Downloads and logins say little about whether an app improves anyone’s finances. Two respondents argue for automatic saving, timely prompts and outcome measures such as fewer missed payments.

Financial wellbeing has become a standard pitch for banks, budgeting apps and employee benefits platforms. Most add savings pots, spending charts and learning content, then report engagement. Still, the harder question is whether any of it changes how people save or borrow. The need is real. One in ten UK adults had no cash savings in May 2024, and another 21% had less than £1,000, the FCA found. One in four had low financial resilience, which means room for financial wellbeing tools that work.

We asked one question: which financial wellbeing features have changed how your customers save, budget or manage debt, and how do you measure it? We wanted product leads and founders at banks, neobanks, budgeting apps and employee benefits platforms. Engagement or outcome data mattered more than general opinion. Two people answered in this round, and we used both. Neither shared outcome data, so we’ve set their ideas against the research.

Fintechbits analysis

Why financial wellbeing needs better measures

Engagement is easy to count, so it often becomes the target. However, a customer who opens an app daily may still miss a card payment. Therefore, the useful financial wellbeing measures track behaviour: whether people save more often, pay down debt and avoid missed payments. Measuring financial wellbeing this way takes longer, because savings habits and repayment records build over months. Yet it is the only way to show a feature works.

The strongest evidence so far favours automation. In UK workplace trials, Nest Insight found that participation was about 50% higher when payroll saving was opt-out rather than opt-in, Professional Pensions reported. Under opt-out, seven in ten new benefits app users at Co-op and Bupa were saving. In addition, more than 93% of workers said they liked the scheme, whether or not they chose to save.

Automate the habit, then measure the outcome

Anooshka Soham Bathwal is founder and CEO of Dhanvesttor, a Kolkata wealth manager focused on women investors.

“Financial wellbeing features make the biggest difference when they change everyday behaviour, not when they simply give people more information. Three kinds of feature matter most.

The first is goal-based saving with automatic contributions. People often struggle to save because they treat savings as whatever’s left at the end of the month. Setting specific goals and automating regular contributions turns saving into a planned habit. You can measure it through how consistently people contribute each month, how their savings grow, missed contributions, and how many are still saving after three, six and 12 months.

The second is clearer visibility of personal finances. People make better decisions when they understand where their money goes, so spending categories, summaries and a view of existing debts help them cut unnecessary costs and prioritise repayments. The third is financial education combined with practical action, because financial literacy works better when people can apply what they learn.

Downloads, registrations and app engagement show initial interest, but they don’t prove anyone’s finances have improved. I’d prioritise outcomes: more regular saving, fewer missed loan or card payments, growing emergency savings and steadier long-term investing. More investing doesn’t automatically mean better financial wellbeing, though. The goal is to help people make suitable decisions based on their income, responsibilities, risk tolerance and long-term goals.”

Anooshka Soham Bathwal, Founder and CEO, Dhanvesttor

Her case for automation matches the Nest Insight results above. Checking retention at three, six and 12 months is also a sound test, because a savings habit that fades after a month is not a financial wellbeing gain. Her point on education has support too. A 2022 meta-analysis of 76 randomised experiments by Tim Kaiser, Annamaria Lusardi and colleagues found financial education improves both knowledge and later financial behaviour.

Her warning that more investing is not the same as better financial wellbeing is the most useful line for product teams. An app that rewards trading activity can raise engagement while making some customers worse off. Still, Dhanvesttor is a portfolio manager, not a bank or budgeting app, and she shares no outcome data from her own customers.

Flag the change and count the action

Lilach Bullock is an AI implementation consultant and fractional CMO who advises founders rather than running a finance app.

“The feature that changes behaviour is a month-on-month change flag, and the measure is what people do after they see it. Count the cancellations and extra debt payments made within seven days of a flag. One founder I advised saw a duplicated software subscription flagged against the previous month and cancelled the second one straight away. A plain balance screen had never pushed them to do that. I built a similar view for my own household money across more than one currency, because none of my bank apps showed the whole picture.”

Lilach Bullock, AI Implementation Consultant and Fractional CMO, Lilach Bullock

Her measure is the most practical financial wellbeing test in this roundup. Counting actions within seven days links a prompt to a result, which views or clicks cannot do. So a team can see which flags lead to cancelled subscriptions or extra debt payments, and drop the rest. However, her example comes from one founder she advised, and we could not verify it. Her original answer also said no bank app showed the whole picture. Aggregation tools built on open banking do exist, so we’ve narrowed that line to her own banks.

What works for financial wellbeing features

The two answers and the research point to a clear order of work. First, automate the habit you want, such as a regular transfer into savings, rather than relying on reminders alone. Next, add prompts tied to a specific action, like a change flag on a repeat subscription. Then measure what people do afterwards: actions within a week, savings kept after six months, and missed payments over a year. Finally, pair education with a next step, and avoid rewarding activity, such as frequent trading, that does not improve financial wellbeing. Lenders have a stake in this as well, since rising credit costs, as in Revolut’s UK loan pricing, make debt habits more expensive to ignore.

What to watch next

The next step is better evidence. Watch for financial wellbeing providers that publish outcome data, such as missed payments or emergency savings, rather than engagement counts. Also watch the UK debate over workplace savings, since opt-out schemes have the strongest results so far. In addition, the FCA’s next Financial Lives survey will show whether savings buffers have improved since 2024.

Above all, financial wellbeing features earn their place only when customers’ finances improve. Teams that track saving, debt and missed payments, not logins, will know which features to keep.

FintechBits covers payments, banking and fintech developments for readers in the US and UK. This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Views expressed are those of the FintechBits editorial team.