Why Confetti Celebrations Backfire (and How to Make Them Work)

We're all familiar with (if not bored to death by) the confetti blast celebration. 

It's intended to be a motivational slingshot, nudging users into another action.

But it's often timed poorly and feels like a cheap gimmick. 

So in that case, how do you actually make moments like these work for "normal" businesses?

That's what we're looking at today, through the lens of Chase Bank.

I've often asked myself: why is banking so boring?

Perhaps they don't understand how to create moments.

The risk of poorly-designed moments isn't just that they fail to make an impact.

They can break the relationship between the user and the product.

For example, imagine that you've bought a new printer.

You get home, plug it in, and try to print something. Except it's bugging you to create an online account with the printer company.

Nobody is excited about having to sign up—they want to print something.

In fact, signing up is an unwanted hurdle. 

And so one clumsy moment of "let's celebrate this milestone" has a negative impact.

Celebratory moments only work if they align with what the user wants to do.

So far we've talked about the UX of milestone moments, such as signing up.

For example, when visiting your new Chase account for the first time, they'll show you a prompt to "unlock everything".

Ignoring the vagueness of using "everything" as an incentive, this conceptually helps to direct the user into a specific action.

But what happens when you take that action? Nothing. They just hide the prompt.

You want to close motivational loops like this.

This is an opportunity for a "moment" that they've totally missed.

Instead, I'm left wondering what "unlock everything" even meant.

Did it just mean normal banking stuff?