Launch Chase Pay integration with Walmart Pay

Walmart  •  10 months (Jun 2019 – Apr 2020)

Overview

“Save Money. Live Better.” is Walmart’s slogan. When Savings Catcher, a price-matching program, retired on May 14, 2019, customer adoption and usage of Walmart Pay dropped significantly. People needed better incentives to use the service. Launching Chase Pay digital wallet integration with Walmart Pay did just that – give customers more ways to save and more convenience to shop at Walmart.

My role

I was the lead designer of Walmart Pay, a mobile payment service within the Walmart app. I worked on the Chase Pay integration between June 2019 and April 2020.

The feature launched in Walmart iOS app on February 27, 2020, and Walmart Android app on June 4, 2020.

I worked alongside 1 Design Manager, 1 Researcher, 1 Product Manager and 10+ Engineers within Walmart Pay team. I also collaborated with 5 stakeholders from JPMorgan Chase.

Background

Savings Catcher is Walmart’s price-matching program rolled out in 2014. Customers can scan their paper receipts or submit the digital receipts through Walmart Pay. If Walmart finds prices of eligible items lower elsewhere, customers get money back in the form of an eGift Card to use on future purchases.

The program has a strong following among Walmart customers.

Starting October 29, 2018, Walmart Pay became the exclusive way to submit digital receipts to Savings Catcher. 

Walmart discontinued Savings Catcher on May 14, 2019. Lots of Walmart customers were upset with the change. It caused a 35% decline in Walmart Pay’s adoption within the quarter. The decline stirred up a sense of urgency for Walmart Pay’s product and design team. Something needed to be done to improve the adoption and customer engagement.

Chase Pay with Walmart Pay – Back in November 2016, Walmart joined a list of select merchants poised to accept Chase Pay in Walmart's mobile app. However, business priorities changed and API limitations slowed things down. Chase Pay's integration with Walmart Pay launched on Walmart's Android app in 2017 with only limited functionality.

JPMorgan Chase had a plan to close the standalone Chase Pay app in early 2020. So they reprioritized Chase Pay’s merchant integrations. 

On Walmart’s side, more than 80% of exisiting Walmart Pay customers are iOS users. Integrating Chase Pay to Walmart Pay iOS would be a big win to improve Walmart Pay’s customer engagement. 

Additionally, leveling up Android integration would also enhance the existing customers’ payment experience.

The goals

For the first time ever, Walmart Pay shoppers can save more on already everyday low prices. With Chase Pay integration, they can pay with Chase Ultimate Rewards points on their eligible Visa cards. We can give customers more avenues to save and more convenience to shop.

By offering all 33 million Chase cardholders who shop at Walmart the option to use Chase Pay as a payment option, the expanded partnership would effectively improve Walmart Pay’s adoption and retention.

The process

Kickoff – “the design was almost set”

Before the project kick-off meeting in June 2019, Chase already launched several successful partnership integrations. It included PayPal, Samsung Pay, and many other merchants such as Starbucks.

The good news was I didn’t need to start from scratch for Walmart Pay. The bad news was the design was nearly a ready-to-go formula, so there was not much room for exploration. 

Weave-in and stand-out all at once

Before diving headfirst to designing, I needed a clear overview of how Chase Pay fit into Walmart Pay's existing payment experience. That meant we’d introduce Chase Pay as part of the payment option pack. Yet we'd also distinguish it from others during set-up and continued use. Considering many customers may not know what Chase Pay is or what the benefits are, we needed to add supplemental value prop at all entry points.

Test with real customers

I spent seven weeks on vigorous iterations, critiques, and prototyping. I also collaborated with Chase partners on legal reviews. In parallel, our UX researcher finished recruiting participants and writing the study script. Within two months, we were ready to test the design with real customers in a Walmart store.

Study goals – complete setup and understand benefits

• Can customers successfully link Chase Pay with Walmart Pay and pay with points? 

• Do customers understand the benefits of linking Chase Pay?

Study outline – understand beyond the feature

• Understand history of Walmart shopping, credit card & digital payment use 

• Assess Walmart Pay usability with the Chase Pay prototype 

• Assess overall experience

What we learned

The customer interviews showed that people cared mostly about four things regarding digital wallets alike products. What went well in the study and what needed to improve all had something to do with one or more of these things:

• Money – People want to save money and earn money (reward points are one of them). Monetary incentive is the factor most likely to trigger action: setting up the feature, continued use of the app, or both.

• Time – Time is money. How long does the set-up take? How long does the reward redemption take? It shouldn’t feel like a drag to use a feature or product.

• Effort – How many steps does this take? How easy is it to start using this? If either of these feel like “too much work,” it could lead to dropout.

• Security – People want their hard-earned money safely spent. And there are many misconceptions about what is secure. Either real or perceived issues with security are a deal-killer at any stage.

What needed to improve

Ease of use overlooked

It was not evident that using Chase Pay would save customers time. All participants had a Chase login, but most hadn’t used Chase Pay, so they assumed it would took extra time or effort outside of Walmart Pay set-up. 

Pulling in many cards’ info at once and keeping it updated felt convenient, but it also brought up security concerns.

Emphasize time & effort-saving and security

When I edited the designs, I used three approaches to emphasize time-saving, ease, and security. It included adding visuals, changing the content layout, and using intentional verbiages (e.g., “secure”). These approaches need low technical effort, help quick scanning and increase engagement.

Linking all cards trigger hesitation and concern

Many participants couldn’t tell the difference between adding a regular credit or debit card and linking Chase Pay. They felt like bringing in all cards was a security risk. 

They also worried they might use a card or the rewards they didn’t intend to. If in a household that shared account access, one wrong charge could have a disastrous impact – they would never use Walmart Pay again.

Address security throughout

Adding a separate group for Chase Pay payments can distinguish them from regular credit cards. Adding verbiages to address security concerns can assure and comfort customers.

What went well

Positive response to redirection alert

When being re-directed to another site, usually people expect to see a confirmation alert. In the study, participants responded positively to having this. They commented that it added to their sense of security around linking two systems, Walmart and Chase.

Push a little further – be mindful about time

I was glad the form of an alert communicated a sense of security. But I realized the message content didn’t assure this re-directing would be momentary. 

After many iterations, I decided to add verbiage to convey the smooth transition, e.g., “briefly,” “shortly.” I also changed the passive voice to active, so that it sounded like “we (Walmart) are taking care of you.”

Use rewards with control and confidence

The default “Off” toggle for using rewards made participants feel in control. They could choose when to use their carefully accrued points.

The text label “On” or “Off” in conjunction with the toggle also showed the status of using rewards with clarity.

See little benefit to use but like the clarity

Accumulating reward points takes time. When it’s time to use them, people carefully plan and decide. They want to maximize their value. 

Many participants didn’t like that points and dollars were not one-to-one conversions. But they clearly loved that rewards were represented in both the number of points and the dollar value, so they didn’t need to do the math.

Key takeaways

Security, security, security

People want their hard-earned money safely spent. So they are looking for design elements that can convey a sense of security. It could be the use of a lock icon or the repetition of the word “secure” or a cautious alert message that makes people pause and acknowledge. We need to use all the available tools to communicate the concept of security.

Better benefit, better adoption and engagement

People want and love to save money. They can be proud of mastering how to get the most out of their cards. They know all the tricks, such as stacking cards, store digital payment promotions, etc. So merely giving another option to pay is not good enough. Customers need a more significant benefit to consider a new payment option. Saving time and effort, and enhancing security is a good start.