I have chosen to do a usability review of Stockpile, an app and website based brokerage that allows you to purchase stocks by the dollar. You can buy, sell and even gift shares of most major stocks for a minimum purchase amount. I have based my findings on the following combination of heuristics by Jacob Nielson and Whitney Hess. I chose the ones that stand out the most in terms of importance and value, to me as a designer.

In order of what I saw and felt first and foremost, here is the analysis:

1.Design and Aesthetic: This is the first thing a user sees. So if it doesn’t appeal to you in the get go then somewhere a switch goes off. With Stockpile, the design is minimalist, in simple cooling colours of Azure, Nazy and Seafoam on a white background. When the app initially startsup, the focus is on the Stockpile logo, but it soon switches over to the login and password page. After sign in you are on the main homepage of the app. The aesthetics are simple with a focus on clearly communicating what is essential and a graph showing the rise and fall of the users stock portfolio over a day, week, month or overall, depending on the users selection. Startup ScreenLogin/Password ScreenStockpile User Home Page
Recognition Rather than Recall: Stockpile uses a actual company logos to represent stocks, rather than just their trading names. To a novice, those logos are what one connects with and recalls, rather than having to type in the name of a stock or shooting arrows in the dark. As consumers we see a plethora of logos and brands, and as individuals we connect with some on a deeper level than others. This obviously makes the process of buying stocks or adding them to a watch list a lot easier. Not to mention it is visually uncluttered.
User Stock PortfolioWatchlist functions allows the user to "watch" selected stocks before making any decision regarding purchase.
Don't Present Obstacles: Whitney Hess says that designs should be obvious with intentional paths for the user to follow. Stockpile provides the user the ease to quickly assimilate how well the stocks in her/his portfolio are currently doing and with a single click change the line graphs view from Day to Week to Month or Maximum, i.e the analysis of the stock portfolio from the moment the user began it. This is probably the most attractive feature of the app/site, as all i want to know as a user and investor is how well my stocks are doing. Furthermore, the Stockpile allows you to simply click on any stock symbol of any company to see the current share price, how many points it has either gone up or down by and again the line graph with the different view options. So buying and selling for a new user is a simple task without any complication.Past weeks viewMaximum PortfolioMarvel Stock Analysis
Provide Strong Information Scent: At the bottom of the mobile app, the symbols/icons are clear and represent language that users have become accustomed to. The magnifying glass represents a simple search. However, it also lists 4 statements that are clickable i.e Top Stocks, Popular Themes, Own What You Love and Recommended For You. Each of these further takes you into a curated selection of stocks to help users make the best informed decisions for their investment. The lightbulb symbol takes the user to a learning section of Stockpile that imparts basic knowledge written in simplistic and easy to understand language on the basics of the stock market and what an investor should be looking for.Help and Documentation section of Stockpile
5. Be Credible and Trustworthy: When it comes to taking a persons money and making an investment they require, the foremost point for me is how reliable and trustworthy the said company is. I want to know that i added a certain amount of cash to my Stockpile account, invested it in a stock of my choosing and then got the immediate confirmation in not only my account with the app/site but also in my email. Companies like Stockpile are regulated by governing bodies and investments are insured unto 500K.

6. Make things efficient: I like that Stockpile is so simple and easy to use. After the initial 3 days of linking ones bank to the Stockpile account, buying and selling of stocks is as simple as a click away. The entire experience becomes enjoyable and as a newbie in the stock trading market, with small amounts to invest, i have become even more interested in how the market works.

Final Analysis:

Despite it being such a great and easy to use app, Stockpile seems to miss out on keeping consistency between the website and the app. As a user, i will not use the desktop site but will only stay on the mobile site. It suddenly loses the simplistic and more efficient manner of working, in terms of layout and visibility of system status. Secondly, the app seems to be more appropriate for a younger generation or new entrants in the market, albeit small time investors like myself. So there seems to be an entire demographic of serious stock traders that Stockpile is missing out on. Unless their goal was to only target the youth and novices. At the end of the day, its still a fantastic app. And as a young mother with a 4 year old, im quite happy to stick with it and continue quietly investing on behalf of my son.

Ansa Bandukda

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