Everything is social, even banks! – Z1 Communities

About Z1

Z1 is a Brazilian neobank designed for teenagers, offering services like prepaid credit cards, fee-free digital accounts, Pix payments, savings accounts, and  gift card purchases and top-ups.

• Startup
• Brazil
• B2C fintech
• Near 1M users 
• 2023 

The Challenge

In the competitive fintech landscape, Z1 needed to constantly innovate to drive growth, create new revenue streams, and foster user engagement. Differentiating the app and making it genuinely appealing to teens were crucial for attracting and retaining users.

The Goal

• Increase average time spent on the app; 
• Increase users TPV and CLTV; 
• Create a clear path to monetization and revenue generation;

The Hypothesis

User research and continuous discovery revealed that teens frequently managed money with their friends, including quick transfers, shared expenses (money pools), and splitting bills. We hypothesized that integrating these social financial interactions directly into the Z1 app would increase engagement and potentially unlock new revenue opportunities.

My Role

As the product manager responsible for developing the Communities Feature, my role was:

• Stakeholder Management & Strategic Alignment: The Communities feature was a significant undertaking. I managed up to the founders, securing buy-in and aligning priorities. This involved developing a clear strategy with well-defined timelines, projected impact on Q4 revenue, and answers to key strategic questions.

• Product Roadmap & Communication: I was responsible for articulating and communicating the product roadmap for the Communities feature across the organization, from the founders and technical team to other key stakeholders.

• Scope Definition & Requirements: Collaborating with design and development colleagues, I defined the scope and requirements for the alpha version of the Communities feature.

• Monetization Strategy: Our user research indicated a willingness to pay for premium features within a dedicated social space inside the app. I worked with the FP&A team to develop a monetization and pricing strategy for the Communities feature.

• User Story Creation & Development Oversight: After defining the scope, I translated requirements into user stories, documented decisions, and closely monitored the development process to ensure alignment with the product vision.

• Stakeholder Enablement: I worked closely with legal, compliance, support, and marketing teams to ensure they were aligned and prepared for the feature launch.

• Go-to-Market Strategy & Execution: I led the development and execution of the go-to-market strategy, focusing on differentiating Z1 Communities from competitor offerings. This involved providing the marketing team with key information, including the value proposition, target audience, key benefits, and addressable market size (SAM).

• Phased Rollout & Risk Mitigation: I developed and implemented progressive rollout and rollback plans to minimize risk and ensure a smooth launch.

• Define and monitor key metrics: As a big bet, with little to no benchmark, it was my responsibility to define and monitor metrics and data that would inform us if we were closer to reaching our goals. 
• Report performance results to c-lvl: Tracking and reporting results, aligning next steps with founders and key stakeholders. 

Results

With Z1 communities, we’ve reached the following: 

• User Adoption: Achieved 2% adoption of the Communities feature

• Positive User Feedback: Received positive qualitative feedback from users after launch and 75 CSAT score.

The Learnings

While the initial adoption rate and user feedback were positive, the Communities feature fell short of its goals for increasing user TPV, CLTV, and generating significant new revenue. We encountered challenges related to limited network effects (many users didn’t have friends actively using Z1) and friction within the user experience, particularly around money transfers. Users often preferred the familiar and seamless experience of using Pix for transactions. This experience provided valuable insights into the importance of strong network effects for social features and the need for streamlined user experiences that align with existing user habits. It also reinforced the importance of risk mitigation and user experience simplification in product development.

This initiative generated a lot of learnings associated with risk mitigation and user experience simplification. 

Team (with much appreciation for their hard work): Ana Helena, Natalia Thiel, William Quayson, and Rachel Sarra.