CONTEXT
Pi, originally named Habit, is a pioneering fintech app in Israel that offers cashback rewards to customers making purchases through participating retailers. As a new entrant in the market, Pi sought innovative ways to encourage app usage and loyalty among its users.
CHALLENGE
Pi faced the significant challenge of incentivizing users to consistently choose their platform for purchases in a competitive market. The primary goal was to increase both customer acquisition and retention through effective engagement strategies.
APPROACH
Our strategy centered around leveraging behavioral science, specifically the creation of behavioral loops and gamification techniques. We started by collaboratively defining the problem with the client. Following this, our team engaged in a parallel ideation process, applying discipline-specific best practices and conducting extensive literature reviews in social psychology and user experience.
FINDINGS AND IMPACT
The team then synthesized their findings into two main behavioral loop frameworks for Pi:
- Social Communal Loop: This stems from the concept that habits can derive from social action, in which people are motivated to take collective action. This is based on the notions of group identity and group competition.
- Gamification Advancement Loop: By applying gamification elements, habit can be formed through one’s motivation to level up and win. Importantly, we incorporated the concept of loss aversion into our recommended design for the app.
We translated these demonstrated behavioral models into practice via UX/UI in an array of ways, using intricate systems of incentives:
- Simple Interface: A user should clearly and easily see what their cash back status is. When they spend, they should immediately reap the reward.
- Advancement (personal use): With gamification in mind, users must be rewarded and excel as they use the app. On a personal level, their status grows and the benefits get better as they level up (i.e. personalization and specific retailer benefits based on their interests).
- Hybrid (group use): Pi could allow users to create groups based on shared interests (i.e. Gaming aficionados, young families, etc.) . Users in groups can share their benefits based on their personal status. Group identity would serve as a motivator to continue using the app.
- Community level (NGOs): We developed an affiliate-style method for Pi to scale. Users can select an NGO of their choice, which would then be awarded with a percentage of users’ cash back rewards. Pi can develop a leaderboard so NGOs could compete. This is based on social identity theory where users would be incentivized to shop through Pi as a value expressive behavior.
Pi is continuing to develop their app based on the recommendations and behavioral loops that we created, with a Q-led team working on the UX/UI design. Additionally, and in line with our design outline, the UX/UI consists of a simple dashboard that allows users to clearly see their current status, how they can earn more rewards, and view what their friends or other users are doing within the app. We also encourage users to stay active in the app by design: when users are inactive for periods of time, the color palette becomes monotone and dull. Users can see how much money they could earn if they buy now, which creates a sense of urgency.
INSIGHTS
- Behavioral Engagement: The integration of social and gamification elements proved crucial in driving user engagement and retention.
- Customized User Experience: Tailoring UX/UI elements to reflect user achievements and group identities effectively reinforced usage habits.
- Strategic Design Influence: Thoughtful design modifications, such as color changes during periods of user inactivity, effectively nudged users towards increased engagement, utilizing visual cues to create a sense of urgency and potential loss.