Overview
This case study details the strategy, design principles, and impact of "Nudge"—a dynamic, behaviorally-informed feature on Techcombank Mobile Dashboard that supports customers' financial wellbeing while driving sustainable business growth.
Personal finance is deeply emotional, yet most digital banking experiences treat it as purely rational. In this case study, I share how we reimagined Techcombank’s PFM strategy by embedding behavioral science into everyday banking, helping customers make better financial decisions without cognitive overload.
Role: Product designer
Status: Live
Status: Live
Introduction
In the evolving landscape of digital banking, many institutions have attempted to integrate Personal Finance Management (PFM) tools into their offerings. Yet, user research consistently reveals a persistent challenge: most PFM tools, while well-intentioned, fail to drive sustained engagement or behavioral change. Much like New Year’s resolutions, they capture initial attention but often fall by the wayside.
In 2021, as part of the Techcombank Mobile redesign, we saw an opportunity to reimagine PFM—not through traditional tools or financial education—but by embedding financial decision support seamlessly into users’ daily interactions.
Recognizing that our customers do not aspire to become financial experts, but rather seek ease and confidence in managing their money, we turned to behavioral science. The result was the conception and launch of Nudge: a subtle, dynamic component on the Mobile Dashboard designed to aid decision-making and foster better financial habits, one small step at a time.
Three years post-launch, Nudge continues to demonstrate measurable impact, reinforcing our belief in behaviorally-informed design.
Experience vision
Our vision is to improve the financial wellbeing of Vietnamese people, businesses and communities by helping them make better financial decisions.
We will provide banking solutions that help customers develop sustainable financial behaviours, build resilience to the financial shocks that life throws their way, and achieve their long-term financial goals and aspirations, so they can live the life they want for now and in the future.
Intention-action gap
Before designing solutions, we needed a profound understanding of the underlying behavioral dynamics. We conducted qualitative interviews with 33 individuals and supplemented our findings with a quantitative survey of nearly 100 participants.
The research revealed a pronounced intention-action gap:
- 76% of participants had long-term goals (e.g., buying a home or traveling abroad), yet they primarily planned only for the short term (typically month-to-month).
- While half reported creating budgets, over 70% failed to adhere to them.
- More than 50% admitted to feeling stressed about money—an especially telling insight within a culture that traditionally avoids open conversations about finances.
This discrepancy between financial aspirations and actual behavior underscored the need for an intervention that could work within the grain of everyday life, rather than against it.
Decision fatigue and cognitive overload
The average adult makes approximately 35,000 conscious decisions daily. As decision fatigue accumulates, cognitive resources deplete, pushing people toward impulsive or status quo decisions.
Financial planning, inherently complex and emotionally charged, becomes particularly vulnerable under such conditions.
Recognizing this, we understood that any effective PFM support would need to minimize cognitive load, work with users' natural biases, and guide them through small, manageable steps—especially when decision fatigue was at its peak.
This insight provided the behavioral foundation for introducing Nudge.
Alternative worlds: Behavioral design through nudge
In behavioral science, a nudge is a subtle prompt that steers users toward beneficial decisions without restricting freedom of choice. Nudges are most effective when they are:
1. Behaviorally informed
Leveraging biases like loss aversion, social proof, or the present bias.
2. Subtle
Shaping decisions unconsciously through environmental cues.
3. Contextual
Presented at the right moment to maximize relevance and salience.
An example of nudge in experience design is Odenplan underground station in Stockholm. The design goal is to persuade people to make the healthy choice of using the stairs rather than the escalator. The stairs were turned into a musical keyboard, complete with sound. Each stair plays a piano note corresponding to its piano key each time someone treads on it. As you go up the stairs you play an ascending scale.
After installing the musical staircase, 66% more people than normal chose the stairs over the escalator.
The piano staircase, Odenplan underground station, Stockholm.
Source
Another example of nudge is the Ballot Bin, displays a question and two answers. Smokers vote by putting their cigarette butt in the slots underneath their preferred answer. The litter stacks up behind the clear glass front in two columns, showing which answer is more popular.
Smokers find the Ballot Bins much more engaging than alternative ashtrays and are more likely to use them.
The Ballot Bin is a customisable ashtray, proven to reduce cigarette butt litter by up to 73%.
Smokers find the Ballot Bins much more engaging than alternative ashtrays.
Source
Bridging the intention-action gap: Small steps, big difference
Instead of burdening users with complex financial planning, Nudge encourages sustainable micro-behaviors that compound over time.
Through dynamic, relevant, and digestible content, Nudge simplifies major financial decisions into small, actionable steps—turning "someday" goals into "today" behaviors.
This approach not only fosters better habits but also aligns with intrinsic human psychology: people are more likely to act when the reward feels immediate and the effort feels manageable.
Business alignment: Financial wellbeing drives growth
Supporting customers' financial wellbeing is not only a moral imperative; it is also sound business strategy. Consider two customers with identical incomes:
- One overspends, accumulates debt, and struggles to save.
- The other controls spending, builds savings, and plans for future investments.
The latter customer not only achieves greater personal financial security but also progresses through Techcombank’s product value chain—adopting investment products, insurance, and higher-value financial services. By encouraging sustainable financial behaviors, Nudge helps create a virtuous cycle where customer success fuels business growth.
Design principles for Nudge
We articulated a clear set of principles to guide the design and evolution of Nudge:
1. Discoverable
Positioned strategically at the top of the Dashboard, where users naturally glance for updates, ensuring immediate visibility.
2. Digestible
Information is delivered in bite-sized, focused messages, enabling comprehension and decision-making within seconds.
3. Relatable
Financial concepts are translated into practical, real-world contexts relevant to users' lives, fostering greater emotional connection.
4. Actionable
Every nudge offers a clear next step, making complex decisions intuitive and actionable.
Framework for effective nudging
Nudging must be targeted to be effective, given the contextual nature of behavioral change. A nudge sent indiscriminately to a mass audience is no longer a true nudge — it becomes push marketing.
A. 4W1H framework
To implement effective nudging, it requires collaboration across the entire product team. Here is a simple framework that product owners and designers can leverage when designing nudges for their respective products:
- WHO: Who are the users? What are their characteristics, knowledge, and experience relevant to the tasks?
- WHAT: What are the tasks users need to accomplish?
- WHEN: When do users perform these tasks? Are they in a hurry, or do they have time? How frequently do they perform them?
- WHY: Why are users engaging in these tasks? What are they ultimately trying to achieve?
- HOW: How do users currently perform these tasks?
B. Decision tree for nudge execution
Once we define these elements, we can build a decision matrix to guide nudge execution for a specific product. The execution (the HOW) depends on several factors:
- WHO: The users’ profiles.
- WHAT: Product complexity, based on two dimensions — product familiarity and product life cycle. Products that are unfamiliar and have a long-term impact typically impose a high cognitive load due to the uncertainty of future outcomes, leading to decision fatigue.
- WHEN: Task frequency — whether it is a recurrent behavior or a one-time event.
- WHY: Behavioral goals — whether customers simply need to become aware of good financial habits or are ready to take action.
Results
Nudge has proven to be the most effective sales driver on the Dashboard to date. It consistently outperforms other elements such as Just-for-you banners, in-app messages, and push notifications, achieving the highest click-through and conversion rates across campaigns. As an all-rounder, Nudge effectively captures user attention and drives meaningful action.
Key takeaways
Reflecting on the Nudge Strategy initiative, several key insights emerge:
- Human-centered design must respect human limitations:
Instead of expecting users to become disciplined financial experts, we embedded support into natural behaviors and cognitive shortcuts.
- Behavioral economics offers powerful tools for experience design:
By understanding and designing for biases like loss aversion and decision fatigue, we can shape experiences that feel effortless yet impactful.
- Experience design and business strategy are intertwined:
Driving better customer outcomes—such as financial resilience—creates more valuable, loyal, and engaged customers over time.
- Small interventions compound into significant change:
Through consistent, contextually delivered nudges, we can close the intention-action gap and promote lasting behavioral transformation.
Ultimately, great digital experiences do not demand discipline from users; they remove friction, simplify choices, and celebrate small wins—day after day.
Thank you for reading.