.

I suggested an opportunity area to the stakeholders that clients may be more receptive to product offering communications if they are presented in a way that feels personalized and relevant. Clients seem to have a clear mental model of which communication categories are important and which ones are less important to them. While product offerings were perceived as less important, there is potential to elevate their significance by tailoring them to individual client needs.

TLDR: A generative/discovery research study that informed the bank’s strategic direction. The goal was to identify gaps between how the bank communicates with clients digitally and how clients prefer to receive these communications, and to determine whether an underutilized app feature like the Message Centre could help bridge these gaps through enhancements. The study drove a department-wide initiative to build a consolidated communication home for client engagement, unifying existing client communication platforms including the Message Centre. The estimated benefit of this initiative is $3–5MM.

My role: Lead Researcher

Background

The bank’s mobile app includes a feature called the "Message Centre," which was not optimized as an engagement channel for clients. Instead, it primarily served as a repository (or "graveyard") for past communications, which were often overlooked or ignored by users.

Stakeholders were interested in revamping the Message Centre by enhancing its UI, and came to us to validate their assumed solutions (i.e., enhancing the UI would increase the usage of the feature).

6 categories

Actionable Recommendations

To help stakeholders translate these insights into tangible improvements, I proposed a set of How might we (HMW) questions to guide design challenges and future ideation:

  • HMW communicate messages in the Message Centre that clients currently perceive as unimportant?

  • HMW personalize product offer messages so that clients feel they are tailored specifically to them and relevant to their needs?

  • HMW categorize and organize messages to ensure clients can easily access and manage those that matter most, reducing the perception of clutter?

  • HMW make the Message Centre more visible and accessible within the mobile app?

Impact

This research led to a follow-up study on digital banking communication preferences and expectations (which I also conducted). Ultimately, these insights drove a department-wide initiative to develop a consolidated communication hub for client engagement—unifying existing communication platforms, including the Message Centre. The estimated benefit of this initiative is $3–5MM, and I will be the lead researcher driving the research part of the initiative.

Approach, Method, and Analysis

While the request itself wasn’t too broad, I wanted to ensure we were addressing the right problem: Do users even desire the Message Centre?
If not, we risk wasting time and resources improving the feature’s functionality when there may be no actual need for it.

To approach this strategically, I took a step back and began by examining digital banking communications more broadly.

Research Questions

  1. What are the gaps between how the bank communicates with clients digitally and how clients prefer to receive these communications? How could the Message Centre help bridge these gaps?

  2. Specifically:

    • How do clients perceive the digital banking communications they currently receive (e.g., fraud alerts, transaction updates, reminders, advice, offers, news)?

      • Relevance, usefulness, frequency/volume

      • Preferred channels (email, SMS, push notifications, in-app messages)

    • What is the current client experience with the Message Centre?

      • Is usability the main barrier to adoption, or are there other reasons for low engagement?

      • Is there a need for a centralized location to manage digital communications? If so, what do clients expect from it, and how do they want to manage their messages?

To answer these questions, I conducted an online survey that included a prototype walkthrough, gathering both quantitative and qualitative responses. Additionally, I applied principles from Behavioural Economics (e.g., channel factors) to interpret the survey results, offering plausible explanations for participants’ responses.

For example, across multiple survey questions, "product offerings" consistently ranked as a close second in terms of relevance and importance. To explain this finding, I referenced a previous UX research study where users responded positively to personalized messages with clear recommended actions requiring minimal effort. Using the channel factors principle, I emphasized how simplifying users’ decision-making by providing clear next steps reduces cognitive burden. This, in turn, enhances the relevance of communication and drives higher engagement.