GoSave
Gamifying savings habit
Background
Gojek wanted to expand its financial services to savings. To better assess what the users want the team undertook an initial research which clearly reflected the users' inclination to save in gold. The research also suggested that users are bad at saving and would like a product that could help them with this habit.
We decided that a good way to solve this would be to gamify the savings product and maybe add a social angle to it later. Users will be able to buy and sell gold from the Gojek app using their GoPay balance, the product would help users to save at least once a month.
My role was to lead the team (2 designers, 2 UX writers, 2 researchers) through the development of this concept.
Research and concept development
Like in any project we began with an extensive research with our user base. We explored a lot of concepts and assets our users would be interested in and got to brainstorming on a product that could work with our users.
After multiple rounds and brainstorming sessions we closed in on a concept.
The Concept
GoSave would gamify savings for our users. We wanted to try a unique concept to help form a savings habit in our users.
We wanted introduce an avatar in the product that would evolve as the users save more. By the end of the month, the avatar will reset and users will get a badge in its place. The users can continue saving in the new month trying to evolve their avatars. All earned badges will give users options to earn cashback and discounts on the Gojek ecosystem.
Further, a better badge collection would also boost their internal credit scores and unlock higher ticket loans for users. We wanted to couple manual savings with auto save so that users can automate their monthly savings and never forget it.
Step 1 - Picking a character
We divided the avatar types in two groups:
Animated characters
Living characters that would change moods/habits based on the users saving behaviour
Bung Panda
We tried cute animals
Bu Peni
Based on annoying aunty neighbours
Bang Ros
Based on an Indonesian Dangdut singer
Inanimate objects
We experimented with objects like a savings jar, chicken celengan (chicken equivalent of a piggy bank) and lockers
Celengan Ayam
A chicken piggy bank
A locker
On testing these avatars, Celengan Ayam was selected as it resonated the best with our users. Celengen Ayam is a chick piggy bank and is ubiquitous in Indonesia for savings.
Step 2 - Avatar variations and streaks
The Chicken Celengan
To show users their progress we had different levels for the celengan. Every state of the celengan was tied to a range in which the user saves. Eg: If you have saved Rp500.000 in this month, you see the Gold celengan on your screen and so on. Throughout the month the celengan would evolve based on the total amount saved in a month.
Level 0
Default
Level 1
Bronze
Level 2
Silver
Level 3
Gold
Level 4
Platinum
Level 5
Diamond
Badges and streaks
Once the month is over, the celengan is reset to level 0 and the user is awarded a badge for their saving achievement - which is equivalent to the level of the celengan earned in that month - example a gold celengan translates to a gold badge.
Savings card with celengan state and monthly badges earned ⤴
Redemption
The users can later redeem this badge in exchange for Gojek rewards and cashbacks. This would not only boost the usage of GoSave but would also boost usage of products across Gojek ecosystem. The redemption flow was not a part of this concept exploration.
Badges earned as achievements ⤴
Introduction and home screen ⤴
Saving gold flow ⤴
PIN and success ⤴
Home, gold home and achievements ⤴
Results
GoSave as a product could support saving with multiple commodities, not just gold. The idea was that this would become a high egngaement product that would push users to save in gold, bonds, stocks and more.
The product made it to staging and was tested with internal Gojek users. While the initial feedback was good and a few improvements were suggested it was ultimately decided to while label Pluang's (our digital gold partner) flow within Gojek in favour of GoSave. The product was parked for later when we want more than just gold in savings.
Key learnings
As exciting and creative this project was the fact that it did not make it into production was heart breaking for the team. Key learning for all stakeholders and especially for management here was to be more clear of the ask - especially with regards to implementation nuances like engineering capacity and marketing budgets.
