Millions of Americans struggle with managing their personal finances. The ramifications of financial stress can have a negative impact on all areas of a person’s life. Cue Studio had the privilege of working with one of the world’s largest financial services companies to design and build a financial wellness platform offered as a benefit to employees by their employers.
Our approach was to develop easy steps and a learning experience for every day financial planning. Using strategy, user research, empathy, and visual design, we were able to help users overcome the obstacle of financial stress and create confidence when budgeting and managing their money.
During the multi-year engagement with our client, one of the biggest challenges was communicating empathetically and creating personalization for very different user types around a subject they take to heart: their money.
Through continuous analysis of and conversations with our audience, we were able to identify user needs and pain points within various stages of the customer journey. By breaking the project down into key phases and prioritizing the most valuable efforts, we were able to quickly and iteratively redesign the majority of the product’s responsive web platform to better serve our client’s customers. The products we created are still being used today by millions of people across the country. We also had the opportunity to partner with our clients to design and build a companion app for use across iOS and Android.
Collaborating closely with the client's internal team of financial advisors, Cue Studio brainstormed ways that users could get a personal finance education in an actionable way within the app. How could we educate users about their own personal finances, giving them nuggets of advice and knowledge in a personable way? How can we make this educational experience engaging and interactive? What psychological triggers or patterns can we tap into to meet users where they are at? After ideation we landed on two particular flows to feature in the app–“Motivate me to save,” and “Think through a purchase.” In “Motivate me to save,” we teach users how to make their paycheck and benefits work for them, explore how small savings add up to larger goals, and even provide a feed of advice from real financial planners. In “Think through a purchase,” we take users through a decision-making experience in order to help them align their wants and needs with their financial goals, providing a personalized way to help them think through large purchases.
In both the web and app experience, Cue Studio had the opportunity to redesign the user’s financial dashboard, providing an at-a-glance view of spending, budgets, net worth, and goals. We designed for use-cases at all phases of the journey, ensuring that the dashboard was clear and understandable, encouraging, and rich with insight no matter the phase of the journey the user was in.