Saving Habit encourages customers to set up a recurring payment to their savings account — or open a new one — and regularly send money to it, turning the intention to save into a sustainable, automatic behaviour.
Most customers who want to save more money never get started — not because they lack the intention, but because setting up a recurring transfer is unintuitive, easily forgotten, or feels like a commitment they're not sure they can keep. Saving Habit was designed to remove every friction point between the intention to save and the first scheduled transfer.
The feature needed to work for two distinct customer states: those with an existing savings account who wanted to automate regular contributions, and those who hadn't yet opened a savings account and needed a reason to start. Both paths had to feel immediate, low-commitment, and rewarding from the first interaction.
Interviews with Westpac customers who had tried and failed to build a saving habit. The most common answer to "why didn't you set it up?" wasn't "I forgot" — it was "I wasn't sure how much I could afford." That single insight shaped every design decision that followed.
Mapped two distinct entry paths — existing account holders who wanted to automate, and customers who needed to open an account first. The key decision: lead with amount and frequency, not account selection. Choosing a number feels like a commitment; choosing an account feels like a task.
Built the setup flow in Figma around a single entry screen: "How much, how often?" Account linking came after, and account opening was embedded inline for new savers — no redirects, no app-switching. Progress tracking was introduced at the end of setup to give customers an immediate, satisfying sense of having started.
Usability testing compared amount-first vs. account-first entry. Drop-off on the account-first variant was measurably higher — customers who hadn't decided on an account felt stuck before they'd even started. The amount-first flow resolved this. Final iterations refined the frequency picker and the inline account-opening confirmation.
The Saving Habit setup starts with the simplest, most motivating question: how much do you want to save, and how often? By asking the amount and frequency before linking any account, the flow gives customers a sense of progress and commitment before they hit any potential friction point. The psychology is deliberate — once someone has chosen "$50 every fortnight", they're far more likely to complete the account linking step than if they'd been asked to pick an account first.
For customers without an existing savings account, account opening is embedded in the flow — not a redirect, not a separate process. They choose their amount, select "open a new account", and the account is created as part of the same journey.
After setup, the savings account home screen displays a running total and a visual progress bar towards the customer's stated goal, reinforcing the habit every time they open the app. Customers can adjust their transfer amount or frequency at any time without cancelling the habit entirely — a deliberate design decision to reduce full abandonment in favour of adjustment.
The feature was designed and delivered within Westpac's mobile design system, using shared components for account selection, form inputs, and progress indicators — ensuring the experience felt native to the broader app while introducing the new pattern cleanly.