A mobile app for people that don't care to think about their bookkeeping

For Bench clients, a beautiful but inconvenient web application was their only option for understanding the state of their books. By crafting a mobile app, we were able to help them learn about their business when it worked for them.

Problem

We learned from users that they valued the work Bench was doing for them, but that the service was too time-consuming for them. Not what you want to hear as a SaaS/service blend. Some of their major pains: having to be at a desktop to upload documents or view reports, not knowing or understanding what their bookkeeper needed from them, and generally distaste for the amount of input they needed to contribute to get good books.

Process

Building a Bench mobile app wasn't smooth. It was intuitively a good idea, which meant we started in on it years before we should have. Once we got serious and the timing was right, we settled into a solid routine.

Crew:

• Me, product manager and UX researcher
• Paul, front-end developer and liaison between product and engineering
• Kyle, senior designer

Process:

• Rapid sprint cycles
• Isolation from ongoing development
• Research, ideate, build, test. Rinse and repeat
• Clear deadlines set

Impact

For clients: easier bookkeeping, lower cognitive effort, and a greater understanding of a) the state of their books and b) what their bookkeeper needed from them in order to do a good job.

For the business: 30% adoption rate, improved NPS scores, and lower churn rates for clients that were actively engaged with the app.