Snappable

Snappable is a product built on research from Robin Hood Foundation’s Fellowship program. The goal of the fellowship is to evaluate existing systems and create a digital solution that addresses a pressing social issue–access to fresh food.

Timeline

Role

Co-founder &
Product Design Lead

1 Year

Cross Functional Team

Business Development, User Research, Engineering Team

Problem

NYC Government runs a money matching program that doubles SNAP Benefits (formerly called “Food Stamps”) for fresh food, in the form of paper vouchers. For shoppers, these vouchers (called “Health Bucks”) are used like cash to redeem fresh food directly from farmers at markets and produce stands, and helps shoppers pay for increasing costs of food due to inflation.

But long delays in government reimbursements to farmers is harming their ability to continue to provide fresh food, waiting up to 24 weeks to receive reimbursement. This reduces their capacity to provide and participate in markets to serve residents with already low access to fresh foods.

Goals

  1. Digitize the paper voucher system and create a model to expedite voucher payments that keeps farmers in business and operating in areas of low access to fresh food

  2. Design a working prototype that addresses the needs of stakeholders for pitching to potential investors as well as fellowship & accelerator programs

Indirect Goals

  1. Help low-income New Yorkers maximize their benefits

  2. Reduce costs of printing, storing & managing physical vouchers for NYC Government

Research

Based on Data from DOHMH, we started by visiting Farmers Markets in high food insecure areas with low access to fresh food: East New York, Harlem, and Bushwick Brooklyn. We built relationships with Market managers and networks, and listened to shoppers and the farmers that serve them.

“When the market first opened, farmers left when they found out they’d be paid in vouchers rather than cash or cards”

Market Manager, Harlem

“I don’t have a lot of cash, so it’s difficult to pay for heat, light, and tolls when reimbursements don’t come quickly”

Farmer, Brooklyn

Stakeholder Interviews: Voucher Pain Points

SNAP Shoppers

Damage and loss with physical currency

No change is given (Vouchers are $2 increments)

Stigmatizing to use because farmers don’t want to accept them

Regional Farmers

Out-of-pocket costs to mail-in vouchers for reimbursement

Months-long reimbursement delays

Financial instability due to consistent delays

Market Managers

Bookkeeping for Health Bucks is a tedious process

Errors take 4-8+ hours to correct

Health Bucks require in-person pickup for a limited pickup windows

Current Journey Map: Farmers

To fully understand their pain points and identify key moments in the process where a digital tool could help address their issues

New Stakeholders

When talking with Farmers, we learned farmers are sending their Healthbucks to a non-profit in upstate NY, the Farmers Market Federation for processing instead of the City.

We traveled to the Farmers Market Federation’s annual conference in Utica, NY to directly interview the voucher processor to learn more about how they work with DOHMH, who distributes and funds the program

Process

Landscape Research

After coming back from the Farmer’s Market Conference, we started auditing how other states are solving this issue and found a couple standouts. We also went a step farther and researched SNAP Currencies, Voucher Payment sites, and fintech more broadly.

1. California – Automatic Rebates

Automatic rebates at point-of-purchase to their SNAP Card through the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot is possible because of government investment in efficient tech

2. Michigan – App for Vouchers

Public and private sectors collaborate with tech platforms to make it easier for shoppers to access and use their food stamp benefits, with an app called Fresh Incentives.

SNAP Currencies

  • Types of currencies (tokens, paper)

  • Types of vouchers

  • How high-volume states approach

Voucher Payment Sites

  • Farmers markets & farmstands

  • Bodegas and corner stores

  • Supermarket chains

Technology

  • FinTech being used (SNAP & Non-SNAP)

  • Potential competitors and partners

  • Gov’t programs investing in new tech

Opportunities

    • Ability to get change to the penny

    • Digitization means not losing physical vouchers

    • Tech can keep track of voucher expiration

    • Tech can be set up to automatically use vouchers that will expire first to maximize benefits

    • Vouchers become equivalent to cash

    • Fast reimbursements

    • Less of a financial burden

    • No out-of-pocket costs for shipping & transportation

    • USDA Funding exists for pilot programs for voucher technology

    • Existing tech is typically addressing State-funded vouchers only

    • NY State is already laying groundwork for a pilot to do this

    • NYC is interested but doesn’t have capacity to do this themselves

    • Expected increase in funding 4-12x in the next Farm Bill

    • Prevent weather damage & loss for Farmers and Shoppers

    • Time savings: Farmers, NYC, Market Managers

    • Cost savings: Shoppers, Farmers, NYC

    • Ability to capture accurate data

    • Nothing to download

    • Technology already built into phones (last 10 years)

    • Familiarity and ubiquity of QR Codes since the beginning of the pandemic

    • Other FinTech also using QR Codes (Cash App, Venmo)

    • Existing companies in the space, but nobody is doing it well

    • Vision: A single tool that can be used across different redemption sites like grocery stores and farmers markets

    • Vision: Shoppers having an all-in-one wallet for SNAP and vouchers

Feature Prioritization

Planning ahead with our engineering team, we started to explore ways tech can implement key features for SNAP Shoppers and Regional Farmers to address pain points, with the expectation that things will shift as research and testing progress.

SNAP Shoppers

A centralized way to manage vouchers with easy-to-use UI

Regional Farmers

Expedite payment by digitizing vouchers with timely direct deposits

Market Managers

Automated bookkeeping and document submission

Initial Prototype Buildout

Evaluative Research & User Testing

We collaborated closely with our User Researcher who led 6 Co-design Sessions at Robin Hood offices in Brooklyn and virtually over Zoom, as well as 8 Usability Testing Sessions on-site at Farmers Markets in NYC

  • Method: Desirability Testing

    Key learnings:

    • Open to digital adoption of it’s centralized and automated

    • Wanted an option in case their phone was dead, or no cell service is available, or if they were shopping for an older relative

    • Don’t care where the voucher money is coming from, only want to see total amount available

    • Wants a way to approve a transaction in case the farmer makes a mistake when entering price

    How we changed the design:

    • Added a card version as a backup

    • A single QR Code per shopper (currency selection is automated on the backend but not visible on shopper’s side): for both digital and physical cards

    • Added an approval modal for shoppers to reject an incorrect amount

  • Method: Usability Testing

    Key learnings:

    • Farmers are open and willing to adopt any system my could expedite this process. All Farmers we spoke with have smartphones.

    • Our core testing group were are native Spanish speakers

    • Farmer’s literacy levels vary

    • Use a handful of p2p payment apps already (Square, Cash App, etc.)

    • Some keep handwritten bookkeeping to track voucher and token sales throughout the day

    • Currently have multiple people who can checkout on busy days

    How we changed the design:

    • Changed Language to Spanish for testing

    • Needed to reduce text for accessibility

    • Borrow UX Patterns from apps the Farmers mentioned for a familiar and an easy transition

    • Create a way to visualize how vouchers are being tracked in the tool

    • Added multiple farmers phone numbers to the same account on the backend

  • Method: Co-design Sessions

    Key learning:

    • Market Managers empathize with farmers and are willing to adopt a new system if it serves them.

    • It would be a plus if it could automate internal voucher bookkeeping process

    • When voucher serial numbers are not in succession, it takes a long time to fix for managers, and happens often

    • Need a way to authorize vendors at the market

    • Need a way to refund shoppers any unused money back onto their EBT Cards

    How we changed the design:

    • There’s the ability to track each transaction at every step so voucher numbers are always in succession

    • Created a new flow that authorizes farmers to sell at the market

    • Added “refund” to wording on charge shopper button, so Market Managers are aware they can enter negative amounts to refund shoppers

Partnership Exploration

While testing at GrowNYC Farmers Markets, we were approached by GrowNYC and learned their internal market currencies ran into similar problems. They launched a partnership with OTC Cards in 2021, a system that operates a similarly to Healthbucks. Shoppers redeem money from their OTC card in exchange for “Greenmarket Bucks” (the internal GrowNYC voucher.)

But they’ve already reached capacity to print, store, and manage these Greenmarket bucks, and still want to partner with more insurers to offer OTC redemption. We explored what it would look like if Snappable worked directly with a large market network to digitize their internal vouchers.

Together, we identified key tactics (below) for digitizing the process and providing value internally and externally. Ultimately the partnership exploration was paused to explore other venture-scale business models.

Whitelabelling the product

Voucher lifecycle tracking

OTC Partners’ Individual Data

Revised Prototype:
Key Learnings

SNAP Shoppers

Problem: Didn’t want the balance to be so visible at checkout

Update: Move the balance outside the QR Code screen, so the UI is consistent with the Farmer Dashboard

Regional
Farmers

Problem: was confused by the screen “Select your role at the market”

Update: Replace screens with unique signup links based on user type (farmer, shopper, market manager) and highlighting benefits

Market
Managers

Problem: Some managers manage multiple markets

Update: Adding a market Admin who can add market managers to multiple markets, as well as Farmers to the markets asynchronously

KEY Results

3

Key Fellowships

First Check

Secured First Investment

$170k

Pre-seed Funding

Techstars

Accelerator Entry

Results

Product Screens

  • Signup Flows

  • Logged In Screens

  • Onboarding Flows (In progress)

Long-term Vision: An All-in-one Digital Wallet

All-in-one wallet for SNAP users, fully integrated with native wallet apps

Next Steps

QA with Engineering Team

  • Screen review: Live vs. Figma

  • Collaboratively prioritizing

  • Creating a backlog in Jira of minor visual updates

Partner with DOHMH to pilot digital Health Bucks 

  • Define a timeline and scope of work to share with potential investors

  • Start to define tech requirements

Revisiting Go-to-market strategy

  • Defining impact based on need vs. amount of people helped

  • Explore building for grocery stores as a first product, and offer bridge loans for farmers in the interim

Learnings

Internal team trust is everything

  • Importance of aligning on team norms while working on a virtual team

  • How to create an environment that values openness, accountability & constructive feedback

  • Airing on over-communicating for team alignment is key in a constantly pivoting company

How to work with a shifting strategy

  • How to pivot deliverables as business advice is consistently being presented

  • Ways to build a venture scalable business model

  • How to align the business strategy with company values

Optimizing workflows & collaboration

  • How to organize as we grow, utilizing Notion

  • When to stop to test assumptions vs. build

  • How to align on internal workflows between the design and engineering teams based on capacity

Potential Impact

1.8 Million

SNAP shoppers still struggle
to pay for fresh food

23 Weeks

Wait time expedited for Farmer reimbursements

12%

NYC Cost Savings
(on printing alone)