How can transaction data categories help financial app developers better understand user’s spending behavior and improve their financial wellness? A fundamental offering of the Envestnet® | Yodlee® Financial Data Platform is categorization. Recent feedback on our categories shows that transactions aren’t always showing up under the expected category. While the Yodlee Platform does allow users to modify the category and set rules for categorization, the default category is expected to be accurate without user intervention. After hearing feedback from our developers, we worked to create a revised set of categories, thus reducing the number of overall categories. We tested and further optimized the categories through focus groups using a card sorting method where users worked through a process of verifying the relationship of categories in regards to their spending. Through this process, we arrived at a revised set of 43 categories that are truly in line with consumer spending patterns. The benefits of the category refresh include categories are less ambiguous and more meaningful, which has led to greater accuracy. See the FAQ on our developer portal for more information.
