Role
Product Designer
Responsibility
User-centered Research, Usability Testing, Wireframing, Prototyping, Visual Design
Team
Madison Square Garden Entertainment
Timeline
3 months
CONTEXT
Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) Impeded By COVID-19
Under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, 90% of the Madison Square Garden’s venues closed. The impact includes the start of the 2020-21 NBA and NHL regular seasons and fan attendance restrictions. In this case, most of the existing customers were unable to attend venues in person, resulting in the loss of many customer groups. In 1Q21, the Company recorded revenue down 91.9% as compared to 1Q20.
PROBLEM
How to strengthen connections with existing fans and acquire new customers?
Stakeholders at MSG:
After an initial discussion with stakeholders, I have to design a product to maintain existing fans and acquire new customers to promote revenue growth. And this product should apply to the current COVID-19 situation and be used when things return to normal. Under this circumstance, I need to understand the current customer behavior pattern and existing business resources to find a quick win plan to improve customer engagement and retention.
SOLUTION QUICK LOOK
MSG Perks, a rewards system
DESIGN PROCESS
MARKET RESEARCH
Under the influence of COVID-19, why do we lose many customer bases and revenue decline?
Before defining the problem, we need to understand what caused the problem. In the pandemic environment, there are many external reasons that affect a series of changes.
Public Health Issues
CDC published Guidance for Businesses Responding to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).
From the initial” Stay At Home” to the step-by-step policy of opens for social distancing activities, most of our customers cannot back to the venue.
Less Disposable Income
Due to the economic recession caused by COVID-19, the unemployment rate has risen.
People’s disposable income has decreased, and consequently, our existing customers’ consumption on shows, events, and games has also reduced.
Consumer Behavior Change
Most consumers begin to increase their consumption of e-commerce, digital-based products, and products that can be experienced at home.
Analyze existing user data
How do existing customers want to experience MSG activities during the pandemic?
Quantitative Data for behaviors and habits of customers during the pandemic helps us visualize the changes in behavior before and after the pandemic.
Based on 163 valid responses to an 8 quick questions questionnaire survey, we understand that most existing customers prefer digital-based experiences rather than in-person experiences, and they expect more rewards.
Business Quick Win Plan
A rewards program can maximize impact based on current resources
Based on most customers’ hope to experience a digital-based experience during the pandemic, our team listed feasible solutions and analyzed the magnitude of impact based on the company’s existing technological resources, time cost, and budget. Finally, building a loyalty rewarding program is a quick-win plan under existing circumstance.
Existing Rewarding User Flow
MSG currently does not have a rewards system. Most of the rewards are sent to existing customers via email or SMS.
USER RESEARCH
Persona
Two Typical Groups of Users
Interviewing with 6 existing customers, I identified two typical customers with different loyalty tiers, finding out their needs, goals, and pain points with the current rewarding system.
Key Findings
Customers want to choose their own rewards
Most consumers want to redeem the rewards they are really interested in, hoping to have a variety of rewards options.
Loyalty Customers want to feel special
Customers want to have special treatments with different tiers. We can consider setting up rewards programs in tiers with increasing benefits.
Customers expect a complete and easy-to-use experience
Users hope to check their points timely and categorize rewards for easy search.
Customer Journey Map
Understand the pain points of each stage with the existing incomplete rewarding user flow.
Pain Points
Hard to Find Rewards
Because rewards are sent via email and SMS, it is easy for customers to miss the rewards information, and it isn't easy to find when they want to use it.
Low Efficiency
Customers cannot check points and loyal level status immediately, they have to sign in on the website or call customer services.
No Clear Rewards Tiers
There is no clear classification of rewards for the rewards sent through emails and text messages. For example, the rewards that are not clearly classified are related to MSG partnerships, and the rewards are dedicated to specific customers.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE
Effectively help customers to get rewarding and earning
After gathering the research insights, I proposed that we want to design the features to allow customers to find rewards conveniently and effectively and offer valuable rewards to improve customer engagement and retention.
IDEATION
Ideation Process
I started by translating research findings and design principles to 20 How Might We question in the ideation process. Then I came up with over 15 ideas around 20 questions. By doing this, I made sure that ideas closely connect with the research results.
Information Architecture
Restructure the hierarchy of main features on MSG Perks
Highlighted boxes are the interfaces that will be featured below
PROTOTYPE
Testing and Iterations
Rewards Tiers
Structure three rewards tiers from Bronze, Silver to Gold
The rewards tiers divided into three categories based on each customer’s points. The first tier is Gold, for those who already are a loyal customer in Madison Square Garden(MSG) and has more than 1000 points. The second tier is Silver, for those who have visited our venues for few times and have points between 301 and 1000. The third tier is Bronze, for those who just signed up and have points below 300 points.
Loyalty Balance
Combination of Loyalty Card and Branding Guideline
I come up with the idea of creating loyalty cards like bank cards that can clearly show the customer’s rewards information. Since MSG has specific branding guidelines, I blend the logo and branding color to design a personalized loyalty rewarding card for each member.
Three customized types of loyalty card
Based on the idea of a combination of loyalty cards and banks card and branding guidelines, I finally design three types of loyalty cards for different rewards tiers.
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Refer Friends
Encourage existing fans to invite new customers
Finding more customers is one of the business goals of this program. One of the plans is to encourage existing fans or customers to invite others to achieve this goal. In this case, existing customers will be rewarded with points.
First Iteration
Initially, I designed a prototype for Refer Friends, which only has one button,” Refer Friends,” for customers to click. Customers can invite their friends or family member to join the loyalty rewarding program.
Final Iteration
However, based on internal user tests, I observed that 80% of users ignore this part and scroll down to the next part, and they are confused about how to refer friends at the same time. To enhance accessibility, I redesigned to highlight the function title and directly point out refer friends through” Share Invite Code.”
Offer For You
Each loyalty level has exclusive rewards
To satisfy the user's needs that they want to feel special, Offer For You is a customized rewards section for different rewards tiers. Under the environment of the pandemic, we design to offer more attractive offline rewards for customers.
First Iteration
The first design achieved that users can directly understand the rewards that special offer for them, and they can redeem the item immediately.
Final Iteration
From usability testing, I discovered that users would like to know when can they redeem the item and the regulation of redeeming. Moreover, though users can swipe left and right to see all rewards, they are tired of swiping too long to find the rewards they need.
Featured Rewards
Rewards related to MSG Partnerships
In order to promote the rewards related to MSG partners, I designed to display the details of the rewards on the interface.
First Iteration
To achieve the business goal, we have to promote the rewarding related to MSG partners, like TAO Group, Delta, Chase. I drafted the first version with the subtitle of Transfer points to coupon.
Final Iteration
However, after user testing, I found that users would like to know the details of redeeming, like how many points did they need to use to transfer to coupon or miles or bonus. In this case, I add a small description under the subtitle to explain clearly the points that users need to use for transfer.
SOLUTION
Hi-Fi Mockup for main interfaces
Integrating all features to MSG Perks
IMPACT
The design received a lot of positive feedback from user testers and stakeholders.
The product will release in September 2021. Through continuous usability testing, stakeholders predict that the release will increase customer engagement and customer retention.
