Analysis of the Results of the Science of Savings Challenge on Savings Goals
Through the Science of Savings Challenge on Savings Goals, SaverLife sought to create a guide or tool that empowers people to reach a $100+ savings goal in 30 days. SaverLife built four tools to test how we could help more members reach their savings goals.
We tested each of these tools with separate groups of SaverLife members in December 2020. Each member received their tool via an email announcement and a new dashboard tile. We also sent some members SMS announcements and check ins, to test the impact of this kind of messaging on engagement and savings.
The Tools
Tool #1: Group Savings Contest
Members were assigned to a team and encouraged to help their team win by accruing the highest total savings. Social motivators can be powerful, and we wanted to know if a team competition gave members extra motivation to save.
Tool #2: How Your Neighbors Spend
Members were given access to a dashboard where they could view the spending behavior of others in their geographic area. SaverLife challenged these members to beat the spending trends in their neighborhood. We wanted to know if members would be motivated to spend less and save more when compared with their neighbors.
Tool #3: Savings Plan
This tool provided members with a questionnaire that helped them create a customized savings goal and plan for how to reach it. We wanted to know if a personal goal and specific plan to achieve that goal would motivate members to save more.
Tool #4: Printable Savings Trackers and Coloring Sheets
The last tool was a printable PDF with savings-themed coloring sheets and colorable savings trackers. Members were encouraged to color them with their families to track their progress toward a $100 savings goal. We wanted to know if by making savings a fun family activity, would members save more?
The Results
Members Found the Tools Helpful and Motivating
A key takeaway from these tests was that members overwhelmingly found the tools helpful. In a survey sent to members who used the tools we asked “Did you find the tool helpful or motivating for building your savings?” Across the board, 80-90% of members answered yes.
The highest rated tool was the Savings Plan, with 90% of members finding it helpful. As one member described, “I liked that it made me stop and set a realistic goal.” Other members noted that the tool helped them build awareness, be honest with themselves, and brainstorm new savings strategies.
The second highest rated was “How Your Neighbors Spend” tool, with 85% finding it helpful. Members reported liking the visuals and the context the geographic comparisons gave them for their own savings habits. As one member said, “The breakdown of how people typically spend their money helped me reflect on my own priorities and spending habits.”
The “Group Savings Contest” and “Printable Savings Trackers and Coloring Sheets” both received an 80% approval rating. Members enjoyed how easy and fun the illustrated savings trackers were, and how they made savings seem more accessible. One member described how it “motivated me to want to save money all throughout the year.”
The contest helped people visualize their savings. Many found it motivating to see how they ranked—and that so many others were also working on their savings. As one participant described, “It was less about competition and more about everyone together reaching their own goals.”
Engaged Members Are More Likely to Save
One of the most important findings from this challenge was that active engagement is tied to savings success. We measured engagement by the number of “active events” a user took on the SaverLife website in the month of December—for example, visiting their dashboard or other pages, and clicking links on the site.
Highly engaged members were much more likely to use the tools provided and saved at much higher rates than less engaged members. Members who visited SaverLife even once in December were more than twice as likely to save $100 in that month than those who didn't. Our most engaged members were three times as likely to save $100.
The feedback and engagement of our members revealed several ways we might improve our testing process and delivery in the future, both to make our tools more helpful and to better measure how interventions like these impact savings rates.
These results also indicate that we will continue testing ways to increase engagement among members in order to drive savings. Our third finding indicates a way we can do just that.
SMS Messages Greatly Improve Engagement
As part of this testing, some users received SMS messages (text messages) and some did not. The messages read, “Save for the New Year! SaverLife has a new tool for this month only to help you rebuild. Try to save $100+ this December!” and included a link to each member’s SaverLife Dashboard. Receiving a text message had a positive impact on engagement. Members who received an SMS were at least 3% more likely to come back to the site.
Even better news? These messages were successful at bringing back members who hadn’t visited the site in the past two months.
Next Steps: Further Testing and Refinement
The learnings provided by this Challenge offer invaluable insight into how SaverLife can continue to help our members boost their savings. The goal of Science of Savings is to create a continuous cycle of research and product development. The data we gained here reveals several ways we might improve our testing process for even faster, stronger results. Members responded very positively to each of the tools, giving us several promising directions to explore. And this testing reveals that further experimentation around engagement--specifically, using SMS to drive engagement--could lead to long-term savings growth for our members.