Walmart | Financial Well-Being
A new end-to-end comprehensive journey designed to enhance easy access to financial resources for every Walmart Associate, empowering them to better their long-term financial well-being.
User engagement
Changed elections
222k
User engagement
30k
Changed elections
Money Hint clicks
171k
Money Hint clicks
24%
Users viewed credit score
Project overview
Walmart’s existing financial tools were underutilized due to limited access and awareness. By integrating them into Me@Walmart, Walmart’s existing app that combines personal and work needs, we aimed to empower 1.4M associates with continuous access, financial education, and tools to save and invest in their futures, all within a single, familiar platform.
At the start of the project, only 5% of Walmart’s 2.3 million associates were enrolled in the 401(k) plan, revealing a significant gap in benefit awareness and adoption. This low engagement not only affected associates' long-term financial security but also posed a risk to retention and recruitment.
Project details
My Role | UX Designer
Tools Used | Figma, Miro, Jira
Collaboration | Design, Product Management, Business, Development, UX Researchers
Medium | Desktop Browser (large view), Native mobile app
Problem
Walmart associates had limited access to their financial tools and benefits, which were only available through a VPN on in-store computers. As a result, awareness and usage of these resources remained low.
How might we incorporate financial tools into Me@Walmart in order to assist with improving their long term financial well-being?
Requirements
PRODUCT GOAL
Support associates in their long-term financial health through taking full advantage of their benefits offered to them through Walmart. Designs need to include: 1) Link to the Even App, 2) Credit Score, 3) 401(k) Matching, and 4) Associate Stock Purchase Plan (ASPP) Election
OBJECTIVES
Accessibility | Allow users 24/7 access to the tool
Knowledge | Increase financial awareness for all associates
Trust | Encourage associates to save for their futures
Actionable | Allow associates to take full advantage of their benefits
DESIGN GOALS
Scalability | Future-proof designs
Easy to use | Ensure readability and clear hierarchy
Responsive | Design for mobile app, but needs to adapt to desktop
Collaboration
Product | Constant communication throughout the process, aligning on clear requirements and goals, highlighting specific requirements when presenting designs to keep product engaged and to build trust as this showed intentional design.
Development | Involvement during early stages to align on timeline and shared goals, present during design reviews, continuous communication after handoff to answer questions and ensure visual QA.
Business | Business partners participated in design reviews to ensure alignment with strategic goals and broader business strategy.
Research | Research partners supported us in developing the research guide and we led and conducted all sessions ourselves.
Me@ Team | The Me@ design leadership team were present during reviews to verify design consistency and standards, since we were integrating our new experience into their owned space.
Solution
The solution provided clear and actionable steps for associates to take in order to take on their financial futures. We provided learning material to increase financial awareness, included ways for associates to change their 401(k) and ASPP elections, and provided a way for them to view their credit score along with tips to help improve it.
User engagement
222k
30k
Changed elections
Money Hint clicks
171k
24%
Users viewed credit score
Discovery
We started with creating personas and flows to help understand our audience, the flow of the experience and to reference them back throughout the whole project.
PERSONAS
USER FLOW
Explorations
Research
We tested and validated our designs through Zoom moderated studies. We had support from our Research partners, however we created and ran the studies and synthesized the findings ourselves. We talked to store associates and managers.
The goals were to discover how associates were currently saving for their futures, what was most important to them and how much they knew about their benefits. We also wanted to validate the designs and find out if anything was missing.
KEY FINDINGS
Lack of saving and awareness | Majority of associates did not know how to effectively save or what benefits were available
Usability | The designs were simple and easy to use but some elements were unclear (matching & graph)
Missing information | 1 associate pointed out that the Roth information was missing from the 401(k) section
Handoff
Metrics
Data is from Feb 2023 launch - March 2023 (1 month)
Wins
Reflection
I joined this project after it had already started, so I wish I was there to help guide and inform the initial discovery process. I see discovery as a critical first step, helping ensure our solutions are user-centered and grounded in real user needs.
Overall I’m proud of this work because it showed how thoughtful design can drive real behavior change, leading not only to higher engagement but also meaningful actions like benefit updates and financial learning, while helping associates feel more supported and confident in their financial future.