Free tool · Score yourself
The Fintech Brand Audit: Score Your Brand’s Health Across 8 Dimensions in 10 Minutes
Eight dimensions. A score out of 40. The three weakest dimensions to fix first.
The Fintech Brand Audit is a free self-scoring tool from Yamm Labs, a design-led brand agency for fintech and BFSI companies founded in Gurugram in 2017. You rate your brand from 1 to 5 on eight dimensions: distinctiveness, consistency, trust signals, system depth, compliance-readiness, memorability, motion identity and channel coherence. The page adds your scores to a total out of 40, shows the three weakest dimensions to fix first, and gives a written fix for each one. It is for founders, CMOs and brand managers at fintechs, banks, NBFCs, insurers and AMCs. The whole audit is on this page, ungated; the form is only for the PDF version or a written read of your score.
01 · The audit
What is the Fintech Brand Audit and who is it for?
The Fintech Brand Audit is a structured way to answer one question: is your brand doing its job? For a financial company that job is specific. The brand has to make a stranger comfortable handing over money or personal data, it has to be recognised the second time it is seen, and it has to pass SEBI, IRDAI or RBI review without being redesigned every time.
The audit breaks that job into eight dimensions and asks you to score each from 1 to 5 against a written guide. It takes about ten minutes if you have your app, website, latest sales deck and a recent social post open in other tabs.
It is written for the people who own the brand decision at a fintech, bank, NBFC, insurer, asset manager or wealth platform: founders, CMOs, heads of marketing, brand managers and product leads. It also works as a shared exercise: have three people score independently and compare. The gaps between their scores are usually as informative as the scores themselves.
Yamm Labs uses the same eight dimensions in its free 15-minute brand teardown and at the start of every identity project, so a score from this page maps directly onto a conversation with us if you want one.
02 · Five steps
How do I score my brand?
Scoring honestly. Score from evidence, not intention. If the guidelines define a motion language but the last three videos ignored it, the score is what shipped. Expect a first honest pass to score lower than you would like. That is the point of the exercise, not a failure.
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Open your app or product, your website, your most recent sales or investor deck and three recent social posts or ads. Score what customers actually see, not what the guidelines say.
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For each of the eight dimensions below, read the definition and the 1, 3 and 5 descriptions. Pick the number closest to reality. Use 2 and 4 for in-between cases.
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Select your score in the dropdown under each dimension. The total and your three weakest dimensions appear in the Your score panel. If JavaScript is off, add the eight numbers yourself; everything you need is on the page.
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Read the prescribed fix for your three lowest dimensions, then read your band in the Reading your score table.
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If you want the PDF version, or a written read of your score from Yamm Labs, use the form near the end.
1. Distinctiveness
Distinctiveness is whether your brand looks and sounds like itself rather than like the fintech category. It is measured by how much of your identity would survive if the logo were removed from a screen, a social post or an ad.
| Score | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| 1 | Blue or purple gradient, geometric sans-serif wordmark, stock illustration of a phone and a coin. Swap in a competitor’s logo and nothing changes. |
| 3 | One or two ownable elements exist (a colour, a typeface, an illustration style) but they are used unevenly and the rest is category default. |
| 5 | A recognisable set of distinctive assets (colour, shape, type, tone of voice, illustration or photography) that customers can identify without the logo. |
2. Consistency
Consistency is whether the same brand shows up every time someone meets it, whether that is the app, the website, a sales deck, a WhatsApp message or a hoarding. It is a discipline question more than a design one.
| Score | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| 1 | Every team makes its own version. Three logo files in circulation, colours picked from memory, decks built from scratch each time. |
| 3 | Core assets are consistent (logo, primary colour) but secondary elements drift: typography differs between web and app, social runs its own palette. |
| 5 | One source of truth, templates for every recurring format, and a review step that catches drift before anything ships. |
3. Trust signals
Trust signals are the visible cues that tell a customer their money and data are safe with you: regulator registrations, security posture, named leadership, plain pricing, a physical address and a calm, specific tone. In financial services they do more work than the logo.
| Score | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| 1 | No registration numbers visible, no named people, no physical address, generic stock photography, errors in the app store listing. |
| 3 | Registrations and disclaimers exist but sit in the footer; a leadership page exists; security cues are generic badges. |
| 5 | Registration numbers, grievance officer, address and security posture are easy to find where decisions happen; leadership is named with photographs; pricing and fees are plain. |
4. System depth
System depth is how far the identity extends beyond the logo into typography, colour hierarchy, grid, iconography, illustration, data visualisation, photography and templates. A deep system lets a new designer produce on-brand work on their first day.
| Score | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| 1 | A logo file and a hex code. Everything else is decided page by page. |
| 3 | A guidelines PDF covers logo, colour and type, but there are no rules for data visualisation, icons, illustration or product UI. |
| 5 | A living system with a component library, icon set, chart styles, illustration rules, photography direction and templates for decks, ads, emails and reports. |
5. Compliance-readiness
Compliance-readiness is whether your brand system has built-in places for the text regulators require, such as risk disclaimers, registration numbers, scheme information and grievance details, so that creative passes review without a redesign. For SEBI, IRDAI and RBI regulated businesses this decides whether a campaign ships on time.
| Score | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| 1 | Disclaimers are added at the end in whatever space is left, often too small to read. Compliance rejects creative regularly and revisions eat the timeline. |
| 3 | Standard disclaimer blocks exist for the main formats, but ads, social and video are handled case by case. |
| 5 | Every template has a defined disclaimer zone with a minimum type size, video has a standard disclaimer card and voiceover slot, and compliance has reviewed the templates once so individual pieces move fast. |
6. Memorability
Memorability is whether a customer can describe or recognise your brand after a single exposure. It usually comes from owning one distinctive asset (a colour, a shape, a character, a sound, a phrase) and repeating it without variation.
| Score | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| 1 | Nobody outside the company could describe the brand beyond “a blue finance app”. |
| 3 | One asset is memorable (often the name or the colour) but it is not used everywhere and a competitor uses something similar. |
| 5 | A distinctive asset that is repeated across every channel, is legally protectable, and comes up when customers describe the brand unprompted. |
7. Motion identity
Motion identity is how your brand moves: app transitions, loaders, explainer videos, social video, launch films and the animated logo. Fintech brands live on screens, so motion is a primary brand element rather than an afterthought.
| Score | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| 1 | No motion rules. Each video is made by a different vendor and looks different; the app uses default operating-system animations. |
| 3 | A logo animation and a couple of explainer videos exist, but there is no defined easing, timing, transition or typography-in-motion rule. |
| 5 | A documented motion language (easing curves, durations, transition types, how type and the logo animate) applied in the product, in video and on social. |
8. Channel coherence
Channel coherence is whether the app, website, social, paid ads, sales decks, investor materials, physical spaces and customer communications read as one brand with one voice. It differs from consistency: consistency is about assets, coherence is about the whole experience.
| Score | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| 1 | The app, the website and the sales deck look like three different companies. The investor deck came from a consultant, social from an intern, the app from product. |
| 3 | Digital channels match each other; offline, sales and investor materials lag behind. |
| 5 | One brand across every touchpoint, with channel-specific adaptations: a hoarding and a push notification differ in form but not in character. |
04 · Live result
Your score
Total: 0 / 40
0 of 8 dimensions scored. Select a score under each dimension above and this panel updates. Without JavaScript, add your eight numbers and read the band in the table below.
Fix first (your three lowest dimensions):
- Your three lowest dimensions will be listed here once you have scored them.
05 · The fixes
What is the fix for each dimension?
These are the fixes Yamm Labs prescribes most often. Each is written so that a team can start on it without an agency. Read the three that match your lowest scores first.
Fix 01
Fix for distinctiveness
Put your homepage next to ten competitors’ homepages with every logo covered. If you cannot pick yours out, that is the brief. Choose one or two assets to own, such as a colour nobody in your category uses, a typeface with character, or a defined illustration or photography style, and commit to them for at least three years. Retire anything that is the category default, starting with gradients and phone-and-coin illustrations. See fintech logo design mistakes and colour psychology for financial brands.
Fix 02
Fix for consistency
Create one source of truth: a shared brand folder or portal with final logo files, colour values, type files and the templates people actually use. Delete the old versions rather than archiving them. Add a five-minute brand check to the approval flow for anything customer-facing, and make one person accountable for it. Consistency is fixed by process, not by another guidelines document.
Fix 03
Fix for trust signals
Move registration numbers, the grievance contact, the physical address and your security posture out of the footer and into the places where trust is decided: the sign-up flow, the pricing page, the app store listing and the first email. Name your leadership with real photographs. Replace stock photography with real people or a defined illustration style. Read the psychology of trust in financial brand design for the reasoning.
Fix 04
Fix for system depth
Build the layer below the logo: a type scale, a colour hierarchy with usage rules, an icon set, chart and data-visualisation styles, illustration or photography direction, and templates for the ten formats your team produces most. Document it where designers work, in Figma or your product’s component library, rather than only in a PDF. A PDF is read once; a library is used daily.
Fix 05
Fix for compliance-readiness
Sit with your compliance team once and agree a standard disclaimer block, a minimum type size and a fixed placement for every recurring format, including video (a disclaimer card and a voiceover slot) and social (a fixed caption block). Bake these into the templates so that each new piece is not re-reviewed on the same points. Our SEBI, IRDAI and RBI advertising rules guide and the BFSI marketing compliance FAQ cover what has to be in those blocks.
Fix 06
Fix for memorability
Pick one distinctive asset and repeat it without variation everywhere for a year: every ad, every post, every screen, every deck. Resist the urge to refresh it. Ask new customers how they would describe the brand and count how often the asset comes up. Protect it legally where you can, for example by registering the colour combination, shape or character as a trademark.
Fix 07
Fix for motion identity
Define a motion language before the next video is briefed: two or three easing curves, standard durations, how the logo animates in and out, how type appears, and a transition style for the app. Apply it to the product first, then to the next video, then to social templates. Give every video vendor the same one-page motion sheet. Read the guide to fintech explainer videos.
Fix 08
Fix for channel coherence
List every touchpoint a customer meets in a year, from the app store listing to the collections SMS, and rate each one against the brand. Fix the worst three, which are usually the sales deck, the investor deck and transactional emails. Give every team the same templates and the same voice guide, and review the full set together twice a year. Our investor pitch deck design guide covers the deck.
06 · The bands
Reading your score
The total tells you how much work is needed and what kind: a tweak, a system build or a rebrand. The three lowest dimensions tell you where to start.
| Total | What it means | Recommended next step |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 16 | The brand is not yet a system. Customers see a logo and a colour, and each team improvises the rest. Trust and recognition are being left to chance. | A brand identity and visual system project, starting from positioning rather than the logo. A refresh will not hold. Use the free teardown to confirm before you budget. |
| 17 to 26 | A recognisable brand with structural gaps. This is where most fintechs sit: the core identity works, but system depth, motion, compliance templates or channel coherence are missing. | Fix your three lowest dimensions. Usually a refresh plus a proper system and guidelines, not a rebrand. Three to four months of focused work. |
| 27 to 34 | A working system with specific weaknesses. The brand is doing its job; one or two dimensions are dragging it down, typically motion identity, compliance-readiness or a lagging channel. | Targeted work on the weak dimensions only. Often a motion language, compliance-ready templates or a sales and investor deck system. |
| 35 to 40 | A strong brand. Recognisable, consistent, trusted and deep. The risk now is drift and complacency. | Protect it: brand governance, a six-monthly audit, and extension into new channels, including how AI answer engines describe you. See AI visibility for BFSI brands. |
A high total with one very low score still needs attention. A 34 with a 1 on compliance-readiness means the next campaign will be late. Treat any dimension scored 1 or 2 as urgent regardless of the total.
If you are weighing up a refresh against a rebrand, how to rebrand a bank without losing trust sets out the decision. If you are choosing who should do the work, read agency vs freelancer vs subscription for BFSI.
07 · Optional
Get the PDF and a written read of your score
Send us your eight scores and your website, and we will reply with the PDF version of this audit and a short written read of where to start. No pitch, no spam.
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Yamm Labs is a design-led brand agency for fintech and BFSI companies, founded in Gurugram in 2017. Read more on our fintech branding agency page or browse the question hubs.
08 · Answers
Frequently asked questions
Is the Fintech Brand Audit really free?
Yes. The full audit, the eight scoring guides, the prescribed fixes and the score bands are all on this page with nothing gated. You do not need to enter an email address to use it. The form is only for people who want the PDF version or a written read of their score from Yamm Labs, and filling it in creates no obligation.
Do I need to submit the form to see my score?
No. Your total and your three lowest dimensions appear in the “Your score” panel as soon as you select scores, and the page never sends your answers anywhere. If JavaScript is switched off, the panel does not update, but you can add the eight numbers yourself and read the band in the “Reading your score” table.
Who should fill in the brand audit?
The person who owns the brand decision: a founder, CMO, head of marketing, brand manager or product lead at a fintech, bank, NBFC, insurer, AMC or wealth platform. It works best when two or three people score independently and compare. A founder scoring 4 on distinctiveness while the head of sales scores 2 is a more useful finding than either number alone.
How accurate is a self-scored brand audit?
Accurate enough to decide what to do next, if you score what customers see rather than what the guidelines say. Insiders tend to score distinctiveness and memorability generously, because they recognise their own brand easily. For an outside view, the free 15-minute brand teardown uses the same eight dimensions with a Yamm Labs designer scoring live.
What happens after I send my score through the form?
Yamm Labs replies by email with the PDF version of the audit and a short written read of your eight scores: which three dimensions to fix first and whether the work looks like a tweak, a system build or a rebrand. If you want to talk it through, the email includes a link to book the free teardown. There is no sales follow-up beyond that reply.
Can I use the audit for a bank or insurer, not just a fintech?
Yes. The eight dimensions apply to any financial brand that has to earn trust and pass regulator review, including banks, NBFCs, insurers, mutual funds and wealth managers. Compliance-readiness is scored against SEBI, IRDAI or RBI requirements depending on your licence, and channel coherence includes branches, agents and physical materials for businesses that have them.
Last updated: 19 September 2026
Second opinion
Want a second opinion on your score?
Book the free 15-minute brand teardown. A Yamm Labs designer reviews your brand live against the same eight dimensions and gives you three fixes.