Flowe, the account that regenerates the planet one payment at a time

Flowe isn’t your typical online payment account. Yes, it’s owned by a large banking group (Mediolanum Group), and yes, it’s exclusively digital. So far, nothing new.

What makes Flowe unique is its rethinking of banking services for the new generation. Not so much in terms of tools (mobile app) and interactions, but in terms of substance: what’s the purpose of a bank in 2020? Is it still just for paying?

Flowe's answer was: no. Transferring or storing money isn’t an end in itself (as with traditional banks) but a means. A means for what? For transforming lives and reshaping society. If this is true, then a bank becomes a fundamental agent of change, enabling social change and individual growth.

The Flowe app was created to allow anyone to use their money to achieve their own personal growth goals and take care of the planet, as part of a community.

The focus of the app isn’t money, but what you want to use it for. Choosing Flowe is also a choice in how you use a bank: everything is based on a mobile app with a prepaid card made from biodegradable material or wood, strictly sourced from certified forests. When asked, Flowe plants a fruit tree in Guatemala, which offsets CO2 emissions and provides employment to a local family.

Flowe seeks to rewrite the rules of the game and reinvent its market by blending finance, education, entertainment, and gaming. Additionally, it’s committed to making people more aware of how they use their economic resources, with regard to both spending and saving.

Cosmico + Flowe 🚀

In 2020, Flowe had to face the number one challenge of any start-up: acquiring customers in a world saturated with payment and banking service offerings. It succeeded and took on the second (and most difficult) challenge of start-ups: scaling. Becoming big means being lightning-fast: fast in evolving products, fast in innovating, and fast in resolving bugs.

To win this competition, one ingredient is crucial: quick access to the right talent. This applies not just to hiring but also to their involvement throughout the project’s duration. That's why Flowe turned to Cosmico's talent matching service: our ambition is to provide any company with the talent it needs to grow and thrive. When needed, with the needed skills. We call it Talent-As-A-Service. Thus, in just a few days, Flowe was able to create its own team: a UX Writer/Content Designer, two UX Designers, and three mobile developers, two for iOS and one for Android.

A bank that wants to be an app and not vice versa

 With a user base of over 600,000 people (with an average age of 29), Flowe's services are constantly evolving. The mobile team is always on the move, exploring new features and revising existing ones. Having a digital product/service means constantly conducting tests and trials in order to always improve the results. For this reason, the speed provided by Cosmico is essential, as it not only helps the client but also satisfies the ambitions of many freelancers and remote workers.

From redesigning the in-app onboarding process to developing new features and resolving bugs, Cosmico's talent has streamlined and refreshed the flow, both on the code and UI/UX sides.

Along with the contribution of the developers, the work done by the UX Writer & Content Designer was fundamental. She orchestrated the type and order of content for digital products and services and then chose the right words. To be matter-of-fact and give some concrete examples, our talent worked side by side Flowe's UX Designer and UX Researcher to update and improve the onboarding copies and microcopies, create new features (from the point of insertion and interlacing what already existed to creating label names, to making tutorials, up to writing the editorial emails to talk about them), and design new services (from interviewing user personas to producing prototypes and creating the right tone of voice). The need, more generally, was therefore to update and keep the app’s tone of voice consistent to make it universally accessible.

In fact, the app is used by very diverse people in terms of age, gender, and purpose of use (working adults, parents, minors, those needing an account for travel expenses, and more). Having someone dedicated to UX Writing in the team is necessary to establish an inclusive type of writing that’s comprehensible to all, making the use of the app easy at all times.

Why we believe in Flowe

Flowe is the account that regenerates the planet one payment at a time, which is why the development and continuous update of the app are projects that have a positive impact in the payment and banking sector: they help accelerate the path towards sustainable models. Along with caring for the planet, Flowe has a clear mission: to help young people build their own future by developing their potential. It’s an objective that closely aligns with Cosmico’s own mission.