CAPITAL ONE
Spend Tracker – A Financial Wellness Tool
How a redesigned spending experience helped customers build awareness of their habits and make more confident financial decisions.
Capital One was investing in a new vision centered on Financial Well-Being—helping customers better understand their finances and build healthier financial habits over time. Spend Tracker was one of the first products created to support that vision, giving customers greater visibility into where their money was going each month.
As the lead UX/UI designer, I partnered with product and engineering to redesign the experience from the ground up. Through research, journey mapping, and iterative testing, we shifted the focus from simple expense tracking to helping customers build awareness, reflect on spending patterns, and make more informed financial decisions. The redesigned MVP launched to 10% of customers and contributed to stronger engagement and positive financial behavior outcomes.
Role: Lead UX/UI Designer
Platform: iOS & Android
Team: Product Manager, Product Owner, 3 Tech Teams (iOS, Android, Backend)
Results
~30% increase in FTUX completion
Launched MVP to 10% of customers with potential reach of 19M+ users
Improved engagement among customers with stronger financial behaviors
Reduced account attrition and lower total debt among engaged users
Helped establish Capital One's early Financial Well-Being product ecosystem
The Opportunity
Capital One was investing in a new vision centered on Financial Well-Being—helping customers build healthier financial habits and make more informed financial decisions.
Spend Tracker was one of the first products created to support that vision. The opportunity wasn't simply to redesign an existing tool. It was to reimagine how customers could better understand their spending patterns, build awareness, and develop behaviors that contribute to long-term financial health.
Customer Pain Points
Lack of awareness around spending patterns
Limited understanding of finances across credit cards
No clear budgeting or monthly reflection process
Tendency to overspend and fall into avoidable debt cycles
Business Context
The project supported a broader Capital One initiative to “Give every American confidence in their financial future and security in their financial present.” Spend Tracker was one of the first product experiments under a new business pillar focused on Financial Well-Being.
Success would not only improve customer ability to pay down debt and become more educated about their finances but position Capital One as a trusted partner in everyday financial tools.
Designing for Financial Behavior Change
Discovery & Research
Mapped existing research and aligned on behavioral insights
Created a Customer Journey across five core phases:
Motivation – What triggers the desire to spend more mindfully?
Getting Started – How do customers decide on and set a budget?
Regular Usage – How do they track progress through the month?
Cycle Needs – What adjustments do they make mid-cycle?
Adjust & Evolve – How do they reflect and reset for the next month?
Knowledge Mapping & Ideation
Conducted brainstorming sessions with cross-functional partners
Identified opportunities for simplicity, habit-building, and behavioral nudges
Prioritized core features to focus on awareness, tracking, and reflection
User Testing
Developed and concept tested prototypes focused on:
A simpler onboarding experience (FTUX)
Historical spend and monthly summaries
Preferences for goal setting and notifications
Design Solution
The final MVP included three key flows:
FTUX (First-Time User Experience)
Reduced onboarding from three screens to one
Clarified benefits and consolidated setup context
Redesigned illustration to align with existing Capital One brand
Reduced the need for two interaction styles to a single button
Spend Details & Historical Views
Offered real-time insight into current spending habits
Designed a new feature to showcase a users monthly spend data over 3 months, 6 months and 1 year
Grouped all setting and preferences into a single location
Cycle Reflection
Enabled users to reflect, reset goals, and track progress
Reinforced budgeting as an iterative and learnable behavior
Impact
MVP launched to 10% of customers with potential reach of 19M+ users.
Increased FTUX completion by ~30%.
Customers who engaged with Spend Tracker demonstrated stronger financial behaviors, including lower debt, reduced attrition, and increased engagement.
Helped validate Capital One's broader investment in Financial Well-Being experiences.
Key Takeaways
Customer behavior improved measurably among users who engaged with Spend Tracker, confirming that the product helped promote better financial habits.
Despite positive engagement, strategic shifts in business priorities led to the product being sunsetted after two years.
The experience delivered valuable insights and reusable design components that influenced future financial well-being products across the company.
Final Thoughts
Redesigning Spend Tracker was a unique opportunity to explore how financial tools can shift daily financial behavior. By grounding the design in user motivation, research insights, and business metrics—we delivered a tool that genuinely helped users gain more control over their monthly spending.
While the product was eventually sunset due to shifting business priorities, the work validated key customer behaviors and generated insights that informed future financial wellness initiatives across the company.