SaaS Savings Planner Design

Managing finances is challenging, especially when savings compete with daily expenses. Our team tackled this problem by creating an intuitive budgeting and savings tool that simplified financial tracking and empowered users to reach their financial goals. Through comprehensive research with fourteen "super users," we identified key pain points: the difficulty of committing to budgets that allow for savings and the frustration of tracking expenses through complex spreadsheets. These insights guided our design of a user-friendly experience that makes saving second nature.

Our design process quickly moved from early concepts and sketches to wireframes and prototypes, benefiting from a robust design system that allowed for rapid iteration. After multiple rounds of testing with user groups, we refined our approach to ensure the tool was intuitive and non-intimidating. The resulting MVP was released after approximately six months, following which we focused on integrating the savings tool with other tools we had previously built and consistently releasing updates to enhance functionality based on user insights.

The project was driven by three core goals: creating an educational tool that taught through experience, keeping users motivated throughout their financial journey, and helping them identify and overcome financial obstacles.

Our collaborative team of designers, product strategists, and developers followed a structured approach that began with discovery research and competitive analysis. Through nationwide stakeholder and user interviews, we designed a simple, human-centered interface that integrated with other financial tools we had previously developed giving users a 360° view of their finances, from managing debt to handling unexpected expenses. We used visual milestones, conversational flows, and light gamification to encourage progress without pressure or shame.

The project's success stemmed from thorough planning and cross-departmental collaboration. By involving all departments in the planning phase and having a dedicated research team, we anticipated potential issues and structured our roadmap into manageable phases. Early user insights enabled us to create a tool that solved real problems rather than adding unnecessary features. The Savings Planner stood for long as a comprehensive platform that not only helped users track spending and savings but also providing educational resources and personalized advice from approved financial advisors, ultimately empowering users to make more informed decisions about their financial future.