2022
🤝Collaborated with 1 product designer and 1 UX researcher
Executive summary
Context
The Singpass app Inbox enables government agencies to securely reach 3.5 million users. As more agencies turned to Inbox as a trusted channel for nationwide messages, especially amid rising SMS phishing scams in 2022, the team worked on improving its design to support future scalability.
Overall impact
Each month, over 30,000 users rely on the proposed categories to filter their Inbox — helping those with high message volumes quickly surface what matters most.
Problem: Rising volume of messages has caused public dissatisfaction and risks eroding user trust in the Singpass brand.
How-might-we's
How might we help users better organise Singpass app Inbox messages?
How might we give users better control over what notifications they receive?
People were getting upset about messages in Inbox
Design approach
To minimize unfamiliarity towards new designs amid scams, the team opted for small design tweaks, focusing on how users categorize messages. We proceeded with an in-person moderated card sort to understand users' mental models better.
Participants are tasked to organise and also rank these 30 inbox messages
Findings
Participants were task-focused and saw Inbox as a place that communicated the things they needed to do. Common themes were:
Urgent, for action
Clear course of action, often with implied consequence. (eg. fines, offence committed, unauthorised use of account)
Notices, govt service matters
Acknowledgement that user has action they have taken outside of app (e.g. form submitted or notice on personal matters)
Security, Singpass account, system
System initiated, regarding account or security matters (eg. new browser log in, Singpass info retrieved)
Information, news
General information that is widely available on public channels (eg. budget, digital IC now accepted)
We also learnt about how users prioritised messages:
Design solutions for better organisation
Message categories
Based on our card sorting exercise, we chose the categories "For Action" , "Transactions", "News & Info" as they are relevant to users, clear & distinct for government agencies to tag their messages and objective to one’s life stages.
Alternative categories like Money, Health, or Security were too personal and wouldn't resonate with every Singpass user.
Message threads
Referencing how emails group messages from the same discussion into 1 common thread, we grouped messages with the same title and sender (government agency) into 1 thread.
Pin messages
Referencing messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, we created a pin feature for users to flag messages they need to act on at a later time, like passport expiries.
Note: Different interaction patterns for iOS and Android
Design solutions for better control
Notification settings
We learned that users prioritize time-sensitive actions. We ensured these messages always trigger notifications. Users can choose to mute transactional or informational messages in their settings. This approach supports scalable inbox growth as we collaborate with more government agencies.
Disclaimer: The designs of this part were done by the other product designer.
Overall impact
30,000+ users use the proposed categories to filter their Inbox messages
15,000+ users have pinned important messages in their Inbox
What could have been done better?
Although we implemented design improvements, the broader scaling of Inbox and collaboration with additional government agencies did not proceed as initially anticipated.
Due to confidentiality of project, more details will be shared in person.