When I talk to people about the bike benefit, they’re usually concerned about two things: how the financing and tax reductions really work and how complicated the process will be compared to walking into a store and buying a bike themselves.
Leasing a benefit bike means, in fact, entering a contract often for several years, which is something that people are not (yet) used to doing when it comes to bikes. And it is indeed our job here at Vapaus to make this commitment as simple and transparent as possible.
Challenge(s)
Vapaus and our offering have evolved a lot over the past few years, taking us now all the way to Sweden. Whilst our software has kept up with the most demanding requirements of our growing scale, we have had little time to focus on making the platform look and feel like Vapaus, as well as exceed modern user experience expectations.
This means for example providing a smooth, homogeneous experience on all devices or giving our users the right information at the right time.
That's why we are extremely happy to announce that we have now released a new updated Vapaus app for all existing and future benefit bike users!
Solution(s)
Our entire product team has been involved in building a robust and scalable software from the ground up, but in essence this project was a real design and front-end effort.
We interviewed both Vapaus personnel and users to find out what the most important pain points to address were, and we even had a large scale survey that almost 500 of you have answered - a huge thank you for that! 💛 This is invaluable data which helps us make the best decisions possible.
Another important part of designing new interfaces is to research what is already out there. That includes of course our own apps too: yes, they had their defects, but there’s always a reason why things were built in a certain way, even when they might have not aged well. It also means looking at what other good practices exist on the market - What’s the best “login experience” you’ve seen? What about the worst “payment experience”? These experiences are everywhere in our daily lives and it is not our job to reinvent them, but rather to find the most suitable solution for our own particular use case. 💡
Finally, a key aspect of this project was to make our Vapaus app look more like Vapaus - maintaining consistency in the user interface with the brand's look and feel is crucial for fostering brand identity and user engagement. A cohesive UI design that reflects the brand's visual elements, such as colors, typography, and overall aesthetic, creates a sense of familiarity and trust for users. It also reinforces brand recognition, and promotes a seamless user experience across various touchpoints, strengthening the connection between the user and the brand.
Based on the research conducted, our designer Mika creates first, second and sometimes tenth versions of the app prototypes which are then tested and challenged by every kind of stakeholder we can think of. Perfect software doesn’t exist, but following these good practices helps us make the best possible decisions.
Once everything is agreed on (pending some “last tweaks” as Mika likes to describe them 🤓), our team of developers takes over. This time it was our trio of front-end experts - Luc, Jan and Tobi - who took the lead. All in all the development took around two months. I’m not going to lie: everyone involved was very happy, but also quite surprised that we made the deadline. Past experiences have shown us that it’s not always that common in software development!
Result(s)
So here we are! On 11th of March, we released the new version of our app. With several tens of thousands of users affected, I’ll gladly admit that I was a little bit stressed 😁 - Although everything had been thoroughly tested by our "director of breaking things" Ansku and some little helpers, we knew to expect to have missed a few spots but then… nothing. Everything went smoothly!
Our product manager Lotta even tested our feedback form once more, worried that it was broken and that was the reason why we were not getting reports on bugs. But no - a few hours in we got our first ticket, and as I write these words three days after the release, we’re still looking at only two bugs which have both been already fixed. Needless to say, I’m super proud of our team!
What next?
After releasing the new version of our app for bike shops last year and now the one for you, beneficiaries, our front-end team will now be switching their focus towards employers and our B2B interfaces. So more new challenges ahead that we welcome with excitement!
In the meantime, we really hope you like the new app. We’re proud to be the only benefit bike provider with whom you can choose a bike, sign a contract and ride your new bike home all on the same day. Together, let’s make leasing with tax benefits as simple as walking into a bike shop! 💪
If you haven't had the chance to explore the updated app yet, take a peek! Log in to your account, or as a new customer, open a Vapaus user account here. Detailed instructions on registration can be found here.
And if acquiring an employee benefit bike has merely been under consideration for you so far, now is the perfect time to explore the bicycle benefit more closely. Imagine the joy of hopping onto your new bicycle as soon as the warmth of the spring sun is upon us again! ☀️
See here how it works - How to get a benefit bike.
Read next: The total cost of a benefit bike and the savings made in tax