FinGuru

Finance Managment App

View clickable prototype

Jump To Section

. Discover

. Define

. Develop

. Deliver

PROJECT OVERVIEW

As the name states, FinGuru helps users with finance management through gamification.
In this case study we delve into designing the goal setting feature and budget tracking with focus on user engagement.

Contex

FinGuru is an AI powered finance management app. By connecting to user's bank accounts and tracking spending habits and income, helps users in:

Managing all their finances in one place
Effortlessly setting personalized budget and goals to save more and invest
Helping them stick to their plans and improve their spending habits

Target audience

People who:

Struggle with budgeting, saving and investing in general
Are used to budgeting manually but haven't had a good experience with finance management apps
Want to know where their money goes and stay on top of their finances

Challanges

With a retention rate of approximately 5% in finance management apps (by the 30th day of installing), we needed to figure out the reasons for drop offs in these apps.
Given the complexity and often overwhelming nature of finance, and the fact that fintech is associated with lots of numbers and boring charts, we needed to come up with strategies to maintain user motivation and also make it enjoyable and engaging.

THE PROCESS

DISCOVER

User Interview & Affinity Diagram

We asked mostly open-ended questions for a more engaging and conversational interview style, rather than sticking to a strict Q&A format.
Our questionnaire focused on:

1- What needs and expectations users have if they use budget apps
2- How to encourage them to stick to their plan

3-Why they stopped using previous finance management apps

Top Takeaways:

Automation, estimations and predictions to lower the manual entry and calculations
Strategies to manage overspending
Preparation of users for unexpected costs
Instant notifications to give users more control and room for growth
Clear and straightforward design with minimal learning curve

Competitive Analysis

In order to make more informed decisions, we evaluated some well-known apps from various perspectives which helped us with:

Strengths :

No jargon, only the necessary information
Intuitive data visualization tools to enhance user comprehension

Weaknesses :

Difficulty in reducing the learning curve specially for users who are new to budgeting apps
Inefficiency in automation of goal setting process
Inability to enhance user engagement and motivation to stick to their plans

Secondary Research: Gamification

For more inspiration for gamification elements we analyzed Duolingo, which makes a perfect case study considering user engagement.

Pros:

A character makes the experience more friendly, fun and personalized
Point-based rewards are extrinsic motivators to give reason to users to come back
Badges fulfil the basic need for self-worth, an important intrinsic motivator. Plus, users can look at their earned badges and review their progress
Small visual milestones are manageable steps to motivate users to engage consistently

Cons:

Leaderboards, being compared to others and constantly competing can cause frustrations and anxiety in some users, also mentioned by some interviewees

DEFINE

Persona

In order to establish tasks for our design, and to communicate information about the users that we collected during research, we developed a persona.

User Flow

DEVELOP

Ideation Session

Now it was time to have a meeting with the UX manager, stakeholders and engineers to present our identified challenges and developed solutions based on our research.

The official charecter of FinGuru: ‘Monstie’

A funny and friendly monster to soften the inherent complexity of fintech by serving as a:

Motivational figure that celebrates achievements and milestones. This can keep user engagement high through a memorable and enjoyable experience
Guide to offer tips and personalized feedback to finish tasks and challenges
A sense of personality and consistency that ties different parts of the app together

Taming the finance management monster

The Initial Challenges & Our Solutions

Mid-Fi wireframes will be shown later.
Here, the Hi-Fi version is presented solely to clarify the solution. Full Hi-Fi version of the app will be shown in Deliver phase.

A lack of motivation over time can be addressed by incorporating badges and points, transforming non-game contexts into engaging challenges where users earn achievements and rewards through increased activities.

One of the most common challenges interviewees faced was overspending and not sticking to their budget, so our strategy to help users stay on track and motivated was to implement a modified version of the "Rollover" concept.

Stakeholders specifically requested an improvement in users' saving habits. As designers, we decided that roadmaps, progress trackers, and other strategies would encourage users to achieve their goals and set new ones.

Automating objectives based on savings and spending habits can eliminate the frustration of manual calculations, making goal setting effortless and efficient through automation.

To address the challenge of users' lack of awareness, control, and motivation, we designed a strategy that compares their spending with the previous month, offers instant feedback, and provides tips to encourage growth and control.

The challenge of losing peace of mind when facing unexpected expenses is addressed by prioritizing financial stability and security, with the suggestion to set an "Emergency Fund" as the first goal.