VENMO 

INTERVIEWS
Living in New York has given my friends and I our fair share of experiences going out in a large group to enjoy a meal. Following these outings, I've engaged with my friends in insightful conversations, delving into their experiences and perspectives on splitting the bill. Through these discussions, I've gained valuable insights into their pain points, habits, and motivations.

1. Accuracy: While some people are content with splitting the bill evenly for simplicity's sake, issues arise when individuals opt out of certain expenses or indulge in pricier items. In these cases, exact calculations become necessary.
2. Immediacy: The group dynamic determines how immediately the bill payer requests other guests. In gatherings with unfamiliar guests, there's often an immediate effort to exchange Venmo accounts and calculate expenses at the table. Whereas with close friends, there's more flexibility to settle the tab at a later time.
3. Methods of Calculation: Everyone has adopted a different method based on its ease of use and they will usually stick to that tool.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Although there are various apps that exist for calculating  totals, they all require the bill payer to perform calculations outside of the Venmo app. Based on my research and first-hand experience, I have identified the distinguishing features of the 3 most used bill-splitting tools. 

1. Splitwise is designed for monthly transactions and is better suited for groups who frequently split bills
2. Requires manual entry of transactions and manual calculation of the tax and tip

1. Tab is the most user-friendly experience for people who don’t want to do the math
   
2. To avoid manually entering requests in Venmo, Tab requires the user and their friends to create a Tab account and link their Venmo accounts
   

1. Excel requires the user to wait until they have access to a computer to run their calculations
   
2. Users will need to have a basic understanding of Excel in order to calculate accurately and efficiently

After analyzing these 3 apps, I concluded that in order for Venmo to enhance the bill-splitting experience, they should prioritize a seamless integration of calculation functionality directly in the app. By consolidating all aspects of bill splitting within the Venmo app, they can offer users a seamless and efficient process for a common occurrence. 

SOLUTION
The initial solution that emerged was mirroring Tab to integrate optimal character recognition (OCR) technology into the Venmo app to extract data directly from receipts, eliminating the need for third-party apps for calculation. The user would simply capture a photo of the receipt in the Venmo app and associate each item on the receipt with the corresponding guest.

However, upon exploring further, I recognized the potential for streamlining the process even more. Instead of building OCR tech within the app (which still requires an act of taking a photo) I explored the possibility of integrating popular POS (Point of Sale) systems like Toast or Cash with Venmo directly. This integration would enable users to request receipts directly from the POS system to be sent to their Venmo account, removing the step of capturing a photo of the receipt altogether and avoiding the complexity of building OCR functionality directly into the Venmo app.

MARKET RESEARCH
To explore how viable this solution is, I performed some research into POS systems for the hospitality industry in America. According to various industry reports, the adoption of POS systems has been increasing steadily over the years. It is estimated that over 80% - 90% of restaurants in the United States use POS systems to manage their operations. This high adoption rate is driven by the numerous benefits that POS systems offer to hospitality businesses, including streamlined order-taking, efficient payment processing, inventory management, and detailed sales reporting. Given this research, this solution felt feasible and worth exploring.

With the research conducted above, I started to design a streamlined feature for Venmo users. The solution incorporates an integration of data from POS systems and the ability to calculate amounts directly in the app.

UPDATED BOTTOM NAV
The first design decision I had to make was how to best introduce this new functionality. My initial idea was to create a separate tab in the bottom nav, dedicated to managing receipts that the user sends from the POS system to their account after a meal. When a user has a new receipt available, a badge indicator next to the Receipt icon will appear. 

FIT INTO EXISTING NAV
As I got further along in the design process, I recognized that Venmo’s business strategy is to strongly push Cards and Crypto and is unlikely to remove these sections from their navigation. To explore another option, I added a Pending Receipts section to the existing Transactions tab under the user’s Profile tab. 

DECISION
Without context into Venmo’s business priorities and my personal lack of interest in a Venmo credit card or crypto, I decided that highlighting the new functionality for this feature was more important and could be reverted after significant feature adoption. Additionally, I strongly believe this new functionality would be seen as an instant value add for a significant portion of Venmo users. 

RECEIPT EDITING & FINAL CALCULATIONS
A question that came up during the design process, was should we offer the ability to edit item amounts and tip if we are getting data directly from a POS system? While there is value in providing this functionality, I decided it was not necessary in the first version. As more users start using this feature and we gain more data into the accuracy of the POS integration, we can always iterate and add enhanced editing capabilities.  

NOTIFICATION 
Similar to existing functionality, I added a notification to ensure users are aware of the requests being made successfully.