Financial demo mode
If you’re hesitant to link your bank accounts during onboarding, Copilot gives you the option to enter a demo mode with fully-populated data to get a feel of the app before committing.
Design Examples
Fintech Onboarding Examples: Bank Sign-Ups
See how fintechs like Copilot, Monzo and Zettle onboard new users, with UX Bites on demo modes, refundable £1 test payments and prompts triggered by real transactions.
Real world examples:
Updated: 23/09/2026, view all 1,482 examples
Examples on Built for Mars include
Copilot offers demo data before bank linking
Zettle tests Tap to Pay with a refundable £1
Monzo triggers onboarding from transactions
An onboarding payment
After setting up “Tap to Pay”, Zettle offers to demonstrate taking a refundable £1 payment as a form of onboarding.
Thumb print signature
To boost commitment during onboarding, you're shown a contract in your own name, in first person, and you commit to it by mimicking a thumb impression as your signature.
Scanning a receipt
During onboarding, Billy encourages you to scan a receipt to try their features. But if you don’t have one, they'll use a sample receipt as a demo.
Dynamic onboarding benefits
During onboarding, Wispr Flow asks you what you’re going to use it for, and then demonstrates the app in action in the exact context you specified.
Onboarding the salary sorter
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Triggering a new feature
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FAQs
How do fintech apps handle users who won't link a bank account yet?
They let people see the value before sharing sensitive data. Copilot's demo mode, for example, loads fully-populated budgets and dashboards, so hesitant users feel the benefits without the risk of connecting real accounts.
When does sample data work better than real data in financial onboarding?
Sample data helps when users don't feel comfortable handing over real information before seeing the app work. For instance, Billy asks for a receipt scan but falls back to a sample receipt, which still delivers a realistic Aha! moment with far less effort and may reduce early churn.
What makes progressive onboarding in banking apps feel non-intrusive?
Timing matters most, since the prompt appears straight after a relevant action. This is what Monzo does after an Open Banking transfer, showing a prompt above the user's cards for connected accounts. These prompts also need to be temporary, or they turn into clutter when ignored.
How can payment products prove to new users that setup actually worked?
Identify the likely next action, which is usually testing it, and help users do it immediately. As an example, Zettle offers a refundable £1 payment after Tap to Pay setup, so merchants can check it works without creating a fake product to sell.
Is it worth faking system UI in onboarding tutorials?
Recreating system elements lets a tutorial look familiar while removing the noise that distracts from the lesson. For example, 1Password uses fake iOS-style input fields and keyboards, so tooltips can teach AutoFill without real iOS defaults getting in the way.