Smart Saver
A celebration of saving habit, reaching milestones like 100K, 500K, and more
Encouraging positive financial behavior through story badges
This case study presents the submission for Flip UX Challenge at the Flip Tech Summit 2024 in Indonesia. The brief for the challenge was: Explore and analyze various issues that exist in the current Flip application and design solutions for them 🚀
As a group of three, including Arif Kurniadi and Armita Sharfina , we explored a design solution to keep users using Flip and try other features with a gamification experience through badges.
- First winner of Flip UX Challenge 2024.
- 50 plus badges state designed and illustrated.
Process
Flip is a fintech company in Indonesia that provides solution for interbank money transfer. With over 12M users and served 1000+ companies & SMEs, Flip is connecting users with 100+ domestic banks and enabling international remittances in over 45 countries.
Digital banks and e-wallets are starting to emerge with more offered values, threatening Flip's unique selling proposition
How Flip is positioned to compete in the Financial Market?
Through quick research on Flip users, 30/43 participants no longer use Flip. The top reasons include finding other alternatives for interbank transfer and Flip no longer catering to their needs.
We interviewed 6 loyal users and found an interesting insight: 6/6 interviewees had no interest in trying other features, despite many financial features provided, aside from the most used features like interbank transfer, top-up e-wallet, and buying phone credit. Most of them use Flip for interbank transfer to manage cash assets to various personal accounts and business purposes.
By mapping several banks and e-wallets, and synthesizing the research insights, we hypothesize that Flip is neither leaning towards banks nor e-wallets but rather serves as a supportive tool in a niche market.
With clear understanding about Flip, we summarized the problem statement into one question:
How might we get users to stick with Flip and get loyal users to explore more features?
That question breaks into three things we needed to solve for: staying relevant as the market catches up, retaining the loyal users we already have, and driving adoption of the features already built, because Flip is #morethanthat (Flip’s campaign).
Badges + Storytelling = Motivation Enabler
We wanted to leverage the purpose of Flip as a tools, serving user needs and goals, while increasing intrinsic motivation, and creating deeper connections beyond transactional benefits like voucher or promo.
Badges represent the storytelling concept of the “Hero’s Journey”. Users will become the hero in their own financial story. By using badges that match the user's story motivation, we can upgrade the trigger, reward and investment of Flip’s Hook Model.
Flip’s Hook Model:
With badges, the internal trigger shifts toward FOMO and building financial habits. The reward added collectible badges tied to real financial goals achieved, which also become the investment.
Benefits of using badges:
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Driven by intrinsic motivation
Create long-term connections & interesting experiences compared to point-based rewards.
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Cost Effective and Scalable
Badges are more affordable to implement and maintain compared to point systems.
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Visually engaging, attractive, user friendly
Badge designs will create a unique experience and play a role in increasing a sense of pride and ownership.
Badges Intent
We created each badge with intention and story, while staying true to Flip’s tone of voice and connecting the messages to the Indonesian lifestyle.
#1 Encouraging Positive Financial Behavior
Make users feel appreciated after doing positive financial activities so it becomes a recurring activity that forms their financial habits.
On-Time Bill Payer
Consistently paid bills on time for 10 months. Great financial discipline!
Installment Pro
Successfully completed an installment cycle without any late payments
#2 Celebrating Milestone
Make users feel close and personal by celebrating their financial achievements, appreciating their positive actions and encourage them to reach their next milestone.
Smart Saver
A celebration of saving habit, reaching milestones like 100K, 500K, and more
Flip-versary
A yearly milestone of being with Flip, celebrating 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and more together
Kind Giver
Recognizing generosity for donating to others 3, 10, and 25 times through Flip.
#3 Rewarding Unexpected Behavior
Give a surprise for financial activities that are out of the ordinary, making users feel special and different from most other people because their activities are appreciated.
Early Bird Club
Open Flip before 6 AM to get a head start on the day and the transactions
The Explorer
Tried out every single feature on Flip, because Flip is #morethanthat
The Survivor
Open Flip with less than 5% battery. A true commitment under pressure!
#4 Features Adoption
Leading users to explore and get to know more features in Flip. Encourage them to try and experience the benefits of other features provided by Flip.
Flip Loyalist
Joined Flip’s subscription service, for ease and more savings in every transaction
Flip & Go
Topped up Flip balance and used it to complete a transaction. Ready, set, Flip!
#5 Marketing Campaign
Create excitement to collect rare or limited badges at special events.
79th Independence Day
Completed 17 QRIS payments in August. Celebrate with every tap!
Flip Badges
From Curiosity to Action
We designed two badge states — locked and earned — to drive user engagement. We hinted at the badge's appearance when locked to spark curiosity, clearly listed the tasks, used fun and relatable copy, and included direct CTAs to guide action. Once earned, the unlock date displayed as a personal milestone, along with social proof and a share option to encourage others to join.
The Personal Wall of Fame
To give users a sense of progress and ownership, we designed a dedicated badge page where they can both track and collect their achievements. The page is split into two tabs: My Badges (Lencana Saya), which displays individual badges, and Achievements (Pencapaian), which highlights progress-based or milestone badges.
Badges Touchpoint
We identified key moments across the existing app to introduce badges contextually throughout the user journey.
User Flow
Badges were integrated directly into Flip's existing flow, enhancing the experience without adding friction. This subtle addition not only reinforces key actions but also brings a sense of delight and progress as users complete their financial tasks.
Outcome
Conclusion
Badges help create a sense of achievement and ownership. By combining badges and storytelling, we can make a deeper experience and motivate users to continue to grow and achieve more in their financial journey.
This case study captures the design thinking and the execution. Turning it into a real, shippable feature still needs a few things to consider:
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Testing the concept to real users
Badge design and copy must be resonates with user and align with various financial conditions. That only gets validated by testing with real users across different segments.
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Huge efforts in the beginning
It takes a lot of effort to create a “badge-earning system” that is connected to current services.
What’s Next
Using badges also opens up other opportunities for future development:
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PFM x Badges
Integration with personal financial management (PFM) features to capture more of user’s financial behavior.
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Flip Wrap
Flip badges can be integrated into each user's Flip Wrap report feature at the end of the year (like Spotify Wrap).
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Official Merchandise
Flip badges can be printed in physical form as Flip’s official merchandise and sent to special users.
This project not only pushed our thinking on how to make finance more human and rewarding, but it was also recognized for its creativity and impact.
Special thanks to Arif Kurniadi and Armita Sharfina 🙌🏻
