Engaging New
Senyumku Bank
Users Through Gamification

When Registration Becomes the Bottleneck

Internal funnel analysis revealed a clear activation problem. New users were signing up for Celengan but dropping off before completing account setup, never reaching the point where they could actually start saving. Early-stage engagement was not translating into meaningful activation, and without active users, the product's core purpose of building balance couldn't be realized.

The most acute drop-off concentrated in the registration and initial account setup phase. This wasn't a problem with the product itself; the downstream saving experience worked well for users who reached it. The leak was earlier, in the motivation gap between signing up and following through. There was a clear distance between what users were required to do and what compelled them to complete it.

Objective

Increase the number of active Celengan users by redesigning the early-user activation journey, starting with the registration flow where drop-off was highest. More active users meant more balance growth. The objective wasn't just to get users through setup; it was to set the behavioral foundation for saving.

New Signup → Completed Setup → Active Saver → Balance Growth

Success criteria. Measurable improvement in registration completion rate, activation into key product actions, and engagement within the early-user journey, tracked through internal analytics and experiment frameworks.

Hypothesis

The Strategic Bet

Instead of focusing on surface-level UI improvements, I proposed a behavioral approach using gamification to address the motivation gap causing users to abandon registration. Three principles shaped the solution.

One guardrail stayed constant throughout: gamification is not the end goal. Every mechanic had to directly contribute to activation, moving users from signup to active saver, or it earned its removal.

Building the Right Concept

Stakeholder Alignment

I facilitated a co-concepting session with Business Development and Product Owner to align on reward mechanics, user motivation, and implementation feasibility. We explored multiple reward directions, including cashback, balance-based incentives, and vouchers, then narrowed the solution based on behavioral relevance, scalability, and implementation cost.

Solution Direction: Starter Pack Mission

One direction emerged clearly. The Starter Pack Mission concept aligned naturally with registration stages users were already moving through, enabled progressive engagement without requiring a new mental model, and could be implemented incrementally and validated quickly.

Four simple missions, each mapped to a stage of the new user journey, from registration through first deposit. The solution didn’t introduce new steps, it reframed existing ones into a more motivating progression.

Design Exploration

Multiple design variants were explored to test different levels of visual engagement and navigational clarity. Each variant represented a different hypothesis about what would capture attention and sustain motivation at first entry. I recommended the final direction because it balanced visual engagement with navigational clarity while scaling cleanly across the full registration journey.

Craft & Implementation

I translated the behavioral strategy into concrete product decisions across flow structure, mission states, feedback loops, and motion design. I intentionally kept the flow linear to reduce cognitive load and maintain momentum during first-time account setup.

Game Mechanics

Progress indicators, reinforcing achievement and momentum

I designed the registration entry to feel goal-oriented and motivating, rather than transactional. The experience was framed as an adventure, a mission to complete, stages to move through, a reward at the end. I explored several variants before landing on the final direction, each testing a different balance of visual drama and informational clarity.

Rewards, creating positive reinforcement at milestones

Each time a user completes a mission, a progress label surfaces to mark their advancement. Progress visibility isn't cosmetic, it's the psychological engine that sustains motivation. It validates effort, creates momentum, and raises the perceived cost of quitting mid-flow.

Sequential missions, reducing cognitive load through ownership

Completed missions create a sense of progress users naturally want to finish. I reinforced this through clear completed, active, and locked states to make the remaining steps feel achievable.

Exit reminders, reducing drop-off through loss aversion

When users attempt to leave mid-flow, the app reminds them of the rewards they’re about to leave behind. I used loss aversion intentionally here to reduce drop-off during incomplete registration. Because missions must be completed one at a time in sequence, the reward stays just out of reach until the work is done. This pacing sustains engagement across return sessions, not just the first one.

Delightful Experiences

Completing all four missions should feel like an arrival. The reward claim screen uses illustration and animation to create a genuine sense of celebration, reinforcing positive emotions and strengthening user satisfaction at the most important moment in the journey.

The centerpiece is the Rocket Jar, a visual metaphor for the user's interest rate taking off after reward activation. Rather than animating it as a flat asset, I separated the illustration into independent components so each element could move on its own timeline, creating layered energy rather than a single uniform motion.

I timed the animation to appear only after reward activation, reinforcing the sense of achievement at the moment users completed the journey.

High Fidelity

The final design combines illustration and animation to create a celebratory moment proportional to the effort users put in. Visual and motion elements work together to reinforce satisfaction and close the registration flow on a high note.

Testing & What Changed

Usability Testing

Usability testing surfaced one consistent issue: participants were unclear about which mission to start with. The registration layout didn't make the sequence immediately legible, creating hesitation before a single action had been taken.

Iteration

Based on usability findings, I redesigned the registration layout to make sequencing more obvious and reduce hesitation before users started the first mission. After the change, users proceeded confidently without prompting. One focused redesign. Measurable difference in comprehension.

Outcome

Impact

A controlled experiment wasn't the right validation approach here, reaching statistically meaningful results would have taken longer than the initiative's timeline allowed. Instead, we relied on post-launch monitoring via Firebase to observe how real users moved through the flow after release. Specific metrics are confidential, but behavioral signals showed clear positive movement across the early-user funnel, from registration through activation.

Key Learnings

The results validated my core assumption: reducing motivational friction through structured progression was more impactful than adding more guidance or instructional UI.