The Challenge

When Apple launched their Apple Watch, it was a product that generated a great deal of market buzz as this tech giant entered into the wearables space. It has a simple, elegant aesthetic and was attractive to those who have invested in the Apple ecosystem. The first watch was not perfect. Unlike any battery-operated watch, this needed to be charged up every night. Despite these shortcomings, we began to see businesses releasing Apple Watch experiences, and I was eager to see what unique value we can bring to our customers in the form factor of a watch.

Research

We found that the Apple Watch users had a shorter attention span than using their iPhones. A user typically at most would quickly glance at their watch. I directed the design team better to align the user experience with the usage patterns. The watch's small screen was also not readable for everyone, so we need to maximize the visibility of content and accessibility of the watch app's visual design.

Strategy

With a GPS, NFC capabilities, my hypothesis that the Apple watch would also be used in the customer experience of Apple Pay and authenticating the user. This hypothesis turned out to be true. We wanted to test and see whether our users would be interested in banking functionality on the Apple Watch and prime the users to Apple Pay. We selected two convenient features: Quickview and find a nearby branch or ATM. With Quickview, this allowed the user to quickly glance at their watch to see their account balance without having to log in.

Results

We found that the most active users of the Apple Watch were most engaged with the Apple Watch app. We received feedback that the ability to see their balance was beneficial. Turn by turn directions to find a branch or ATM was a convenient feature to go to a no-fee ATM to withdraw cash.

Skills

Product Management, Agile Software Development, Business Case Development, Mobile Development, User Experience, Implementation Process development, Usability Testing, Web Analytics, Project Management, Vendor Management, Strategy creation, Customer Development, Collaboration model development, Cross-functional team leadership, and Product Marketing.