Savings goals & habits

Project outcome

We launched the savings habits and goals feature in Feb 2021 as part of the wider Westpac new app launch and saw a positive change in the way customers were saving in our mobile banking app. Here are some key metrics from 3 months after release:

40 - 50k new savings goals were created each month

Up from 20-30k in Nov 2020

450k funds transferred into goals from payments flows

Up from 365k in Nov 2020

6,000 new recurring payments into goals

Up from 2,100 in Nov 2020

Looking at how people save and build habits

BJ Fogg’s behaviour model was a key piece of research to help us understand the psychology behind building sustainable habits. We used this as a basis to shape our research objectives and to design the savings goals experience in the mobile banking app.

We looked at customer research to identify key motivators

Through looking at existing customer research we identified core customer pain points when it came to savings and key jobs to be done, helping us map key pieces of research to the Fogg behaviour model.

Pain points

• Customers want to save but don’t have the time and/or discipline to set up and stick to a savings plan

• Customers have a hard time getting into the saving mindset and lack motivation

• Customers have less of a need to check their transactions on a savings account and in turn don’t often view progress of their savings goal

Jobs to be done

• Help my separate my savings into meaningful goals

• Make my money work hard for me and earn more interest/rewards

• Help my achieve my savings goals and save more often

Design iterations and customer testing

We conducted multiple design jams and copywriting workshops with our internal design team and stakeholders to help with our design iterations.

We completed 9 rounds of 1:1 customer interviews and usability testing (n = 54 participants) and also performed 1 round quantitative research through an online survey (n = 195). Each time iterating the designs, flows and copy based on customer feedback. We also created comprehensive people profiles showcasing their spending and saving habits and understanding their underlying motivations and any hinders to their saving ability.

Key insights from customer testing:

• Goal visualisation and celebration is an important aspect in helping customers increase and sustain motivation to complete their savings goals

• Post COVID-19 recurring theme that Australian’s wanted to save more for “just in case” “emergency funds” and have that safety net and security with their savings

• Everyone had different savings goals and levels of control they wanted with their savings and hence goal personalisation was a key aspect that needed to be incorporated into the feature

• $50 was seen as the goldilocks to prompt customers to save and made them feel like they had the ability to do so