Designing reinforcement loops for a money coaching app

Users finished a lesson, felt motivated — then drifted. They couldn't name their money goals, feared starting badly, and the app felt like it was coaching everyone but them. Retention wasn't a content problem. It was a reinforcement problem.

Wisr is Australia's first neo-lender and a fintech pioneer in the rapidly growing Australian consumer finance market.

I was part of the Wisr Today team, building a money coaching app that uses behavioral psychology to help users save more and reach their financial goals.

Find the problem before the feature

Soon after the app launched in October 2022, the team wanted to push new content and features to lift retention and engagement. I owned the end-to-end discovery to first understand user problems — and turn them into a business opportunity.

I interviewed beta users and new Wisr Today users to learn how we could help them succeed in their financial wellbeing, and to uncover their current pain points. I led this project from research through ideation workshops, wireframes, hi-fi prototypes, usability testing (A/B), and iteration to handoff.

What users told us

One of the most interesting insights from the research was that users found it very difficult to stay motivated toward their money goals.

As one user put it: "I don't know what my actual money goals are. I live up to what my mates expect of me."

I dug deeper into the problem space to understand how we could positively reinforce users to stay on track toward their money goals.

“I don't know what my actual money goals are. I live up to what my mates expect of me.”

Key findings

• Users can't reflect on their values, goals, and "why". Users want to reflect on what their values and goals are from the lessons — their best "aha" moment is in the first lesson — but they can't easily find them again without going back to the library and restarting the lesson.
• Users hesitate to start because they fear failure. When users feel they didn't do a good job, they avoid saving again. The app lacked encouragement, accountability, and positive reinforcement.
• The app doesn't feel personalized. Users share a lot of personal information during onboarding, but the lessons and features stay generic. The coaching experience didn't feel like it was serving their needs.

Reinforce, don't just teach

To help users stay on track and feel positively reinforced, I designed the Me Page around three features:

• Reflection cards. Whenever users complete a lesson that includes key answers, they get a new reflection card — so they can revisit what matters to them and feel encouraged.
• Achievement badges. Celebrating users' small wins and positively reinforcing them, helping users feel accountable and motivated.
• Goal setting and tracking. Giving users control over their money goals and progress through interactive design, keeping them focused on their long-term goals.

Outcome

The project ended at design handoff — validated concepts, tested flows, and a fully specified Me Page ready for build. Usability and A/B testing shaped the final designs. Reflection cards became the center of the Me Page because they answered what research kept surfacing: users couldn't hold onto their own values and goals. Badges and goal tracking supported that, giving people small wins to come back to.

If it had shipped, I would have measured lesson completion, goal check-in frequency, and day-30 retention — the behaviors these features were built to change. What I took from it: in behavior-change products, adding more content doesn't keep people around. Reinforcement does.

I design complex B2B and financial-services products that turn operational complexity into clear, scalable experiences. Got a similar problem? Get in touch