In this group internship project, I collaborated with eight team members and key business partners to prioritize redesign initiatives for an innovation-driven company project. As the sole designer on the team, I played a critical role in accelerating the rollout of the MVP2 for a Fortune 100 company's mobile app by 9%. My responsibilities included creating interactive prototypes, leading user research alongside two research partners, and authoring detailed design requirement reports.

To comply with a non-disclosure agreement, confidential information, including the final design has been omitted.

The Perks & Rewards program was designed to enhance customer engagement and satisfaction through a suite of value-added features within the company’s mobile app. Targeting long-term customers—those who have been with the company for over three years—the program aimed to foster loyalty by offering perks, rewards, and cashback opportunities. While customer acquisition was a goal, the primary focus was on deepening the existing customer relationship.

This project underscored the importance of aligning user-centric design with strategic business objectives, particularly as the company navigated a broader digital transformation. My role involved ensuring that our design process was grounded in user experience optimization while driving business innovation.

To identify the most valued perks and rewards, we employed a comprehensive approach that included surveying over 700 users and conducting in-depth interviews with nine individuals. This research was crucial in understanding customer behaviors and preferences, enabling us to tailor the program to their needs.

A thorough SWOT analysis of competitors provided insights into market strengths and weaknesses, guiding our strategic decisions. Additionally, I led a viability evaluation that assessed both market and product factors:

Concurrent with our research efforts, I facilitated two Design Sprints to foster innovation and generate diverse ideas for the Perks & Rewards program. Utilizing insights from usability research, I developed six iterations of prototypes, ranging from low to high fidelity. Each sprint concluded with prototype testing, allowing us to validate our concepts through real user feedback.

This iterative approach enabled us to quickly identify and refine the most promising ideas, resulting in a robust design concept that effectively addressed user needs while supporting business objectives.

Images above: Sketches of low-fidelity wireframes for the app design.

We employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to refine user interactions within the mobile app. Think Aloud testing, click tests, and heat maps were instrumental in streamlining the user journey, making it easier for customers to access perks, rewards, and cashback opportunities.

To enhance our research capabilities, the team adopted new tools such as UserZoom, which enabled us to conduct targeted surveys and gather actionable data. This proactive approach yielded insights that were critical for informed decision-making by stakeholders.

By leveraging the insights from our research and prototype evaluations, our team successfully advocated for a design direction that accelerated the MVP2 rollout. We also exceeded expectations by completing additional design requirements, user research, iterations, and documentation, ultimately speeding up the rollout by 9%. Our agile, data-driven approach was key to gaining leadership buy-in for the proposed design strategy.

Check out the current perk program, impacted by the team's research and design!