In the realm of video games, boss fights are iconic encounters that test a player’s skill, strategy, and adaptability. These climactic battles often determine the fate of the game’s protagonist, and their design can significantly influence the overall gaming experience. But what if we applied the concept of boss fights to the world of financial services and digital interfaces? This intriguing game mechanic can enhance user engagement, drive behaviour, and create memorable interactions within financial applications.
Understanding Boss Fights: Mechanics and Strategy
Before we delve into the financial services arena, let’s break down the core design elements of boss fights:
Mechanics: In a boss fight, the user/player must take on a virtual expert in the field of a particular skill set to test their own capabilities. Failing to beat the boss results in failure—whether it’s taking damage, facing additional challenges, or even wiping out the entire mission. This game mechanic can be used as a building block of the user journey, dictating the final outcome or win state of a phase in the journey.
Dynamics: Dynamics are the outcomes of game mechanics and how players interact with them The outcomes of a boss fight are either a win or a loss, though there can also be a draw. If the player beats the boss, they progress to the next mission. If they fail or draw, they must replay the mission.
Applying Boss Fights to Financial Services
Boss fights are very useful wihin financial services digital experiences as a fun way to test a customer’s grasp of a particular skill. Examples where journeys can benefit from a boss fight include onboarding, product application, investing and saving.
1. Onboarding
Imagine a financial app where users encounter security challenges . These challenges could include multi-factor authentication, identity verification, or fraud detection. Each time a user logs in, they face a unique security challenge. In this scenario the boss can be visualised as a hacker seeking to get access to the user’s data and money. Successfully navigating these hurdles ensures their financial safety and allows them to proceed to the next level of money tools, products and services. Getting customers to shift to passwordless authentication is a good example of where a boss fight can be introduced to help customers lean in and get the job done. Failure to complete the boss fight can lead to consequences, such as restricted account access or additional verification steps.
2. Applications
Applications are dreary and often difficult. Acknowledging this , building empathy and adding some spice by way of a boss fight can be a great way of luring customers to the application and keeping them in it to the end. Adding in elements of scarcity (only so many loans available in a week) and skill (LVR score, asset scores) not only add to the contest but also help to impart financial knowledge. Thos boss ca be running in the background at the average speed of application completion and scores of LVR , assets etc. If the applicant beats the boss they are offered additional or imporved products and services in addition to a conditional approval.
3. Achieving Financial Goals: Investments and Savings
Cost to income ratios in any business are improtant. They are particulalry important in banking where Net Interest Income is a key measure of success. To run an operationally efficient bank, one needs to secure access to cheap money to lend. The cheapest money is customer savings and deposits, liabilities on the balance sheet. Helping customers inmprove their savings and invetsments is not only good for the bank but its good for the customer as well, as it helps them build finacial resilience. Moroku has had significant success in helping customers learn the skills and develop the habits of saving and investing by placingthese challenges in the context of a boss fight. As with applications, teh bois sis given a set of skills or habits. These may represent the average set of skills of a customer at a similar level to the customer. As the customer move throughtheir savings or investing misison, their progress on amounts and habits are compared to the boss. Skills and habits can include regular contributions, budgeting, diversification, and risk management. Users must strategize, adapt, and build these financial habits to beat the boss, succeed, earn intrinsic or extrinsic reward and progress to the next level or mission.
Additonal considerations and dynamics to consider
Guiding users through their financial journey is an imporatnt part of the user experience (UX) design. Intuitive interfaces, clear calls-to-action, and personalised recommendations serve as the strategy. Just as a raid leader coordinates the team, UX designers orchestrate seamless interactions. Placing journeys in the context of misisons and challenges is an innovative way to think about the journey and most importantly, customer success.
Boss fights offer rewards—loot, experience points, or story progression. Similarly, financial apps can celebrate achievements. Whether it’s hitting a savings milestone, improving credit scores, or successfully investing, acknowledging progress motivates users. Applying game mechanics and design elements to financial milestones can be supported by ncluding boss fights with tangible rewards tolock in the knowledge and progress.
Conclusion: Boss Fights Beyond Gaming
Boss fight mechanics aren’t limited to video games. By integrating them thoughtfully into financial services, we can create engaging, educational, and empowering digital experiences. So, next time you log into your banking app, remember—you’re not just checking your balance; you’re embarking on a quest to conquer financial bosses!
Spider-Man’s coolest villain, Venom, takes Peter Parker into a proper Boss Fight. Harry is Peter’s dear best friend who evaded death by bonding with a goopy alien powerful enough to threaten the planet.
