Designing for consistency and financial discipline by leveraging streaks.

Streaks are a familiar feature in many popular apps like Duolingo or the Bible app, designed to help people stay consistent. On the Cowrywise app, we wanted to bring that same sense of consistency into the financial journey because, ultimately, building wealth is about building habits.

Monthly streaks over daily streaks

In Nigeria, there isn’t one major way that people earn their income. It is usually a mix of monthly, weekly or even irregular earners. The monthly streak idea not only works for monthly earners but also for customers who earn daily or have irregular incomes.

By setting streaks monthly, anyone can pick any day within the month to save, in any amount, and still keep their streak going. It creates more flexibility and less pressure than daily streaks, where missing just one day could break your progress. The monthly approach keeps the habit sustainable without feeling discouraging.

Reminders and notifications

To help users stay on track, we send reminders through emails and push notifications when they’re close to losing their streak or haven’t topped up yet. This takes the pressure off remembering to save and keeps consistency easier, even when life gets busy.

Losing and regaining streaks

We wanted to make streaks motivating, not punishing. Losing a streak after saving consistently for months can feel discouraging, so we looked for a way to give customers some flexibility. Instead of an all-or-nothing approach, we introduced a way to regain your streak through meaningful actions.

To make it count, we tied those actions to financial growth and exploration within Cowrywise. For example, if you don’t already have an emergency plan, we might ask you to create one to get your streak back. Or we could ask you to join a savings circle or try another product feature. This approach gives customers a chance to recover progress while discovering new ways to build wealth and stay consistent, keeping the experience positive and connected to their long-term goals.

What was the outcome?

Streaks have grown into a source of pride within the Cowrywise community. Customers now share their streaks on Twitter(X) and talk about how their consistency has improved.

To keep that energy going, we occasionally spotlight users or send them Cowrywise merch, a small gesture to celebrate their commitment and strengthen the sense of community.