N26 x Bizum Enhancing P2P Payments for Spanish Customers.

Just a heads-up! This case study is in-depth—I explore my approach and design thinking in detail. While there aren't many pictures, there's plenty of insight. Thanks for visiting—I hope you find it valuable!

N26 sought to enhance the user experience of its mobile banking app by integrating Bizum, a widely used Spanish mobile payment system. Bizum enables users to make seamless payments and transfers using just a mobile number. The primary goal was to improve the peer-to-peer (P2P) payment experience for Spanish customers, making money transfers faster, more convenient, and aligned with user expectations.

I joined the N26 payments team in its early stages, with minimal product requirements defined. My role was to take a blue-sky approach, reimagining and improving our payment mental model from the ground up. This involved defining core features, mapping out the customer journey, designing proof-of-concepts (POCs), and creating intuitive layouts to enhance the overall experience.

Although N26 already offered a P2P payment feature, Spanish customers found it inconvenient without Bizum, leading them to switch to competitor banking apps that supported Bizum. This presented a customer retention challenge and a need to increase the adoption of N26’s P2P payment solution.

To validate assumptions and gain a deeper understanding of user needs, I initiated a mixed-method research approach:

1. User Surveys – Sent an online survey to 100 Spanish N26 users who had used the existing P2P feature at least once in the past month.
2. User Interviews – Conducted five in-depth interviews with Spanish users to explore their payment habits and expectations.
3. Competitive Analysis – Analyzed top Spanish banks integrating Bizum, focusing on onboarding, transaction flows, and user experience.

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4. Social Media Insights – Launched a social media campaign (Instagram, LinkedIn) to gather direct feedback from Spanish users about their pain points and expectations regarding P2P payments in N26.

Key insights:

• 65%+ of respondents explicitly requested Bizum integration.
• Spanish customers frequently use Bizum for both social payments (friends & family) and daily purchases.
• Users expect quick and frictionless transactions without needing to input bank details.

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1. Seamless P2P Payments – Design an intuitive and easy-to-use P2P payment experience for Spanish customers by integrating Bizum.
2. Increased Customer Engagement – Enhance the value proposition for N26 users and increase awareness and adoption of MoneyBeam, N26’s P2P payment service.

A brainstorming workshop was conducted with product managers, developers, UX designers, and data analysts to generate potential solutions. I facilitated the session using a FigJam board, guiding stakeholders in defining key flows and prioritizing features.

To ensure a smooth end-to-end experience, I mapped out the user flows covering:

• Activation process
• Sending & requesting money
• Managing Bizum settings
• Deactivation flow

Once validated with the development team, I structured all collected ideas into a feasibility matrix, helping stakeholders evaluate the technical, economic, and organizational viability of each proposed solution.

With the user flows defined, I proceeded with:

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• Low-fidelity wireframes to visualize key interactions and optimize usability early in the process.
• Mid-to-high-fidelity designs, ensuring alignment with N26’s design system and brand identity, while maintaining a frictionless user experience.

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Usability Testing

To validate the designs, I conducted moderated and unmoderated usability testing with 10 Spanish users using UserTesting.com.

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Key outcomes:

• Iteration on UI elements to simplify navigation
• Optimized Bizum onboarding flow based on user feedback
• Improved clarity of transaction status messaging

To measure the impact of Bizum integration, the following KPIs were tracked:

1. Increase in P2P feature usage (MoneyBeam, Shared Spaces, Bizum)
2. Monthly P2P transaction volume
3. Percentage of active users engaging with P2P payments

Collaborated with project managers, data analysts, and researchers to define key success metrics, ensuring alignment between design goals and business objectives as development progressed.

1. Seamless Bizum Integration – Enabled N26 Spanish customers to make instant P2P payments to other Bizum users without requiring bank account details.
2. Higher Adoption Rate – Increased the number of Spanish users engaging with P2P payments.
3. Transaction Growth & Retention –
   • 18% increase in monthly mobile transactions
   • 40% improvement in app satisfaction score (75% of Bizum users rated the experience positively)

We continuously monitored user feedback via HotJar, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, leveraging insights to refine the experience and inform future updates.

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The integration of Bizum into N26 successfully enhanced the user experience for Spanish customers, improved retention, and reinforced N26’s value proposition as a competitive digital bank in Spain. Ongoing monitoring and feedback loops ensure continuous iteration and optimization of the feature.