Savings, rebuiltas a platform.
Cash App Savings was one pool of money. I redesigned it around goals, then carried the same model into paychecks, investing and transfers.
- Role
- The team's only designer, and one of its three leads with product and engineering. We set the roadmap together, and the design work shaped what we built.
- Scope
- Savings, Paychecks, Round Ups and transfers, in three experiments.
- Proves
- See the system. Design the rules.
+41%
More goals set up, and the lift reached Card and direct deposit.
Savings goals set up · test vs control · limited-rollout A/B
One balance. Two buttons.
Goals, each with its own progress.
- Rewards.
- Limits.
- Friction.
- Goals.
The best nudge didn't take money away.
We concept-tested rewards, limits, friction and goals. Balances were too small for rewards to motivate, and limits would lock people out of money they need for bills. Goals add structure without taking access away.
Party in the front,complexity in the back.
- LedgerRewritten so goals can be created and deleted instantly.
- Design systemSavings and Paychecks moved onto the new one.
- Paychecks serviceExpanded to split deposits into savings and investing.
+41%
Savings goals set up
+7.66%
Savings paycheck distributions set up
Multiple Savings Goals · up to 5 goals vs 1 · limited-rollout A/B
See your money.Then touch it.
Paycheck automations were scattered across the app, yet the paycheck is the most valuable money that arrives every month. A ring shows where every dollar goes, and customers drag the split directly.
Every dollar of the paycheck, in one ring.
Presets make the first split fast.
Built for goals,reused for stocks.
Splitting a paycheck across goals needed multi-select. We built it as a reusable primitive and extended it to investing.
+19.2%
Total average paycheck dollars distributed
+8.8%
Average direct deposit inflows
“Maybe the most magical tool in our toolbox.”
Paychecks · limited-rollout A/B vs control
Choose an amount first,discover the shortfall last.
The funding source came last, so an amount above the balance sent customers back to the start. Pairing source with amount means no step depends on a later one, and a PIN only when money leaves.
I audited everyCash App transfer flow.
Savings wasn't the only flow with this problem. Unasked, I mapped transfers across the app, including stock buys, and pressure-tested one model against all of them.
- 1Frequency
- 2Source + amount
- 3Destination
- 4Authenticate + confirm
Leadership found the model compelling but didn't fund a cross-app rollout against higher-impact bets. Savings tested it first.
Less friction, much more saving.
+150%
Internal savings transfers per customer
+72%
Dollar volume of internal savings transfers
+9.2%
Savings goals set up
Transfers redesign · limited-rollout A/B vs control
Simple on the surface.Rebuilt underneath.
The visible change was a list of goals. The real work was deciding what stayed below the waterline, so nobody has to understand a ledger to save for Mexico.
“Follow threads through transfers, roundups, paychecks, and a half dozen other surfaces.”