My Role & Team
I primarily worked on User Research and Interaction/visual design teaming with Gagan and Saravanan who are experts in UX thinking and business.
Context
SHARE Rewards is an all-in-one rewards program by Majid Al Futtaim. SHARE app works as an earning and redeeming the points as well as getting discounts not only from Majid Al Futtaim’s brands but all the retailers in MAF malls. SHARE was launched in 2019 and has 1.5 million users to date.
Problem
Despite its great features, thousands of daily visits being a unique loyalty app in the region, the app experience was not as friendly and easy to understand. Several potential issues were pointed by the business and consumers, such as the complexity of the unique SHARE ID and login process was quite lengthy. But these and other assumptions about the user’s behaviors and context have to be validated.
Goal
How might we improve the user’s experience, so that the current consumers can make the most of the app and attract new users?
SHARE is the Loyalty Programme to earn & spend points at MAF Brands and Malls. Earn and Redeem points and great discounts are the cherry on the top. Here is how we designed it:
Process
Discover what worked well and bad with the current version.
Understand the context and needs of the users
What’s keeping the consumers to use SHARE as primary rewards app.
1. Discover
The first step is to know more about the current app and the users we want to reach, as well as what the competitors are offering.
Current app analysis
Going through the current flows from onboarding to home screen, earning & redeeming points to using the SHARE Wallet and ID. Linking it to myClub account and transfer accounts. We connected all the dots and tested the current flows and found the opportunities for UX and design improvement for a better customer experience.
User’s Feedback
The best way out there for any app is to get direct feedback from unhappy customers because they will tell you exactly what you need to improve the app.
Key takeaways
from the customer feedback
The app session keeps ending and users were asked to log in at the cash counter with login and password (which most of them don’t remember).
SHARE ID & Submit Receipt was hidden inside screens, and it was rather difficult for users to find it instantly.
Customers from myClub(carrefour) didn’t understand the process of linking accounts and transfer myClub points to SHARE balance.
Customers were confused about why receipt submissions are getting declined.
Competitive analysis
Do other reward apps in UAE offer a service similar to the one we have? How are they doing it? Are there other non-direct competitors we should take into account? We researched several competitors in UAE as well as other companies that offer activities and experiences out of the beaten track, such as liv bank.
User Research
With all the combined research, we did some interviews with the customers to know more about what they spend at MAF brands and how they use the SHARE app. What do they actually end up doing and why do they choose SHARE over other apps. We saw some patterns emerging;
Accessibility
It’s about how easy is it to use the app while holding shopping bags in one hand and babies in another. trying to access the SHARE app, specifically the login experience, wallet, or SHARE ID.
Usability
Getting the right tools are at the right place was key, having the call to action and information at the right place was key.
Trust
Is it safe to add my credit cards and share personal information with the app.
2. Define
At this stage of the process, we need a clear concise description of the issue that needs to be addressed, so we can focus our efforts to deliver an efficient solution. Our problem statement for this project is:
SHARE customers need a way to have a seamless experience of using the app for earning, redeeming, and taking full advantage of all offers and benefits while shopping in Majid Al Futtaim malls and brands.
How might we...?
This question is part of Human-Centred Design, a creative approach to problem-solving. Once we have framed the problem we want to solve and know who our users are, the creative process to tailor a solution for them starts with this question: How might we solve this problem?
How might we make it easy for loyalty rewards customers to use the SHARE app to earn and redeem points on the go and be able to search for the offers?
Hypothesis
We believe that by making the signup/login experience effortless and make the earn & redeem points CTA's accessible and usable, we will be able to achieve customer satisfaction.
3. Develop
Feature Prioritizations
The goal of this project is to design a product with enough features to satisfy the brief as well as the main user needs. We conducted the feature prioritization in order to specify the actions users would be able to perform and start sketching the user flows:
- Customer’s onboarding from signup to login experience to be seamless by introducing biometrics.
- Earn and Redeem points using Share Pay and Share ID.
- Customers can search and avail offers and benefits with comprehensive categories filters.
- Problems can be reported easily from within the app in the assistant section.
The process of earning points was confusing for the customers. We explored a couple of options for the home screen to start with. Correct architecture for the landing screen was the most crucial issue to resolve the major problems.
User Flows
The goal of this project is to design a product with enough features to satisfy the brief as well as the main user needs. We conducted the feature prioritization in order to specify the actions users would be able to perform and start sketching the user flows:
The Brand Personality
4. Deliver
Re-inventing the way people use rewards programme.
Instead of using the traditional way — the user browses the app assuming they already know what they need — We made the experience simple and easy. The goal was to make earning and redeeming points instant and easy.
Digital wallet for instant points and safer payments.
Introduced a digital wallet to make instant payments without waiting in queues and earn points instantly. While at the same time have the option to submit receipts from non-MAF brands at all the Majid Al Futtaim malls to earn extra like no other loyalty program.
Digital wallet for instant points and safer payments.
Introduced a digital wallet to make instant payments without waiting in queues and earn points instantly. While at the same time have the option to submit receipts from non-MAF brands at all the Majid Al Futtaim malls to earn extra like no other loyalty program.
Personalized offers as per consumers’ shopping history
We believe that today people prefer simple and specific shopping choices, so we crafted a way to present personalized offers based on shopping history which are only available to each user.
Customer support at it’s finest, 24/7 personal chat.
We transformed the whole customer experience by building an extraordinary customer support section within the app for the members to directly get in touch with the support team via chat, call and email to resolve the issues instantly.
5. The Results
Happy Customers
Happy Business
- 1.5 Million members in Share Base
- 645K Migrated Members from MyClub to SHARE
- 66% Active Members using the programme in at least one Business Unit
- 824K Share Members active in Carrefour since programme launch
- 32% Share sales penetration with some business Units seeing figures over 50%
- 70% Average Brand Association of SHARE and Majid Al Futtaim – One of the highest in the organization.
- Highest awareness and consideration within the sector and vs. competing loyalty programmes.
- Etihad Airways brings a strong and healthy start to our partnership portfolio.