GoBank App & Website Copy

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Okay, so here’s the short version:

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! When Green Dot acquired Sam Altman and Alok Deshpande’s app, Loopt, I transitioned from a Marketing Manager for a social networking app to a Senior Copywriter, UX Writer, and Marketing Manager for a large financial organization. Our small team launched a new app and website in a very short amount of time – GoBank, a not-your-average banking app. I put my life into developing this app, starting with writing copy for the website, app, emails, social media posts, SMS, error messages, video scripts, customer service scripts, packaging, and even IVR messaging – which is just a fancy word for the robot who picks up the phone when you call the customer service number. (We wanted to take advantage of every single opportunity to add some personality.) I also worked closely with the product and dev teams to ensure customers knew what to do at every step of the app and led copy, design, and new app tools through compliance, legal, customer advocacy, and other stakeholder approvals. I had a lot of fun partnering with a public relations company and other huge companies like TurboTax, Barnes & Noble, and Project Runway for marketing partnerships. I will always be so proud of the work our small team did, and will always cherish that work fam.

And here’s the long version (thanks for listening, friend):

Task/Opportunity: Start a new bank. Ahem, also start a new banking app and website that talks to people like real people. How do we make a fair, kind, honest, and upfront bank? How can we be transparent? How do we shake things up?

Biggest Challenges

Getting complex features and copy approved quickly… like, yesterday.
Making copy changes on the fly to make that happen.
Pushing the button on how we talked to people.
Being a helicopter brand parent so copy didn’t end up sounding too asterisk-y.
Wearing a design hat so we didn’t end up with a ton of copy on screen.
Being a dev team support superhero by getting things approved quickly and back to them so they could implement and push it out.

Process

In the beginning, I brainstormed copy with the CEO and CMO – and threw out a lot of hilarious, wild stuff – to see how far we could push the envelope in speaking to people. Once we launched the new app and got on the same page regarding how wacky (or not wacky:) we wanted our brand personality to be, they let me spread my copy wings and fly… with some really helpful ongoing reviews and oh-no-this-is-too-weird-Mel feedback from the CMO.
I regularly met with product owners and the dev team to talk about new features and screens.
I wrote copy for those screens and followed up with the product team to make sure I knew what I was talking about so I could easily explain it to users. Then I would make any updates based on the feedback if necessary.
The last step was swiftly navigating copy and features through stakeholder, legal, and compliance approvals including presenting and explaining how the features worked, outlining the copy for web and app screens and any push notifications or error messages that happened along the way, and making copy changes on the fly so I could get projects approved and back into the hands of the dev team so they could implement them.
And of course, I high-fived others and myself for the little wins along the way.

Fun Stories I’ll Have to Tell You About Sometime

Writing IVR scripts and coaching talent
Writing customer service chat responses and empowering/teaching our customer service team aka GoGuides to nail branding so they could rep the brand and speak GoBank to real people.
Throwing one heck of a trending-on-Twitter SXSW #PuppyHour event with BarkBox, PetRelocation, and Austin Pets Alive!

Result