Chip
Chip is a UK-based fintech app that helps people save and invest automatically. The platform uses behavioural data and smart automation to analyse spending habits and set aside affordable amounts into savings and investment products.During my time at Chip, I worked across multiple growth and monetisation initiatives. My most significant project was leading design efforts for ChipX, the company’s first paid subscription tier.
My role: Owned design of ChipX. I ran the brand workshops and worked with the data, marketing and engineering teams.
From autosaving app to somewhere to grow your money
Chip started as a savings app for Gen Z. It looked at how people spent and automatically put small, affordable amounts aside. As it evolved into a savings and investment app, Chip set out to reach a more mature audience: older millennials with more disposable income who wanted somewhere to grow their money.
ChipX was a big part of that shift. The challenge was making people want to pay for Chip, while keeping it the accessible product they already trusted.
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Who we were designing for
I worked with the data team to look at how people were using the app. One group stood out, our “Chip Builders”. These were highly engaged users with around £1,400 saved on average. They autosaved about six times a month and earned more than our original audience.
We turned that data into a persona with one mindset: “I want my money to work harder.” They didn’t need convincing to save. They were starting to think about investing, returns and long-term wealth.
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User persona and key values of the brand
Defining what ChipX should be
I ran a brand workshop with product, marketing and leadership. We looked at what ChipX should and shouldn’t feel like, and where it sat between traditional finance and the existing Chip brand. Four ideas kept coming up: radical, aspirational, accessible and premium.
The hard part was holding them together. ChipX had to feel premium without feeling like a private bank, and keep the personality that made Chip feel like Chip.
Brand workshop
An elevated version of Chip
ChipX became an elevated version of Chip rather than a separate brand. It looked noticeably more premium but was clearly part of the same product, something people could move towards as their relationship with money grew.
ChipX moodboard
ChipX in the product
Different subscription tiers in the app
We designed three tiers: Lite, AI and X. Lite was the entry point, AI added more of Chip’s automated saving, and X had the most advanced features and products. Each tier built on the one before, so it was clear what you gained by moving up.
I designed how the tiers were presented and compared, how premium features were explained and where ChipX appeared across the app. Much of the work was about order and pacing: showing the most important information first, and the details only when someone wanted them. That way people had enough financial detail to see the value without being overwhelmed.
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Keeping trust intact
We tested the proposition and the experience as we built them and kept refining both. Trust was the check on every decision. This was people’s money, so ChipX couldn’t feel like a hard sell or hide important information behind a paywall.
The outcome
ChipX reached around 50% adoption within six months of launch. Over the same period, Chip’s revenue grew by around 500%. ChipX wasn’t the only reason for that growth. It was part of Chip’s move from a free autosaving app to a savings and investment platform with subscription revenue.
The audience research shaped the proposition, the proposition shaped the brand, and both shaped how the product worked.
Other work at Chip
- Improvements to Chip’s referral scheme
- The launch of the Chip+1 account and its higher-interest savings
- Product and experience work supporting two crowdfunding campaigns
