Improving the Pix Key Management Experience

Project type

Financial App

Platforms

iOS and Android

Year

2022

About PagBank

PagBank is one of Brazil’s largest digital banks, with over 20 million active users. It offers a complete financial ecosystem for both individuals and businesses, including digital accounts, cards, investments, payment solutions, and Pix, the country’s real-time payment system.

Context

Pix has quickly become an essential part of Brazilians’ daily financial lives. At PagBank, during the development of non-registered Pix key support (allowing users to register an email or phone number not linked to their account), we saw an opportunity to enhance the entire experience of registering and managing Pix keys. Based on insights from competitive benchmarking and Google Analytics data, we decided to redesign the entire flow to make it more intuitive and efficient.

My Role

I led the end-to-end design process, from initial research and benchmarking to delivering high-fidelity designs and documentation.

My work included analyzing Pix key metrics, mapping user journeys, facilitating ideation and co-creation workshops with Product and Engineering, creating wireframes and interactive prototypes (using InVision for testing), running usability tests (quantitative via Maze and qualitative via moderated sessions), and iterating based on feedback and user data.

I also played an active role in design critique sessions to ensure the final solution was both high-quality and consistency.

The Challenge

Make the experience more intuitive and efficient for a massive and diverse user base.
Ensure the new flow complies with Brazil’s Central Bank regulations.
Help users easily understand and find features like portability, deletion, copying, and sharing of Pix keys.
Overcome technical limitations while maintaining a consistent experience between iOS and Android.

Objectives

Our goal was to improve the Pix key management experience with a focus on:

Increasing Pix key retention at PagBank: This strategic business goal aligned with the need for a smoother, simpler experience.
Improving overall usability: Making it easier for users to register, copy, share, delete, and accept Pix key portability requests.
Enhancing clarity and findability: Ensuring users could easily locate the Pix key management section and understand the available options.
Validating and refining the new flow: Testing the redesigned experience to ensure it met both user needs and compliance requirements.
Success Metrics: We defined success through usability metrics (task success rate, time on task, error rate), business KPIs (growth in key registrations and portability into PagBank), and qualitative user feedback.

Design Process

We followed a user-centered design approach, broken into four main stages:

1. Research & Insights

We started with an investigation of the current scenario. Through competitive benchmarking with 11 different financial institutions (including both traditional and digital banks), we analyzed usage data from Google Analytics, gathered insights from customer support teams, and revisited findings from previous accessibility research.

Using the “How Might We” framework, we translated those insights into design opportunities and actionable questions.

2. Ideation & Design

Based on the identified opportunities, we ran ideation sessions with stakeholders from Product and Engineering. We explored various approaches and narrowed down the concepts into two main flows using wireframes. These proposals were internally reviewed through design critiques and stakeholder check-ins before we aligned on the final direction.

3. Testing & Validation

To validate hypotheses and the proposed design, we employed two research methods:

Quantitative testing: A Maze unmoderated usability test (with an InVision prototype) was sent to 331 PagBank users. We evaluated the ease of completing tasks like portability, deletion, viewing key details, and sharing.
Qualitative testing: We conducted remote moderated usability tests via Lookback and Google Meet, with 7 diverse participants (in terms of age, gender, location, and usage behavior). These sessions helped us understand pain points and users’ perceptions more deeply.

4. Iteration & Delivery

We analyzed both the quantitative data (task success, click paths) and qualitative insights (user quotes, observed behaviors). Portability emerged as the most complex and misunderstood feature. We refined the flow and components related to portability and key details by simplifying screens, rewriting labels, and restructuring the information architecture—introducing contextual bottom sheets, for example.

After a final design critique session, we delivered documented specs to the development team, ensuring consistency across iOS and Android.

Final Solutions

Based on our research and objectives, we delivered several key improvements:

Information Architecture Optimization: We replaced full-screen with contextual bottom sheets for quick access to key details and actions (e.g., approved, active, portability sent/received). This made navigation more fluid and allowed users to return to the list view easily.

Visual and Interaction Consistency: We ensured a cohesive and consistent experience across both iOS and Android platforms.

Play Video

Results & Impact

The changes delivered clear, measurable impact in the first 3 months post-launch:

21.5% increase in new Pix key registrations.
16.7% increase in portability requests into PagBank.
Strong adoption of the new “Copy Key” feature, making it easier to receive transfers.

Key Learnings

A mixed-method research approach helped us understand not just what users struggled with, but why.
Portability, while conceptually simple, turned out to be a challenging task for many users in practice.
Bottom sheets proved to be an effective pattern for housing quick, contextual actions without overwhelming the main screen.
Close collaboration with Product and Engineering was critical to successfully ship improvements within platform constraints.