A soul of a dead person faced Charon, the ancient ferryman that escorts souls to the underworld across the river Styx. The soul felt anxious, as they didn’t have any cash with them to pay Charon the fee. 

Charon grunted with his husky voice: “You can send money with Revolut. Transactions fees are low, and you can send money in 25+ foreign currencies. What’s that, you don’t have a Revolut app? Here is the QR code with a link to make a payment”. 

 

Charon Hades

 

Nobody can tell for sure whether Charon really exists. But the Revolut app is indeed a real success that even Charon would be glad to use. So it’s no wonder you are curious about how it managed to become popular and profitable. The JatApp team has been developing fintech solutions since 2015 and we have a good eye for quality products that bring unique value to users. And in this article, we’re going to tell you how to create a mobile banking app that your users will love just like Revolut.  

Many fintech unicorns are out there. Why Revolut?

There are many successful fintech startups that got a valuation over $1 million, so why is the case of Revolut special? Because the history of Revolut success is the most instructive for other ambitious fintech entrepreneurs. Let’s see what lessons you can learn from the case of Revolut. 

Lesson 1: Ease of use

The main reason why Revolut has become so popular and profitable is that it’s very, VERY easy to use. When people interact with financial services, they naturally feel anxious to do something wrong and lose their hard-working earnings. That’s why simplicity and clarity should be the main characteristics of any fintech product. 

 

Revolut transaction

 

Revolut is the best example of a fintech app that has a simple and clear user interface/user experience (UI/UX) design. The application enables users to make a payment, exchange currency, or even buy gold in a couple of clicks. As a result, users feel calm and comfortable making money transactions. 

 

Revolut app commodities

Lesson 2: Meteoric growth

Revolut reported a net income of $31 million for 2021 and announced that the company has become profitable. In addition, Revolut has created a customer base of 16 million users by growing the number of its clients by 40% for the period between 2020 and 2021. 

Fintechs get into the spotlight from time to time, but nothing quite extraordinary and groundbreaking has happened so far. Revolut was working at a comfortable pace without making any stormy waves within the fintech industry. No hype, no artificial intelligence tricks with ChatGPT, no crypto and NFT extravaganza — so what’s the subtle art of a Revolut’s silent yet eye-watering growth? 

There are two major reasons: virality and engagement.

Virality

Revolut’s products did go viral without making unnecessary noise. To achieve this result, the company unleashed the power of both user and partner referral networks to attract new customers. 

Revolut frequently combines a referral call-to-action with offering a new feature to its users. As an example, if a user wishes to use cryptocurrencies in the Revolut app, they must first refer three people. By linking referrals to transactions and features, users get a benefit of diving deeper into the product, thereby increasing their loyalty to the platform and expanding the app’s user base. 

 

Revolut app referral program

 

To expand its network reach, Revolut leverages partnerships with other companies. For instance, in December 2018, the company collaborated with InComm to produce prepaid cards for Wilko stores across the United Kingdom. Another example is the joint campaign by Revolut and Orange Polska, where users, who registered for the Orange Flex mobile application and Revolut, could get 100 PLN. 

In both cases, Revolut acquires new users through collaborations with other companies. These partnerships also promote user commitment since the new account has “free” money that can only be spent through the Revolut app.

You don’t necessarily have to create hype around your product. Instead, rewarding your customers and cooperating with companies that have a shared target audience can make your app viral amongst those who will really use it. 

Engagement

Instead of trying to chase clout, Revolut successfully keeps its users engaged by constantly offering them products and features that create a “wow” effect. A constant engagement with the app makes the users feel committed to the product. 

 

Revolut price comparison

Products price comparison feature in Revolut

For Revolut, the product is fundamental to the business and it plays the first fiddle in driving growth. Consequently, the company focuses on launching new products or features, refining existing ones, and removing unpopular ones to improve the user experience.

From time to time, we can see new Revolut app features that engage users in one way or another and attract new customers at the same time. 

Lesson 3: Embedding core banking system

To perform financial transactions legally, your company must be a traditional bank or partner with one, and serve customers on its behalf. Revolut, on the other hand, went whale hunting and got a full banking license. 

A full banking license enabled the company to launch new products and services without relying on any third parties, even though acquiring a regular bank’s status is a tedious and expensive task. But in the case of such a huge fintech super-app like Revolut, opting for a full banking license was the right approach. 

However, there are other ways to embed core banking services into your fintech product. The first one is a so-called fintech license that is actually a limited version of a banking license. You register your company as fintech and get a right to handle various financial transactions, but such serious services like credit issuing, investment, or insurance won’t be available without involvement of a fully licensed bank. 

The last and our favorite option is banking-as-a-service (BaaS). You delegate all legal and infrastructural legwork to a BaaS provider, which is an incumbent bank or another fintech with a full banking license. A BaaS provider takes care of all regulations and integration of financial services into your app while you pay a fee from every transaction or make a fixed subscription payment. 

 

BaaS

People love Revolut for specific reasons

As you might have guessed, Revolut isn’t just a “cool” app for no reason. It offers valuable benefits and satisfies specific needs of its customers. The list below are the reasons why people express a puppy love towards Revolut. Take these facts into consideration when building your own mobile banking app:

  • Simplicity of making transactions. We have noted that money transferring with Revolut is a no-brainer. The user flow for making a payment is short and simple, so users have little chances to confuse something and make a wrong payment. Sending money isn’t the worst nightmare any longer, and Revolut users are happy about that. 
  • User-friendly interface. Since simplicity is the hallmark of Revolut, it is natural that the app’s UI is appealing to users’ eyes. The app includes simple colors and action buttons that clearly state what function they perform. A user’s bank account balance, payment details, or expenses are visualized, but don’t overload users with too many graphs and dashboards. Revolut’s UI makes users relaxed and confident that they navigate through the app properly.
    Revolut interface

  • Good customer service. Revolut’s customer service is another centerpiece of users’ devotion to the product. Whatever happens, customer support managers are available and ready to help with any questions. Even though a user fails to understand how to use the app or something really went wrong, Revolut’s user support will always be there to fix a problem.
    Revolut customer support

  • Low transaction costs. That’s the most critical success factor of Revolut. Frictionless payments with low transaction fees made the app popular with many people because the product offered a value incumbent banks were too greedy to provide. 
  • Offline accessibility. The company enabled its app to work offline, which is particularly useful for customers who travel a lot and may not have  constant Internet connection. It’s a good example of user engagement with a “wow” feature we’ve discussed above.
  • Useful savings management tools. Apart from doing various financial operations, the app’s users are particularly satisfied with the ability to track their buying behaviors and create various financial goals, for which they save money in separate virtual vaults. In such a way, the app enables users not only to make various transactions, but also manage their savings wisely and become financially literate.
    Revolut savings tool
  • All-in-one solution for various purposes. Revolut is a super-app after all, which means that users have a wide range of products and services rolled into one application. Payments, currency exchange, crypto, investment, commodities purchase, you name it — everything is in one application. If you want to scale your fintech business, becoming a super-app is your go-to option that can pay off. 

Tech expertise is at the core of success

Everything we have discussed about Revolut success wouldn’t have happened without robust software development technologies used to build such a great super-app. Revolut success became a real thing thanks to a profound expertise of its development teams that worked on the product’s development. 

If you’re going to develop a mobile banking app similar to Revolut, having a team of tech professionals is essential. JatApp can provide you with our talents that have successfully developed such fintech products as a payroll system, payment gateway, and an app for splitting bills. We are a PCI DSS certified company, which is why you can be sure that you’ll get a totally secure quality fintech application. And 99% of our customers can confirm that. 

With our expertise and your vision, we can create a fintech product that will  provide unparalleled value to your customers. Contact us today to schedule a call and tell us about your idea.