Project Scope
Led the redesign and launch of our flagship product, Financial Peace University. Increased course completion by 223% over a two month period.
Old Experience
Before the redesign, our product suffered from notably low engagement and completion rates. The user experience lacked motivational design elements to encourage or compel users to interact with the product. From visual appeal to experiential flow and feature innovation, the original experience lacked creativity. Our overarching objective with the product was to assist our members in achieving their financial goals. However, due to the subpar design of the user experience, we were falling short in serving our members effectively.
To create an engaging, lovable experience, we recognized the necessity of building it from scratch. I opted to embrace motivational design (gamification) patterns and principles to shape the new experience. These patterns are crafted to resonate with users’ fundamental drives on an emotional level, leveraging their sense of ownership, accomplishment, and purpose while equipping them with the tools and confidence necessary to pursue their goals.
Motivational Design
Challenge Coins
By offering users the opportunity to earn challenge coins (badges), we could celebrate their achievements for completing tasks within the program and enable them to share these accomplishments with others. This not only fosters a sense of achievement but also empowers members as they advance through the experience.
In our new experience, another aspect we aimed to enhance was the ability for our members to personalize their journey. By enabling members to choose their avatars, favorite Ramsey personality, and current step in their financial journey, we offered them a sense of ownership. Alongside member personalization, several features within the product contribute to a personalized feel, including the dynamic personalized greeting on every page and using a member’s selected personality as the voice for our in-app popup messages.
Personalization
Motivational Quotes
We understand that maintaining motivation during long-term goal achievement can be challenging. Hence, we aimed to support our members by integrating motivational quotes into their journey. These quotes are dynamic, refreshing every time the home page is loaded. This not only offers users a source of motivation and a refreshing mental break but also introduces an element of unpredictability to the experience. Additionally, members can share their favorite quotes on social media, enhancing engagement and spreading inspiration beyond the platform.
Alongside the feature enhancements, I undertook a complete visual redesign of the entire product. The previous experience predominantly utilized two colors, blue and white. While this aligned with our brand, it rendered the experience somewhat sterile and lacking in energy. Upon examining our brand as a whole, I noticed vibrant colors being used everywhere except in the digital experience. Drawing inspiration from other aspects of the brand, I expanded the color palette for the digital experience. This transformation gave the product with a sense of warmth, excitement, and dynamism. Furthermore, it presented numerous opportunities to utilize colors not only to enhance the vibrancy of the experience but also to streamline the navigation of lessons and features for our members.
Visual Experience
Member Impact
Following the launch of our revamped experience and the incremental delivery of added value to users, we observed substantial increases in feature utilization and program completion. Comparing last year’s data from the old experience, we had an average of 13 members completing our program per day. Since the launch of our new experience, centered around motivational design principles, we now see an average of 42 members completing our program daily. With a remarkable 223% increase in completion rates, we are confident that our redesign has significantly enhanced our members’ experience with Financial Peace University.