How Ally Bank’s Interaction Design Helped Me “Date With A Purpose.”
I click-clack on Apple products, I drive an Infiniti, I shop online at Amazon, I do the un-and-refolding-ness-icities (and yes, I meant to spell it that way) to ride and a store my Brompton bicycle, and I stream with Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify.
In essence, I’m a consumer.
And like most consumers, I hope to interact with products and services to help reduce my problems. One such problem was finding a bank that would provide the services that I needed with no fees and a competitive savings rate. I signed up with Ally Bank and found that their services provided more than just traditional banking services. They want people to build better relationships with money.
While traditional reviews showcase primary products and services, my user experience of Ally Bank’s interactive social media was put to the test . . . while I was dating (in my “GURL, you really bout’ to put that out there?” voice).
But first, for those in the internet audience who may not know about Ally Bank, below is a brief summary.
As a UX design student and an educated consumer, when looking for a new product or service, I research company’s ratings and what they do in the community — and social media is a great way to see that.
And that’s when I saw it (in my whimsical child-like voice).
In 2019, Ally Bank’s first Instagram posts included an interactive game called, #Confessiongrams, where users can play truth or dare with questions about money. And these aren’t surface level yes or no financial questions, like, “Will being a millionaire make you happy?” or “How much money do you make?” These are situational, open-ended questions that gives users the prompt to explore their journey of relating to and interacting with money.
Let me explain.
Do a search for “money” and you will be overwhelmed with millions . . . yes . . . actual millions of articles, blogs, videos, and research around this topic. I believe that the topic of money is so popular in digital spaces because it’s not a comfortable topic of discussion in physical spaces.
The usage of money, equality of money, or just the lack thereof is typically kept from employers to employees, from parents to children, and even from spouse to spouse. Employers largely discourage discussions around equitable salaries; parents don’t feel obligated or are embarrassed to talk about household expenses with their children; and one spouse may have spent or currently spends more money than the other spouse without their knowledge.
The discomfort is gloomy.
But that’s where this interaction design shines!
I believe that Ally Bank is trying to invite people to change the stigma of talking about money through “confessiongrams,” a gamified UI on Instagram. Folks can choose virtual cards that come with truth or dare options where they can “speak their financial truth” or “do a financial dare.”
Financial topics about deal breakers look like:
Financial topics about family look like:
Financial topics about lifestyle look like:
When it comes to dating, some pillars of compatibility can include:
- Activity Level
- Adversity
- Aesthetics
- Attitude
- Cleanliness
- Communication
- Compassion
- Development
- Education
- Emotional
- Expectations
- Financial
- Goals
- Growth
- Happiness
- Healing
- Health
- Honor
- Intellectual
- Intimacy
- Lifestyle
- Location
- Love
- Materialism
- Mental
- Physical
- Reliability
- Respect
- Sociability
- Spirituality
- Timeliness
- Transparency
- Well Being
My desire for a compatible partner did not mean I wanted someone exactly like me. I believed it meant to have someone that compliments my values — financial compatibility being one of them. I used Ally’s interactive game when I was “dating with a purpose” and “choosing not to settle.”
And so . . . just how did I use this gamified design to date?
I started on the phone; and nope . . . not in those dating apps, but the part where I used the keypad to dial a phone number from my Google Voice number because . . . like ddduuuhhh . . . safety first (in my annoyed-how-do-you-not-know-this teenage voice), listened to it ring, and then heard a voice on the other end (in my sarcastic Gen-X-er mixed with Millennial voice).
While texting did happen during times when I was at work, voice communication helped me understand:
- Emotion
- Engagement
- Pitch
- Responsiveness
- Temperament
- Tone
When I came across men that seemed interesting, we would exchange numbers, the call would take place, and then, I’d pull up the Ally Bank confessiongram questions and would insert “truth” questions into our conversations.
I snuck in questions about family roles within the context of money like:
I slid in questions about deal breakers within the context of money like:
I added questions about deal breakers within the context of money like:
As a Product Designer and an Ally Bank customer, I can share that I have seen iterations of the app over time. I’ve experienced the number pad not being fully displayed, where I had to scroll to see the rest of the number pad in order to make online payments. I’ve experienced biometrics that forced me to use it twice, where the first scan was for the username and the second scan was for the password.
While those design issues did not make for an enjoyable user experience (and since then, have been corrected), I kept in mind how Ally Bank exceeded my expectation of a financial institution. They’ve shown the human side of banking through an under-the-radar social media tool that deserves to be in the forefront of human relationships with money.
Thank you for taking the time to read my product review. If you have comments, suggestions, or questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section below.
Stac_y
