KhunThong
Making Bill Splitting Effortless and Fun
#UXDesign #Research #VisualDesign #FinTech #RedDotDesignAward #ChatBot
Role: UX Designer and Researcher
Deliverable: LINE Chatbot, 2022
Owner: Kasikornbank (KBank)
Team members: Sasicha May Thongkhaoaon, Vipitakhun Kantaravichaiwat, Nijawadee Likitchatchawankul
A Quick Recap
In 2022, I joined the KhunThong team to refine its user experience and address challenges uncovered through real-world usage. KhunThong is a solution designed for seamless bill-splitting within LINE group chats—a unique and practical feature aimed at simplifying financial transactions among friends or groups.
By integrating directly into LINE, KhunThong makes managing shared expenses effortless. It lets users request payments, track contributions, and organize expenses—all within the comfort of a familiar social messaging app.
Scan here to add KhunThong as a friend on LINE
Why Split Bills with KhunThong?
Fun Fact: KhunThong draws its name from a Thai talking bird known for its quick wit and charm, reflecting the app's ability to make bill-splitting simple and delightful.
Seamless Convenience Without a New App
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No need to download a separate app! KhunThong integrates directly into LINE group chats, ensuring a smooth connection with friends.
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Enjoy secure transactions backed by trusted bank-grade technology.
Enhanced Bill-Splitting Experience
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Create bills manually, upload receipts, or scan receipts with OCR technology.
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KhunThong converts your data into clear, shareable summaries that your friends can pay directly—effortlessly and efficiently.
Reminds without
Hard Feeling
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90% of users receive their repayments within 24 hours.
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With KhunThong as the mediator, no more worrying about reminding others—KhunThong automatically follows up daily.
Works with Any Bank
in Thailand
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No matter which bank your friends use, KhunThong ensures seamless payments and transfers across all major banks in Thailand.
The Challenge
Despite its popularity, KhunThong faced challenges after two years in the market. User feedback revealed frustration with the text-heavy format of its payment notifications, such as:
"@William paid $34 [Hang Out!] to Nathan by KPLUS
(a Thai Mobile Banking)."
These verbose messages cluttered group chats, making it hard to quickly understand payment details and causing user annoyance.
My Role
As the lead researcher and designer for this improvement phase, this is what I did:
1. Conducted user research to identify pain points and gather actionable insights.
2. Redesigned payment notifications to be more intuitive and visually engaging.
3. Focused on simplifying the user experience while maintaining functionality.
How to Solve This Problem?
Long text-based notifications were redesigned into a clean, visual format. By replacing names with profile pictures in their LINE app and presenting key details—like the amount owed—in a bold, clear layout, users can now quickly understand their financial activity at a glance.
Making Payments Enjoyable
The new visual design of KhunThong's chat bubble enhances clarity by highlighting key information, including the Medal Reward System in the top-right corner. I believe that splitting the bill shouldn't be a source of stress or tension among friends. Instead, it should be easy, seamless, and even enjoyable.
The medals—🥇Gold, 🥈Silver, and 🥉Bronze—reward users for timely payments, motivating them to pay faster and turning an ordinary task into an exciting experience.
This playful approach encourages faster repayments and adds an element of excitement to what’s typically a mundane task. Over time, users begin to enjoy “competing” to collect medals, just like finishing a race.
By transforming a simple notification bubble into an engaging and interactive moment, we not only improved the user experience but also helped bill owners receive their money faster!
Private Request: A Flexible Alternative for Sharing Bills
Through the research, I found that some users felt overwhelmed by the constant notifications in LINE group chats when tracking payments. To address this, my team and I introduced the ‘Private Request’ feature. This option lets users send individual payment requests directly to friends, bypassing the need for group chats.
While group chats allow KhunThong to calculate shared expenses more efficiently—such as splitting costs for specific items—Private Request offers a simpler, notification-free approach for less complex bills or one-on-one payments. The choice is yours, depending on your needs!
Let’s meet me in this quick clip! 👋✨ I’ll show you how to use KhunThong’s new Private Request feature—perfect for keeping things simple and cutting down on group chat chaos.
Award-Winning Design
KhunThong was honored with the Red Dot Design Award 2022 in the Brands & Communication Design category, a prestigious global recognition for excellence in design and innovation.
This award reflects KhunThong's user-centric approach to simplifying financial transactions and its thoughtful integration into a familiar messaging platform like LINE. By blending intuitive visuals, seamless functionality, and a touch of gamification, KhunThong sets a new standard for how technology can make everyday tasks easier and more enjoyable.
Receiving the Red Dot Award highlights the impact of thoughtful design in transforming the bill-splitting experience and motivates our team to continue innovating with the user at heart.
