With the cost of living crisis rendering consumers increasingly conscious of where they spend and invest their money, savvy spenders are turning to money-saving apps to help build their rainy day fund.

While the investment app sector is shrinking, money management apps are flourishing as consumers with limited savings are hoping to make their money go further. These money apps grew 22% in the first half of 2022 - a 40% increase compared to the same period in 2021. Such a surge in downloads confirms that consumers are looking for new ways to manage their spending.

Objective and Methodology

In order to understand this burgeoning audience, we looked at the followers of the UK’s leading fintech saving apps; Chip, Plum, Cleo, Snoop, and Moneybox. To dig deeper into the Savvy Saver profile, we looked at those who also follow financial advice publications like Money Saving Expert, Which?, Telegraph Money, and This is Money.

Insights

• Mainstream Brits formed the largest tribe in the study, reinforcing just how widespread the cost of living crisis is, and how many Brits are feeling the pressure to cut costs and start saving. The audience is largely engaged by mainstream entertainment and typical family interests, such as football and television.

  

• The second Largest Audience in the study, FinTech App Users, constitute a starkly different audience - a London-centric crowd with interests in data, financial services, entrepreneurship, innovation, as well as a number of points across the broad digital landscape. Above all, the tribe engaged with brands and publications like Monzo, Starling, The Economist, TechCrunch, Wired, and FT Personal Finance.

• Next on the list are the Deal Seekers, a group consciously seeking out the latest freebies, discounts, and competitions. Their online engagement spans a multitude of brands, ranging from high street staples to supermarket chains and mobile phone companies. The biggest names here - MoneyHelper, MoneySuperMarket, Quidco, Wilko, and poundland - are synonymous with cost-effectiveness and saving.

• Money-Wise Professionals grouped together the keener investors across the analysis, a tribe with an eye for financial management, trading, and investing. Accounting, auditing, insurance, credit and loans professionals are also seen throughout the tribe. Key influencers include FCA, Nutmeg, Money Marketing, FT Advisor, Level 39, and Andrew Oxlade, showing perhaps a more sophisticated engagement with finance.

• Other interesting tribes we found included Millennial Digital Professionals, who made their way to the apps through digital literacy and technological know-how, as well as Personal Finance Experts, an audience concerned with giving financial advice. Green-Living Brits, Money-Conscious Scots, Construction and Design Professionals, London Thespians, and Young Leeds Professionals also made an appearance.

Conclusion

With the cost of living crisis showing no signs of slowing down, the money management market is becoming increasingly competitive.The sector is projected to continue to grow massively in the next decade, and with it, the challenges of advertising to a further-saturated market. One study predicts that a driving force behind the Mobile Financial App sector will be developing economies, due to rising disposable incomes, as well as the implementation of AI and Blockchain technologies. As consumers are faced with more choices than ever before, companies will have to adapt to using a hyper-targeted marketing strategy to attract and retain their users.

To learn more about how Fifty can help you understand your audiences, get in touch with us at hello@fifty.io or book a demo directly with our team.