With gamified short stories, Alipay encourages users to plump up their piggy bank

Alipay Little Purse, the money management and savings tool on Alibaba’s payment platform, has released a gamified experience that helps users grow their savings account. Launched in July 2024, Scripted Savings (剧本攒, “jù běn zǎn”) features various AI-generated short stories with genres ranging from romcoms to workplace survival. Users choose a story to follow, completing specific tasks to progress and unlock subsequent chapters or story elements.

For example, a user following a romcom script will be asked to choose a gift for their fictional date. The amount corresponding to the selected gift price will then be credited to their Little Purse account. Users do not actually earn any fresh funds from this exercise, as the amount saved will be deducted from their own Alipay wallet — the game simply motivates consumers to set aside the funds to save. As of 30 July 2024, Alipay reported that Scripted Savings had garnered 400,000 active users.

The initiative was partly inspired by a social media phenomenon earlier in the year called ‘Pretend and Save’ (假装存钱, "jiǎ zhuāng cún qián"), where people create imaginary scripts to motivate themselves to save money. Alipay’s Scripted Savings helps users close the perennial intention-action gap by leveraging two other established elements of Chinese online culture: micro dramas and microtransactions. Consumers are used to paying to unlock micro drama episodes or acquire in-game items. But instead of spending, consumers are now prompted to save.

Beyond motivating consumers make better financial choices, Alipay is increasing traffic to, engagement within and stickiness of its Little Purse feature. How could your brand leverage gamification and pop culture to boost engagement and nudge consumers towards better habits?