Problem

Even when people intend to save for health expenses, they often forget to do so.

Research

Research shows that savings reminders can help bridge the intention-action gap and increase savings. We predicted that providing people with a low savings target in SMS reminders would increase savings on a mobile health wallet, compared to no target or a high target. We also predicted that using a high savings target could serve as a barrier and would result in less savings.

Our partner sent SMS reminders to mobile health wallet users and manipulated the savings amount used in the SMS. The control SMS message had no savings target, while the two treatment SMS messages had either low (10 Kenyan schilling) or high (100 Kenyan schilling) savings targets.

Results

The low savings target resulted in the greatest number of people saving and the highest amount saved. Moreover, users saved greater amounts when they were given a saving target as opposed to not receiving anything.

Why it matters

The SMS study demonstrates the importance of using targets when reminding people to save on a mobile health wallet. It is helpful to provide people with targets, but more testing is required to determine the optimal amount.