Overview

At the dawn of the 21st century, the notion of digital transactions were still in their infancy. Since then, they have grown, matured, and taken their rightful place on the stage of user experience.

It is now theorized that we may be in a fully digital economy by 2050, and as such, digital transactions will continue to play a major role in our practices as UI/UX designers.

Today we’ll be taking a look at modern digital transactions and how to design for them effectively.

Transactions in a nutshell

So what exactly is a transaction? Really, it’s not much more complicated than

“I give you something you want, and in return, you give me
something I want.”

Seems simple enough, and people have been doing this for thousands of years; nothing new…or is there?

As our society progressed, things like ownership, stake, conditions, responsibilities, and stipulations became enmeshed with transactions, prompting the formation of things like contracts and corporations, to fulfill many of these conditional agreements.

Fast-forward to 2022, and digital transactions are beginning to truly change the landscape of how we conduct commerce.

Digital transactions are different

Digital transactions are inherently different than physical transactions for a variety of reasons, some obvious, but some much more subtle.

Typically, digital transactions differ from physical transactions in that:

• They typically use tokens of currency rather than currency itself.
• They are programmatically-driven and can contain special instructions for how they are to be carried out, and under what conditions.
• They allow a precise digital ledger to be held and validated by a third-party with minimal overhead.
• They allow a person to essentially prove ownership of transacted items using these records.

All of these differences are crucial in creating trust between transacting parties, while maintaining the ability to verify the legitimacy of the transactions, and ensuring that any additional stipulations or requirements are wholly met before the transaction occurs.

Now that we understand these key differences, let’s talk about the UI and UX of designing digital transactions.

Designing digital transactions

Crucially, we want to make sure that our users understand exactly what’s going on, how much they are looking to pay, send, etc. and (where applicable) what they’ll be getting in return.

There are three elements the all high-quality digital transactions share, and these elements should form the basis of your designs when prompting users to transact.

Transparency

Your user should always be able to see exactly what they’re giving and what they’re getting, even if it’s just sending money without any form of remuneration.

All fees should be included, and there shouldn’t be any surprises after they tap the “confirm” button.

Clarity

Next, you user should be able to clearly see the data associated with their transaction, including numbers of items, when this transaction is slated to go through (if not right now), where their items are going, and any other steps they will need to take in order to receive their portion of the transaction.

This is easier said than done, as there can be quite a few pieces of information with respect to these transactions, so make sure you break up the process according to how your users consider these pieces.

As an example, you may prompt the user for shipping information before you ask for payment information, or visa versa depending upon their expectations.

Confirmation

Lastly, your user should always receive a confirmation that their transaction either did or did not go through in the form of a notification, email, and receipt.

You’ll want to layer these wherever possible to ensure that your user is very aware that a transaction occurred, how much it was for, what they’re slated to get, and if they DIDN’T initiate the transaction, having the ability to cancel it and lock-down their account for security should be available for them front and center.

Bringing it all together

Digital transactions have completely changed the way that we conduct commerce in the 21st century.

The major differences of digital transactions from physical transactions are:

• They typically use tokens of currency rather than currency itself.
• They are programmatically-driven and can contain special instructions for how they are to be carried out, and under what conditions.
• They allow a precise digital ledger to be held and validated by a third-party with minimal overhead.
• They allow a person to essentially prove ownership of transacted items using these records.

and we can help to ensure higher-quality digital transactions by designing these exchanges in ways that promote:

• Transparency: user knows what’s going on with transaction in terms of what they’re giving, getting, and any charges associated.
• Clarity: user can clearly access all data regarding the transaction including billing, shipping, and personal information.
• Confirmation: user is given verbose and multi-layered confirmation that ensures they know the transaction went through, and what the next steps are.

By designing digital transactions in this way, you can help to cultivate a higher sense of trust in your product/service, while helping your users get to their desired outcomes from such exchanges.