UX Researcher
100Kicks
3 months | London
User Interviews | Personas & Journey Mapping | Retention & Growth Strategy
A cross-border fintech platform supporting users relocating abroad sought to better understand user retention and engagement patterns. Existing strategies were based on broad engagement categories, which did not fully capture underlying user motivations or financial behaviours.
The goal of this project was to develop a deeper understanding of user needs, behaviours and drop-off points to inform more effective retention strategies.
I collaborated with 100Kicks on this project, where I led survey analysis, conducted user interviews and translated insights into strategic recommendations.
Approach
The research and analysis used a mixed-methods approach:
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Social media scanning to capture organic user sentiment
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Competitor analysis to understand positioning and feature differentiation
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User surveys to identify behavioural patterns
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12 in-depth user interviews to explore motivations, emotional drivers and decision-making
Insights were synthesised into key themes and translated into strategic recommendations.
Impact
The project reframed retention from an engagement-based problem to one rooted in users’ financial behaviour, life context and emotional connection to the product.
Key shifts included:
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Positioning: Recognising the product as part of a relocation journey, with strong emotional value, rather than just an additional financial tool
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Segmentation: Moving beyond engagement categories to incorporate financial behaviour (e.g. number of cards owned, financial literacy) as a proxy for user maturity and willingness to adopt premium products
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Monetisation: Identifying clear willingness to pay among users, while highlighting gaps in communication and onboarding around premium offerings
These insights informed recommendations to refine segmentation strategies, align engagement with user lifecycle moments and improve visibility of premium pathways.