The Challenge
Around a third of all people in the UK have less than £100 in savings – despite savings being a core pillar of financial health. We worked with financial wellbeing app Wagestream to tackle the problem, launching a new feature that would help more than 500,000 frontline workers build up a financial savings buffer.
The Approach
We reviewed the behavioural science literature and interviewed some of the world’s leading experts on savings products that help those who are underserved and overlooked by traditional financial services. We then worked with Wagestream’s financial wellbeing and inclusion experts to explore in what ways these ideas could be integrated directly into a new feature within the app. In particular, behavioural nudges most likely to help those frontline workers get saving straight away, without negatively impacting their short-term financial health.
The Result
This result was a completely new savings pots feature, which has wellbeing and behavioural insights built into its core. People with Wagestream can now set a goal and a deadline for their savings; after working a shift, the app automatically rounds down their pay to the nearest pound, and puts the pennies into a secure savings pot. The Wagestream team were passionate about making work more rewarding – so workers also get the chance to double their savings, through a monthly prize draw. The feature has already helped frontline workers save over £10m, and helped 50,000 people save for the first time in their life.
“Through our founding charities and partner employers, we know there is both a desire and an urgent need to help more people with savings – so we’re incredibly proud of the success of the feature so far. The CogCo team has been fantastic to work with, and its deep behavioural expertise has helped build a feature already changing thousands of lives for the better.” - Peter Briffett, CEO and Co-Founder
