Nothing is exciting in providing financial services. All numbers, statistics, and figures make it hard to improve customer LTV. But, the CRED app entered the FinTech market with a bang and made it fun to pay credit card bills with a gamification experience.
Gamification in CRED is the most brilliant customer engagement move for the company. As a result, its user base crossed 7.5 million in 2021. Moreover, the company raised $251 million in third-round funding in 2021, with a valuation of $4.01 billion.
Now, that's exceptional growth in a competitive FinTech sector, especially in India. The number of Indian credit users might have increased in the last few years, but it still only stood at 73.6 million.
So, the road was not clear for CRED. But, the reward-based credit card payment model and the gamified CRED app UI have grown this startup pretty fast.
Want to know more about CRED’s gamified experience?
Then, let's explore the CRED case study in detail.
What is CRED?
CRED is a mobile application to pay credit card bills. The CRED app was founded by Kunal Shah, the founder of the company FreeCharge in 2018.
This app is developed to make credit card use easier. CRED offers rewards on credit card bill payments in the form of coins, which users can redeem into cash.
However, this app is not for new credit card users. In addition, you must have a 750 credit score to use this application.
Once you download the app, you must enter your mobile number and PAN card details. After that, the application will process your credit score and give you full access to CRED features.
How Does CRED Works & Its Features?
CRED works on the simple principle that a person who pays their credit card bills on time deserves some appreciation.
Kunal Shah ran extensive research on modern customers before launching this product. He found that many innovative startup tech projects are working worldwide, like cashless supermarkets or attend-less gas stations.
But, no mechanism allows people to pay credit card dues without zero charges. So, he came up with CRED to offer credit card users an accessible portal to manage multiple credit cards in an app.
But, he had another challenge: convincing people to use his app to pay their credit card bills.
So, the CRED team used two unique approaches to make their application stand out. First, they leverage gamification in CRED app UI and offer rewards to people for paying credit card dues from the app.
CRED is a free application. They don’t charge users for paying their credit card dues. Instead, they partner with different service providers and offer their products or services as a reward.
This strategy kills two birds with one shot. First, it allows businesses to promote their services where people are already spending. Contrary, people get rewards for paying their bills. So, it is a win-win situation for everyone.
CRED has three main features:
- Simplification. CRED has made it easier for credit card users to pay their dues and earn rewards. Earlier, people could only use their banking applications or other unsafe services to pay their credit card bills. So, CRED gives them additional rewards and a secure mobile app interface.
- CRED app. Minimalist and simple CRED design allows users to quickly sign up and check their credit score. In addition, the app has a clean interface and gamified UX experience for better customer engagement.
- Marketplace. CRED gives small and large businesses a marketplace to promote their products and services. It ties up with all the leading brands to offer better lucrative rewards to their customers.
What Does a CRED’s Ideal Customer Look Like?
CRED has a clear targeted customer base – credit card users.
Now, credit card users are a big vertical. Thus, CRED has narrowed its ideal customer base to frequent credit card users.
It only allows people with a 750 credit score to use the app. This removes all those new or less frequent credit card users from the CRED radar so they can focus on people who are more likely to spend on the app.
In the initial days, CRED only targeted wealthy credit card users. It has created a CRED club for elite and wealthy credit card users to increase spending on the app.
As of now, CRED is targeting generation Y. They’re focusing on people between 25 to 40 years, especially over 30 years.
Since millennials are a technical and social media generation, CRED has used creative commercial and marketing strategies to connect with them on an emotional level.
Sending cakes for credit card bill reminders or including gamification in the CRED interface are some exciting marketing strategies the brand uses.
According to statistics, 80% of millennials play games online. Considering this fact, the CRED app UI now reminds users of classic video games like Mario kart.
CRED UX Teardown: Behind the Scenes
Harish Sivaramakrishnan is the man behind CRED's gamified experience. He worked with many brands like Myntra, Google, and Freecharge.
He said at a YourStory event, “Everybody likes to have that small moment of joy. Everybody likes to be made to feel special in small little ways.”
And that you can easily notice in the CRED app UI. It has a simple, minimalist, and attractive user interface to hold customers' attention for a more extended period.
The CRED UX is conducive to initiating action. For example, users can see rewards and offers when they opt to pay credit card bills. They have beautifully aligned UI to initiate an action.
Let's teardown CRED UX screen-by-screen:
Splash Screen
CRED design cuts down monotone mobile interfaces. Instead of a plain splash screen with the company logo, CRED opted for smooth transition animations to grab user attention.
The color tone is classic black and white. The cool button shapes add a pinch of gamified UI to the app.
Home Screen
CRED Home Screen is neat, and all information is organized in chunks. As a result, users can easily find their way around the app, even first-time users.
The neuromorphic layout looks soft on the eyes, which helps to engage the user. However, it looks like all the cards are inserted into the background while the buttons are extruding from the background.
It feels like pressing a bubble wrap when you tap on the buttons. This will help users relax, and they can better concentrate on the current task.
Therefore, this CRED design is the best strategy to grab users' attention and make them feel calm while spending money.
The CRED UX teardown is incomplete without mentioning its charcoal black background. The CRED design team has beautifully played with the black color psychology to evoke power, calm, and mystery.
Also, the tint orange icons on the black background add sophistication to the design. This app has a simple and semantic design to keep customers engaged.
Reward Screen
The CRED reward screen is quite popular. The same minimalist and neomorphic style go here.
It has a button navigation bar that resembles switching on/off the light. The selected tab lights up, and the unselected tab goes dimmer.
The reward screen is also well-organized with systemic chunks. Users' rewards are organized in cards inset into the background.
Reward scores and trophy room button is also extruded from the background.
Gamification in CRED That Hooks Users to the App
CRED's gamified experience is astonishing. It has simplified gamified UX layers and added game-like elements all around the app.
Gamification in CRED can be seen through the following elements:
Referral Reward
A referral is a common strategy that apps use to gamify interfaces. But the CRED app has used referral programs slightly differently.
Every referral earns the user a Gem. In addition, users can collect gems and sell them for cool rewards.
The CRED referral program works pretty simply — you can earn by referring your friends and family members. Once your friend downloads the CRED app from your referral link, ₹1000 will be credited to your bank. After that, you will receive ₹750 each referral.
It is often seen with referrals that people install the app on their friends' phones to get rewards and then uninstall it.
But the CRED has found the solution. They use artificial intelligence to empower the referral program.
CRED Spin-the-Wheel
CRED also has spin-the-wheel gamification components. Simply open your CRED app and go to the “Club” section from the below menu.
You can now see the Mega Jackpot Week WazirX banner at the top. Click on it and check card details. Click on the claim button to spin and win amazing rewards every day.
You can get 10 chances daily to try your luck. You can win rewards like bitcoins, gift vouchers ,and more.
CRED Coins
Every time someone uses this app, they can earn CRED coins. Each coin has one rupee face value. So, you can spend more on the app to earn more coins to redeem them into exciting rewards.
Creed allows you to redeem coins in two ways:
- Fixed rewards like discounts from business associates, pay for Experian credit scores, etc
- Variable rewards that you can use to play CRED games and win more rewards. For example, you can spend CRED coins to buy slots in the game.
CRED Game
CRED games are another awesome way to earn rewards. CRED hosts various games for its members on special occasions.
During the last IPL season, CRED spread happiness like Santa Claus. From iPhones to lakhs worth of gift vouchers, CRED IPL games have been a mega happiness fest for CRED members.
Gamification in Finance: Top Gamified Features to Must Include in Your App
Has CRED gamified experience inspired you to add game-like elements to your app?
Then, don’t just go and copy the CRED app UI. Despite being part of the same financial industry, your business requirements and customer preferences are different than CRED.
Thus, you must first analyze your audience and market before selecting the suitable FinTech gamification elements.
Here are a few common gamified elements to add to your financial app:
Rewards, scores, badges, points
Gamification in finance is impossible without rewards. CRED's entire success revolves around its amazing reward system.
By giving rewards, financial organizations can deliver better experiences and retain customers. For example, FinTech gamification comprises points, stickers, or badges to motivate users more interaction with the app.
Set goals
Goals and challenges are excellent ways to motivate customers to take action and increase customer loyalty. This can help financial apps to improve the financial well-being of their users.
For example, the app can enable users to create personal finance plans, track spending and create budgets. In addition, you can reward the user who sticks to their goals.
Progress bars
Progress bars are another popular game-like element that financial service-providing companies use to motivate their customers.
Users can see the progress bar moving closer to the target when they complete the necessary task. This will motivate them to perform better and achieve their goals faster.
Mint app is the best example in this case. This personal project management app uses progress bars to help users stay motivated in achieving their financial goals while increasing the app’s conversion rate.
Educational content
Gamification in education is a great way to capture learners' interests. Financial organizations can use qualified educational content to inform users about complex financial terms in simple ways.
FinTech gamification components to learn can be quizzes, puzzles, or indie games.
Leaderboards
Healthy competition is the perfect way to engage and motivate financial users. Finance apps can use leaderboards to share information about users' goals, rewards, and other achievements.
This strategy helps to trigger FOMO among users. When they see other users achieving their financial goals and earning rewards, this will motivate them to focus on their goals. It can increase customer retention and help you build a loyal customer base.
Social media integration
As of 2021, over 4.26 billion people were active on social media platforms. So, social integration with gamification can reduce the churn-out rate for financial apps.
Moreover, when people share their financial achievements and rewards on social media with their friends, it can help financial apps acquire new customers. A study shows that people trust their friends' words more than advertisements.
Gamification in CRED: Want a Custom FinTech Gamified App?
Gamification in CRED is the next level. The app has a lucrative reward system, games, coins, and whatnot. CRED’s gamified experience help to:
- Build community
- Retain customers
- Build a loyal customer base
- Improve customer engagement
- Promote businesses
- Increase customer spending on the app, etc.
Cool right?
Do you also want to add CRED-like elements to your finance app?
Then, you can get in touch with the CustomerGlu team today.
We have a low-code app builder that can help you add intuitive gaming elements to your mobile application. You can add an incentive referral program to engage your customers.
You can also educate, retain and motivate your users with quizzes, challenges, a progress bar, and more.
Book a free demo today to better understand how our platform can help you improve your app conversion rate.
