The growth of digital banks over the past decade has been unstoppable, both in terms of speed and ferocity. In a 2015 survey, only 18% of digitally active adults used digital banks for money transfers. In 2019, that number was a staggering 75%! Riding this wave is the market leader Revolut, which has become the fastest-growing tech company in Europe.

In just 6 years, Revolut has built up a base of 15 million customers! The story behind their success is one with great gamification examples to learn from. The app uses gamification features like raffles and leaderboards to ensure a fun and engaging customer experience.

• Competition is hot, but Revolut is hotter
• 5 features every banking app needs
• 5 gamification examples for banking from Revolut
• StriveCloud specializes in customer experience optimization
• Recap

Competition is hot, but Revolut is hotter

Globally, there are over 25,000 fintech startups, with nearly 10,000 of those in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. To be sure, this makes for a highly competitive market. For emerging startups, the saturation of the fintech market is an obstacle to growth. However, for leaders like Revolut, it marks a constant potential threat. In essence, if a competitor can manage to grow like Revolut, which saw a 45% increase in customer base between 2019 and 2020, the expansion could be too fast to react to.

Indeed, if any company knows what it is like to have their market disrupted, it should be Revolut, who are themselves the disruptors. It is important to realize that their meteoric growth was earned at the expense of traditional banks. The threat of digital banks to established institutions explains why 80% of banking executives want to improve their digital customer experience. Companies like Revolut are showing the way forward!

Revolut was created by CEO Nik Storonsky to enable customers to avoid transaction fees when traveling abroad. In today’s interconnected world, with more being spent by international tourists each year, Revolut tapped into a growing customer need. Since then, the mobile app has been at the forefront of the company strategy: customer experience optimization.

By making the app highly engaging, Revolut has captivated 15 million users across 37 countries. How did they achieve this? Well, they followed the advice given in one of their blogs: “gamify the experience!” with gamification examples such as weekly prize draws.

New to gamification? Get started on our what is gamification page!

5 features every banking app needs

Before you even embark on making your app special, it has to be functional. As they say, you need to learn the rules before breaking them. Every bank app needs these 5 features:

#1 Sign-up and intuitive profile set-up

When asked about digital banking, people say their biggest concern is security. During the sign-up, there are opportunities to present how secure your platform is. Features like biometric scanning and multi-factor authentication can calm worries about misuse.

#2 A clear and motivating onboarding process

For digital banks, Day 1 user retention is just 30%. Given this, you must create customer value in the onboarding process. In particular, you should use as few screens as possible and avoid long tutorials. Instead, introduce features both gradually and subtly.

#3 Payments

Of course, this is an essential service. As well as payments, you should allow things like user communication, easy donations, and savings features. For instance, how fintech app Chip uses gamification to help users save by stashing spare pennies taken from transactions.

#4 History of transactions

Displaying past transactions is essential to giving users a sense of control. This is a basic need your app needs to fulfill to be valuable. Transactions should be able to be organized by type of expenditure, whether it be food shopping or eating out. It should also detail where the transaction took place to help avoid forgotten ‘mystery’ payments.

#5 Push notifications

Out of all app types, fintech has the highest engagement rates for push notifications. This is because finance notifications have the power to be genuinely personal and urgent. By providing real-time information about payments, reminders for scheduled payments, and messages about new features, you create customer value.

5 gamification examples for banking from Revolut

Likewise, Revolut provides users with these 5 basic features. However, using the power of gamification, the app puts focus on customer experience optimization.

#1 A sign-up process designed for user retention

To prevent the 70% drop-off in users over the first 24 hours, the sign-up video is presented like an Instagram story, with a progress bar clearly displayed at the top. Studies show this is effective, as 3/4 of people like to have an indication of progress. (Also, notice how they boast about their security!)

#2 A leaderboard that motivates students to complete onboarding

When starting out, Revolut had university leaderboards that encouraged students to sign up. This taps into the need for social relatedness. Simply put, competition is fun. In addition, the prize of free premium is enough to keep users around for the long haul!

#3 Lotteries and raffles incentivize payments

When you make transfers and payments, Revolut rewards you with points. These points enter you in a raffle to win up to £10,000! In addition, a leaderboard shows how close you are to both the top and your friends.

#4 Progress bars and goal-setting give users control over transaction history

When it comes to people’s money, it is essential to create a feeling of control. Of course, nobody wants to give an invisible hand power over their savings. As such, by letting users set budget goals, they gain ownership over the process. Progress bars then keep them up to date in a visually pleasing way.

#5 Personalized push notifications grow the customer relationship

Have you hit a milestone or just came back from vacation? Then Revolut will send a quick message to welcome you home. Given Revolut’s selling point of hassle-free travel abroad, this is especially relevant for their users. That’s smart customer experience optimization!

StriveCloud’s 2 cents on gamification for mobile banking apps

If Revolut inspires you to make your banking app as engaging as possible, you’re not alone. StriveCloud can help you implement your own gamification strategy in three simple steps:

1. Start with an interactive workshop built around improving your app experience. We’ll explore your goals, target audience and dive into key milestones in your user journey. Finally, we bundle it all in 1 gamification design plan.
2. Based on the plan, our team will add a gamification layer to your app, and help you start changing and motivating desired user behaviors.
3. Lastly, we onboard and train your team to manage the gamified experience to fit entirely your wants and needs.

All these gamification examples aren’t new to us. We’ve worked with apps in the banking industry and across many other sectors. Along the way, we managed to get insane results like a 23% decrease in churn and a rise in daily active usage by 58%!

Enrich your own app with fun elements. Check out our app gamification software!

Recap

The growth of digital banks has been thick and fast. In 2015, only 18% of adults used neobanks for money transfers. In 2019, that number was a staggering 75%!

Revolut is the top company in the game, with 15 million customers. How did they do it?

Competition is hot, but Revolut is hotter

With over 25,000 fintech startups worldwide, digital banking is highly competitive. The reason for this is just how popular mobile app banks are for their ease of use. For example, Revolut saw a 45% increase in customers between 2019 and 2020.

The threat of digital banks to established institutions explains why 80% of banking executives want to improve their digital customer experience!

5 features every banking app needs (and how Revolut improves it with gamification examples)

#1 An intuitive sign-up. A great time to talk about how secure your app is (a huge consumer concern about fintech).

Revolut: To prevent the 70% drop-off in Day 1 user retention, the sign-up video is presented like an Instagram story, with a progress bar clearly displayed at the top.

#2 A clear and motivating onboarding process. Use as few screens as possible.

Revolut: When starting out, Revolut had university leaderboards that encouraged students to sign up. This fulfills the need for social relatedness, and competition is fun!

#3 Payments. Consider things like user communication, easy donations, and savings features, such as how fintech app Chip uses gamification to help users save.

Revolut: When you make transfers and payments, Revolut rewards you with points. These points enter you in a raffle to win up to £10,000!

#4 History of transactions. Displaying this is essential to giving users a sense of control.

Revolut: Users can set budget goals and progress bars that keep them up to date on their history in a visually pleasing way. In the process, they feel ownership over the app.

#5 Push notifications. With real-time information about payments, reminders for scheduled payments, and messages about new features, you create customer value.

Revolut: Personalised push notifications, such as a quick message to welcome you home from travels, grow the customer relationship. Makes sense for Revolut’s userbase!

StriveCloud’s 2 cents on gamification for banking apps

Following the formula of Revolut, StriveCloud inspired a Belgian bank on their gamification journey. The expert team helped them gamify their app in 3 easy steps:

1. A strategy workshop filled with tons of gamification examples, leading to a custom gamification design plan.
2. Based on the design plan, we add a layer of gamification to your app.
3. Onboarding & training on how to use the gamification software to create engaging experiences.

Want to improve your mobile app experience? Accelerate your growth with an action-packed gamification workshop tailored to your app goals!