Richer with
Automatic budget app with customized saving tips.
Problem statement
Young families struggle to plan their budget and reach their financial goals.
Reasons
- Expenses significantly grow after a baby joins the family
- Lack of time and energy to build a budget every month
- It feels like there is nothing to give up on
- Tension between partners, that effects the financial aspect
- Expenses that seem small add up to a large amount
- Reluctance to deal with numbers
Implications
- Lack of control
- Financial situation gets worse
- Financial goals can’t be achieved
User research
Learning how young families and expecting couples handle their financial difficulties.
Research topics
- Separate and joint financial behavior
- Financial difficulties and current solutions
- Apps or software they use for budgeting
“We consulted a financial advisor, who made an Excel sheet to help us build a budget ourselves. It really helped us save for a short while, but then we gave up. It's too hard to update it every month, especially with 2 kids...”
Yael & Noam, married + 2
Main conclusions
Motivate change through progress updates and customized saving tips.
Encourage regular use of the app with saving tips, progress updates and recommended actions before and after budget overrides.
Show expenses on budget page for real-time decision making.
Direct link between budget and expenses, instead of only seeing the expenses at the end of the month, which is what most people do.
Present the whole financial status in one place, simply and concisely.
Helping non-financial busy people to get more control of their money, stick to their budget over time, and reach their goals faster.
Design that creates a light vibe, yet looks professional and reliable.
A graphic language that doesn't look “too financial”, since many people feel aversion to these kind of apps.
Switch between joint and personal view to save time.
Save the users time in checking each of their accounts separately, since couples don’t mind revealing their expenses to each other.
Market research
Learning from budgeting products and financial management studies.
Research topics
- Automatic budget apps drawing information from financial accounts
- Manual expenditure management apps (digital wallet)
- Stock market trading apps
- Data analysis websites
- Studies on financial management
- Apps reviews by financial experts
- Family monthly expenses statistics from CBS (Central Bureau of Statistics)
In a research which tested the effect of cluttered design on the credibility of digital products in various industries, finance had the most design-related comments from users.
Quantitative research made by Stanford psychologist, BJ Fogg.
Main conclusions
Minimal number of budget categories to easily monitor expenses.
Grouping together related sub-categories, to prevent users from visual overload and help them monitor their discretionary spending.
Making users feel safe to connect their financial accounts.
Explaining in the onboarding stage, that the app only reads information from accounts and can’t do any actions on their behalf.
Budget that fits users’ needs from the first time they use the app.
Asking about the users’ family status and financial goals, in the onboarding stage, to create a customized budget.
Solution
Automatic budget app with customized saving tips, to help users reach their financial goals.
User value
- Control - Being on top of their finances
- Fulfillment - Reaching their financial goals
- Convenience - Saving time and effort
Product's goal
- User connects all financial accounts to the app
- User checks the budget page at least once a week
- User applies at least 1 tip on the first month
Target group
Families with 1-2 young children and couples expecting their first child.
Common characteristics
- Greater financial responsibility
- Budget management becomes more complex
- Growing need for future planning
UX/UI phase
Colors highlight budget change over the month.
Colors help users quickly scan over the categories to see their current status.
View expenses alongside the budget, all at once or per category.
Making a real-time connection between budget & expenses, in order to help users meet their budget.
Budget overrun in one category will not effect the total budget.
It isn’t always possible to cut down on other categories. Instead, the app suggests a saving tip, for next month, to keep the user on track.
Saving tips from day one, that fit the users’ lifestyle.
Tips are customized according to users spending habits, residence and possible investment channels. Tips are marked as read or unread.
Each month, money is virtually assigned to the users’ goals.
The app doesn’t deposit money in actual savings accounts, for security reasons. It will suggest the user (in the Saving tips) to do so, if it is a long-term goal.
View all accounts status in one place to save time.
A concise view of personal & joint accounts status, instead of entering each of them separately.
Defining goals for an accurate budget and relevant tips.
In the onboarding process, the app suggests to help users by calculating the best possible dates for their goals.
Geometric shapes inspired by financial graphs.
Semi-transparent basic colors, combined together to emphasize the shapes’ geometric structure.
UI was inspired by Mint and Acorns apps.
