Overview

Despite a strong fan base, Simple faced challenges in growth due to its limited product offerings, primarily focused on checking accounts. To address this and leverage our popular 'Goals' feature, which utilizes envelope budgeting principles, we introduced an interest-bearing "Special Goal" named the Savings Goal. This strategic expansion aimed to cultivate savings habits and offer tangible financial benefits to users.

Design and Implementation Challenges

IA Integration: Developed backend technology to seamlessly integrate a new interest-bearing account type under the "Goals" umbrella, involving substantial collaboration with legal teams to ensure compliance and functionality.

Experience Design: Faced the challenge of maintaining the intuitive user experience associated with "Goals" while introducing new functionalities like interest accrual and ACH transfers specific to the Savings Goal.

Regulatory Compliance: Post-Wells Fargo, heightened transparency requirements necessitated meticulous information display and account management features to prevent any potential customer confusion or regulatory issues.

Mental Model Consistency: It was crucial that the new feature did not disrupt users' existing financial mental models. The solution needed to integrate smoothly with the app's broader financial management ecosystem, including "Safe-to-Spend," "Goals," and "Expenses."

Outcome

The launch of the Savings Goal was successful, minimally impacting the user's existing mental model of "Goals." This careful integration maintained the simplicity of the user experience and reinforced our core UX principles, while also expanding our service offerings to support growth in a challenging financial climate.