​Bank Of America stopped trying to out-bank other banks and copied the only savings system people actually stick to… They brought back the coin jar and got 2.5m customers in under a year.

So heres the backstory.

Around 2005 BOFA was stuck in teh same trap as everyone else. Competing on rates. Running ads about “financial freedom.” Begging people to open savings accounts.

Nothing was moving the needle.

So they brought in ideo (the design firm behind apple’s first mouse) and ideo didnt ask “how do we sell savings better.” They asked “what do people already do that looks like saving without trying.”

And they found it. The coin jar.

You know the thing. Pay with cash, toss the change in a jar, forget about it, eventually dump it in the bank. People had been doing this forever without thinking.

But heres teh wierd part.

Plastic killed the coin jar. Once everyone switched to debit cards there was no “spare change” anymore. The habit didnt die because people got lazy. It died because the trigger dissapeared.

So bofa rebuilt the trigger digitally.

They called it keep the change. Every debit swipe rounds up to teh nearest dollar and the difference auto-moves into savings. Buy a coffee for $4.32 and $0.68 goes into savings. No decision. No willpower. No friction.

And they sweetened it with matching early on. 100% match on your roundups in year one. Small ongoing match after that.

Why does this work so stupidly well?

Because saving doesnt lose to greed. It loses to tuesday. Every “should i save today” moment is a tiny battle and willpower almost always loses to whatever else is going on.

BOFA removed the battle entirely. Saving just… happens. On top of spending. Invisible.

The results are kinda insane.

2.5m users in under 12 months. 700k new checking accounts. 1m new savings accounts. And by 2020 they said keep the change had moved $15b+ into savings with 6m+ people still using it.

Heres how to find your own version of this

Prompt 1 find the hidden competitor

“Im trying to get people to [your desired action]. List 10 things that arent direct competitors but steal attention or energy from this action. Focus on daily friction points and micro-decisions that drain willpower before my ask even happens.”

Prompt 2 find the existing trigger

“What are 5 automatic behaviors my target audience already does daily without thinking that i could attach [desired action] to. Think physical habits digital habits and money habits. Rank them by frequency and invisibility.”

prompt 3 design the piggyback

“Take the top behavior from above and design a system where [desired action] happens automatically as a byproduct. The user should feel like theyre doing the original habit not the new one. Make it opt-in once then invisible. Include a small early reward to lock in adoption.”

prompt 4 stress test the friction

“Play devils advocate. Why would someone still not do this even with the system above. Whats the remaining friction. Now suggest 3 ways to eliminate each friction point without adding complexity.”

The key insight everyone misses

BOFA wasnt competing with chase or wells fargo. They were competing with “ill do it later” and “i forgot.” Once they stopped fighting human nature and started designing around it… they won.

Dont ask people to change. Use ai to find what theyre already doing and make your change ride on top of it.