OVERVIEW
Enhancing the membership experience for a rewards program
ROFO Rewards is a customer loyalty program offered by Royal Farms, a chain of convenience stores, with many locations featuring gas stations. Royal Farms aimed to address customers' challenges in understanding and using the program by simplifying and enhancing the experience for members, with the goal of attracting new customers. I worked alongside a team of researchers to learn how the usability and comprehension of ROFO Rewards could be improved.
Timeline
February - May 2022
3 months
Role
UX Researcher
Team
5 UX Researchers
Client
Royal Farms
My Contribution
As a UX researcher, I worked alongside my team to develop a plan for our research study. Once completed, I recruited and interviewed participants of competing gas station rewards programs. I communicated my interview experiences with my team and we worked together to synthesis all the interview data. Based on our data, I proposed to Royal Farms to allow customers to sign up for ROFO Rewards using their phone number and demonstrated this solution by creating concept sketches using Figma.
PROBLEM
Customers are struggling to use and understand ROFO Rewards
Royal Farms was in the process of redesigning their rewards program experience and app. They believed that their customers did not understand how the program works or its benefits, which deters potential new customers from joining. They wanted to learn directly from potential and existing customers how to enhance the program's clarity and appeal, thereby attracting new customers.
SOLUTION
Introduce quality-of-life changes and implement a tier system
Phone Number Sign-Up
Avoids the frustration of long sign-up processes. Providing a lot of personal information is also not required
Implement a Tier System
Combining ROFO Rewards and ROFO Pay into one and incentivize customers to obtain higher tiers for more savings
Flexible Points Spending
Prevents limiting customers on how they redeem their points and gives them more options
Digital Rewards Card
Eliminate the need for a physical membership card. Adds the modern convenience of contactless payment
PROCESS
How did we arrive at these solutions?
RESEARCH
I conducted three interviews with members of competing gas station rewards programs, with our team completing six interviews overall. We wanted to understand the frustrations and motivations of rewards program members through competitive analysis to help inform how Royal Farms could approach their program.
User interviews revealed what is important to rewards program members
Key Insights
Payment Method Options
Having multiple payment options influences a customer decision to join or continue a program.
Customers require trust in the company to comfortably link their bank accounts.
Flexibility
Customers want to have control over how their rewards points are spent and not be restricted.
Customers are disinterested in spending rewards points on food purchases.
Benefits and Convenience
Knowing how beneficial a rewards program is influenced one’s willingness to use one.
Transaction time and how well the program fits into into one's life both contribute to convenience.
Simplicity
People are deterred from a program if its worth was not immediately obvious.
Rewards program companion apps must be visually appealing and simple to use.
EMPATHIZE
Understanding rewards program members helped us identify what ROFO Rewards members might need
Interacting with members of other gas station rewards programs and learning from their experiences allowed us to understand what ROFO Rewards members might need. We were able to identify possible personalities, actions, and motivations expected of gas station rewards program members.
Key Personas
“Joe Rogers” represents a potential new member of ROFO Rewards.
Discovering ROFO Rewards could evoke excitement from learning about discounts and convenient features, but confusion about ROFO Pay and using a physical card may lead to emotional lows. This journey highlights an opportunity to clarify the distinction between ROFO Rewards and ROFO Pay, and shift the onboarding to a fully digital experience.
“Gina Taylor” represents an existing member of ROFO Rewards.
Being an existing member can provide relief and pleasure from using the program and having points to redeem, but the constraints of how those points can be used leave potential disappointment. This journey highlights an opportunity to introduce flexibility in points spending to customers.
IDEATE
How might we simplify and improve ROFO Rewards to attract new customers and maintain existing ones?
Creating potential users and their possible journeys helped solidify our understanding of ROFO Rewards users. With this knowledge, we collaborated on developing potential solutions for how ROFO Rewards could improve.
Sign-Up With Your Phone Number
I proposed to provide customers with the option to sign-up for ROFO Rewards using their phone number, adding a new layer of convenience and avoids frustration.
Implement a Tier System
Merging ROFO Rewards and ROFO Pay into one system structured using tiers would simplify the entire experience and incentivize customers.
Customers Choose How to Spend Points
Allowing customers to redeem their rewards points how they choose gives them more flexibility.
Digital Rewards Card
Allowing customers to use a digital membership card provides another layer of convenience and eliminates the need for the physical reward card.
IMPACT
Some of our ideas were repurposed and implemented by Royal Farms
Tier System
ROFO Rewards now has a tier system where the more rewards points you earn, the more food options you have to redeem your points on.
Digital Capabilities
The newest version of the ROFO Rewards app allows members to scan their QR code to earn points when making purchases. Royal Farms also embraced contactless payment due to its growth in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
FUTURE WORK
Continuing research and contributing to the prototype
Future research could involve consulting current ROFO Rewards members directly. Our research focused on competing gas stations’ rewards programs and comparing them to ROFO Rewards. Conducting research with actual ROFO Rewards members would provide direct feedback and strengthen the case for implementing any new design ideas.
Additionally, a next step would be to build and adapt our solutions into the existing prototype being developed by Royal Farms. We can then test their effectiveness in improving the user experience of ROFO Rewards.
TAKEAWAYS
Lesson Learned
Have a backup plan for recruitment: Royal Farms was unable to provide us with participants. The iConsultancy also dissuaded us from approaching random individuals at Royal Farms locations due to safety concerns. Therefore, we were initially left without a recruitment plan. We had to revise our research plan and shift focus.
Growth Areas
There’s more than one way to represent research: Before this, I thought that personas were the only way to represent research. But I learned that there are many ways to communicate findings, and it's important to choose the most effective deliverables.
Presenting to stakeholders: I previously never had experience presenting to a client. I learned to present exactly what they want to see: results. It’s still important to tell your story about how you reached those results. However, don’t spend too much time on every single detail. The narrative you communicate must have focus.
