Peas Money

Gamified AI for Couples' Finances

Peas Money helps couples manage shared finances while keeping individual accounts separate. It features Penelopea, an AI that facilitates healthier financial conversations. During my internship at Peas, I conducted competitor analysis and user research, and pitched conversational AI and gamified features. These contributions shaped the next MVP and boosted active user engagement by 40%, making joint money management easier and more enjoyable for couples.

Role

Product Management Intern

Team

I collaborated with 1 design lead, 3 engineers, 1 PM, and the CEO.

Deliverable

Competitor analysis, User research insights, Data-driven feature recommendations, Conversational AI & gamified feature designs, UX foundations for MVP 2.0

Timeline

May - Sept 2024

The Problem

There's no easy, all-in-one solution for couples to manage money together.

Current Solution

Peas Money allows couples to split expenses, track spending, and ask Penelopea AI money-related questions.

Enhanced Gamified Solution

Building on Peas’ features, I designed and pitched the Money Compatibility Score dashboard, where couples can boost their score, review financial reports, and set joint goals.

Research Insights & Framework

Before I joined, Peas’ user research was fragmented. To better understand user needs, I interviewed 5 couples at different stages of their relationships who were interested in managing their finances together. I concluded from interview that:

Couples want to understand not just where their money goes, but how their financial habits and mindsets fit together.

Couples lack motivation and guidance to reflect, collaborate, and take actionable steps towards their shared financial goals.

Inspired by couples’ financial behavior and the Octalysis framework, I mapped out the gamification mechanics.

Feature Development

I analyzed 5+ fintech apps to identify familiar and trending features. While the market is filled with personal finance tools, none address the unique challenges of couple finance. This confirmed the opportunity to create a gamified solution for couples that builds on familiar market features.

From competitor analysis, I identified key features to focus on: financial reports, goal setting and gamification.

I synthesized 4 principles to guide the overall direction of my design pitch.

Design Iterations

In the first versions of the financial reports, I focused on visualizing user expenses with clear charts. Over time, I evolved the design to combine these visualizations with personalized AI advice, aligning with the “Personalization” principle and giving the product a stronger competitive edge.

After several iterations, I combined data visualization with AI advice to create more personalized financial reports.

Setting a goal is easy, but turning it into an actionable plan is much harder. To bridge this gap, I established two design rules: help users reflect on past spending and make progress tracking effortless.

I designed a swiping flow where users review past spending and set goals with a tap, while the system automatically tracks their progress on a dedicated page.

To introduce gamification without disrupting the existing experience, I kept the insight board’s three-card structure and added a 'Score' toggle alongside the original 'Spend Tracker' tag for easy access.

I integrated gamification features seamlessly into the original app design.