United MileagePlus is one of the world’s largest loyalty programs, with 100 million+ members. Customer engagement was stagnating, and the marketing team approached us to reverse the trend.
Our research with members across the US found new business opportunities for MileagePlus, centered around three key user goals: saving miles toward a dream vacation; premier status and travel perks; and playing (and winning) the loyalty 'game'. After developing and evaluating three new product concepts, complete with high-fidelity prototypes, United chose to focus on helping members feel like they’re winning the loyalty game, by giving members new and engaging ways to earn miles in physical retail stores.
Pay at the store using your phone – at a time when this was unheard of – and so, MileagePlus X was born. Using the simple and user-friendly app, members can earn and spend miles on their everyday purchases in stores, restaurants, and online. Designit led United engineers through the implementation of a new mobile app, from writing front-end code to planning the beta release.
Outcome
Since launch, MileagePlus X has experienced steady 20% month-over-month growth, reports over one-third of members are active daily users, and trailblazed the way for other mobile payment platforms.
