Scan, Tap, and Stay Mindful
Interaction Mechanics to Mitigate Overspending in Google Pay
RESEARCH, BEHAVIOUR CHANGE, EXPLORATIVE, EXPERIENCE & INTERFACE DESIGN, UI/UX, PROTOTYPING
INTRODUCTION
With UPI surpassing cash and card usage in India, concerns have emerged about its impact on spending habits. Observation, surveys, and studies indicate that UPI payments may increase spending - particularly among 20-year-olds. Raising questions about the psychological and behavioural effects of digital payments. Hence, it is crucial to explore design interventions to promote mindful spending.
PROJECT TYPEMEMBERS
TIMELINE
Academic project
Saikat Biswas
Prof. Girish Dalvi (Advisor)
16 weeks, Jul 2024 - Nov 2024
FOCUS AREASObjectives centered around three key areas
1
Reduced psychological connection to money
2
Unawareness of financial status
3
Increased impulsivity and reduced planningDigital payments make spending feel less ‘real’, reducing awareness of financial depletion.
UPI’s transaction process obscures real-time visibility of spending and balances.
Ecourages transactions through seamlessness and reduces the tendency to plan.
Lets see the proposed solutions first,
1. Fund Visualization: Bridging the Abstraction Through Representation
Digital cashless payments reduce the psychological connection to money due to their abstraction and lack of tangibility. This disconnect diminishes the “pain of paying,” making users more likely to spend freely, potentially increasing individual expenses (Gurusamy and Aiswarya, 2023; Zellermayer, 1996; Prelec and Simester, 2001).
Alongside numeric values, visualize funds in Google Pay using representations of cash denominations.
Representing money as familiar physical cash could help bridge the psychological gap created by intangible cashless payments. Evoking stronger associations of value with on-screen numbers and potentially increasing the pain of paying.
This approach aligns with Tversky and Kahneman’s (1974) theory, suggesting familiar visuals like rupee denominations evoke familiar value perceptions, enhancing spending sensitivity.
Abstract shapes or graphs were excluded because they did not align with the aforementioned representative heuristics.
Future research could compare visualization methods and refine denomination designs for diverse demographics.
REINFORCING
‘Touch’ the money, digitally
To further bridge the abstraction caused by the intangibility of money in UPI payments, we aimed to mimic a few tangible interactions within Google Pay.
Tap to Rotate
Traditional cash transactions involve tangible money that can be held and felt, a quality absent in digital payments. To mimic this tactile feedback, the denomination representation in our design reacts to touch by rotating on the screen when tapped.Drag Interaciton
The design also allows users to press, drag, and place denominations as desired, simulating a sense of tangibility in digital money. The denominations are stacked based on value, with higher denominations positioned below the lesser ones.
2. Soft Limits to Funds: Pre-commit to a Budget (eg. Adding to Wallet)
UPI apps allow unrestricted access to funds, unlike cash or cards, which have natural intrinsic limitations due to their tangibility (cash) or infrastructure (POS machines). This unrestricted access enables purchasing without prior intent or planning, potentially leading to overspending in UPI usage.
Hence, the proposed mechanism is to introduce soft limits in UPI. It is most feasible and is inspired by the instances of self-imposed limitations identified in user research. People were found using separate bank accounts for UPI transactions or limiting their UPI usage altogether.
Soft limits create spending awareness through friction while maintaining app functionality.
Soft limiting through pre-committing to a budget using the ‘Wallet’ metaphor
The mechanism to internally segregate a portion of funds into a wallet acts as a soft limit that pre-determines a spending budget and requires intentional decision-making. This prior commitment encourages planning and responsible spending. It also aligns with the existing mental model of cash transactions, where a balance is determined for spending and withdrawn from the ATM.
The automated budget-setting features, such as saving goals or spending limits (as seen in existing iterations), essentially follow the same principle of pre-committing to funds.
This strategy aligns with Sunstein’s (2014) nudge strategy of pre-commitment.
Adding money to Wallet (₹1230) - user flow from zero balance or ‘No Money in Wallet’ state
Scan to open prototype in mobile
The mechanism encourages mindful spending while maintaining user flexibility and usability. Future work could explore alternative designs or further refine these treatments.
3. Visible, Constant Indicators of Spending and Fund status (Indirect/Direct)Visible status indicators for funds are crucial to maintaining awareness of financial positions, as supported by research (Dev et al., 2024), grey literature, and user research. Fold Money uses real-time line graphs to show financial trends. Article in google blog, display reimagined Google Pay interface with numeric comparisons of available funds vs funds spent.
Constant and visible markers of financial stutus ensure that users remain continuously aware of their financial status without needing to navigate menus to seek out the informaiton.
In-App Indicators
Direcect Indicators
Explicitly display financial information in numeric or pictorial representations, providing immediate clarity.
Indirecect Indicators
Money in a ‘Wallet’ serves as a practical marker rather than a true indicator of wealth, making direct information suitable. However, for sensitive data like account balances, direct visible representation may raise privacy concerns, such as the risk of others peeking. Therefore we propose making indirect indicators like percentage representations, within the app and outside it.
COMMON FUND AND SPENDING RELATED USER QUESITONS
1. How much did I spend today?
2. How much money do I have?
3. How much did I spend this week?
4. How much did I spend this month?
Outisde App Indicators
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