Our client Mara wanted to break into the African market and bring financial freedom to their target audience through a user-centered wallet product. Working together in intense discovery workshops, we came up with a clear and well-defined product strategy that set Mara Wallet on the path to success.
The biggest risk in product development is building something that nobody wants. In a very crowded marketplace, it’s a risk you most certainly want to mitigate, and the best way of doing that is to prioritize product strategy – right from the project onset.
A recent example from Infinum’s project portfolio shows perfectly how a smart product strategy employed early on can be instrumental for the success of the whole project.
Partnering with the Pan-African company Mara, we created a unique fintech product tailored for the African market. While the technical side of Mara Wallet is a story in itself, and the work of our design team spot on, the strategy piece of the puzzle was key in translating Mara’s vision to reality.
Spinning a strategic web around project requirements
Mara’s idea was to break into the African markets and bring financial freedom to their target audience through a user-centered wallet product. Working together in several intense discovery workshops, we came up with a clear and well-defined product strategy.
The strategy had to solve a complicated market problem, meet the unmet needs of the users, and improve the chances of the product’s success in the crowded fintech market of today.
In order to accomplish this, we had to take several key factors into account. First, the specifics of the target market and its user base: infrastructure, network coverage, types of devices most commonly used, relative unfamiliarity with the world of alternative finance, etc. Next, the situation on the client side: human resources and technical capabilities available, third-party deadlines and limitations, and alignment with Mara’s marketing strategy.
Skipping this part altogether or failing to consider any of the aspects would be a huge risk factor for the whole design and development process and render the end result uncertain.
Why, you may ask?
A strong product strategy is the best way of ensuring that the client reaches their goal. In this case, succeeds at providing financial freedom to their users.
With a product strategy in place, you:
- Make sure you are meeting the needs of the customers
- Connect people with the product through an intuitive and easy-to-use interface
- Get the product to market fast, ahead of existing and upcoming competitors
- Ensure the product offering doesn’t fail to differentiate you from your competitors
- Give all teams and the business sponsor the confidence that the product won’t fall short of the business objectives
All of this is well and good, you might be thinking, but what does a solid product strategy in the world of fintech look like? It entails knowing your target audience, identifying their pain points, understanding and navigating financial regulations applicable to the target market, and providing a unique value proposition that solves the market’s problems in a way that existing competitors cannot.
With the foundations of the project firmly set, we could proceed to the next phases of the process with confidence. The results speak for themselves. In four months, Mara had an MVP, and preceding the product launch, there were four million people on the waiting list.
Build digital products customers love and businesses thrive on
In short, if you want to create a truly unique product, fintech or any other kind, investing in product strategy is not a nice-to-have – it’s a necessity.
Great companies deserve technology that enables them to grow their revenue and reputation, and product strategy is the first step in that direction.
Strategy lightens the product path in front of you. It helps your organization innovate faster, improves efficiency, and gives you a huge competitive advantage. Take the time to create a solid product strategy and it will guide you towards creating a product that your customers will love and that will help you meet your business objectives.
