IRA Match Campaign

To encourage people to open an IRA with Betterment, we ran a 1% match promotion on new contributions. We crafted a digital campaign with eye-catching visuals and playful language that highlighted the cash match and get people’s attention.

Role

Design
Art Direction
Web Design
Illustration

Objective

Incentivize IRA deposits and drive new IRA account openings from both tenured and new customers.

Approach

I used bold match numbers placed in unexpected visual contexts, paired with playful headlines to draw users in. A 3D illustration style set the campaign apart from the brand’s typical flat illustrations, while the tone and color palette still ensured cohesion.

Smaller Match, Bigger Creative Lift

A key challenge of this campaign was that our match offer wasn’t the most competitive, with other brands promoting matches as high as 3%. Partnering with our copywriter, I used this constraint as a chance to get creative. The idea was that bold copy and visuals would spark enough curiosity to drive people to the landing page, where the full value of a Betterment IRA, such as automated technology and smart retirement tools, helped persuade them to open an account.

Result

The campaign drove a 19% increase in new contributions from promo users with funded IRAs in the four months following launch. The majority of deposits (73%) came from tenured customers who already had IRAs, while adoption among new-to-IRA customers was lower, likely because the promotion was less aggressive than competitor offers.

Team

Copywriter: Tegan Britt