Empathic Budgeting: Linking everyday finances with Mood

Research Methods Used

Focus Group, Diary Study, Survey

Role

UX Researcher

Timeline

January 2025 - April 2025

Tools

Team

Individual + Team-based

Research Statement

Many budgeting apps fail not because of missing features, but because they do not support the emotional and behavioural realities of managing money over time, resulting in low engagement and drop-off.

Objectives

🎯 Help users understand their spending, not just record it

🎯 Reduce guilt and stress to support long-term budgeting

🎯 Guide better decisions with clear structure and feedback

Methods that shaped the Design Direction

Focus Group

Survey

Diary Study

👥 Focus Group

Intent: Understand how people talk about money and budgeting.
Outcome: Revealed that budgeting is emotionally charged (stress, guilt, avoidance), reframing the problem beyond tools and numbers.

📊 Survey

Intent: Validate whether these emotional patterns were widespread.
Outcome: Confirmed that anxiety and inconsistency around budgeting were common across users, not isolated cases.

📔 Diary Study

Intent: Observe how mood affects financial behaviour over time.
Outcome: Exposed gaps between budgeting intentions and real-life behaviour driven by daily emotional states.

Collective Insights Discovered

💡 Emotional Spending
Impulse purchases are driven by stress and social situations.

⏱ Consistency is Hard
Users struggle to stick to budgets due to irregular routines.

📊 Feedback Drives Engagement
Real-time alerts and progress visuals keep users motivated.

🤝 Accountability Matters
Supportive guidance boosts engagement; pressure reduces it.

🌱 Users Want Growth
Self-aware users are motivated to improve with adaptive tools.

🚀 Design Opportunities

⏱ Budgeting Consistency is Hard

💡 Spending is Emotional & Social

So what? Impulse purchases and guilt affect user satisfaction.

Opportunity: Reduce stress-driven spending with positive reinforcement features.

So what? Users often abandon budgeting due to irregular routines.

Opportunity: Flexible tracking, reminders, and adaptive workflows support habit formation.

📊 Control & Feedback Drive Engagement

So what? Lack of immediate feedback lowers motivation.

Opportunity: Real-time alerts, visual progress, and small rewards boost engagement.

🤝 Accountability Matters

So what? Users disengage when they feel unsupported or shamed.

Opportunity: Gentle guidance, autonomy, and optional social accountability improve adoption.

🌱 Users Want to Improve

So what? Strong self-awareness and motivation are underutilized.

Opportunity: Adaptive tools that respond to user behaviour encourage long-term habit growth.

Reflection

Designing for financial behaviour means designing for emotion, not just numbers.

This case study showed me how important empathy and flexibility are when designing budgeting tools. Spending time with users through longitudinal research helped me understand not just how they budget over time, but also the emotional triggers and challenges that shape those behaviours.

I learned that users respond far more positively to encouragement, visible progress, and timely guidance than to rigid rules or restrictions.

Next Steps

The next phase will involve turning these sketches into low-fidelity screens, testing their usability, and iterating based on user feedback.

This will include:

- Refining the visual hierarchy and navigation based on sketch exploration.

- Adding elements such as notifications, progress tracking, and flexible budgeting features.

- Conducting prototype testing before moving to high-fidelity visuals.