PerkSpot
Employee perks in a native iOS and Android app
TL;DR
- I led product and UX/UI design for PerkSpot’s first native mobile app for iOS and Android, built with React Native.
- I adapted features from PerkSpot’s desktop website for its native iOS and Android app, preserving its branding while reworking navigation and interactions for a smaller screen.
- I designed a new mobile navigation structure and a GPS-enabled map for discovering “Local Deals.” Interest-based push notifications offered another way to reconnect members with relevant offers.
- I worked with the product owner and developers to define features and establish a reusable mobile design foundation.
- Post-launch reporting showed stronger lead generation among mobile users.
The product
PerkSpot is an employee discount program offering everything from everyday necessities to travel, entertainment, and larger purchases. Employers and organizations provide members with a branded portal for discovering and using these offers.
The platform served corporate employees, blue-collar workers, gig workers, professional members, and subscription members. This engagement addressed a shared problem across those communities rather than focusing on a single user type.
The problem
Signing up was only the beginning. Members would browse offers and make a few transactions, but their engagement often faded over the following months. New perks were regularly offered, yet members had to remember to log back into the website or notice a compelling email to discover them.
PerkSpot wanted its first mobile app to create more opportunities for members to stay engaged. The design challenge was to make an extensive offer catalog usable on a phone while taking advantage of what mobile could add: timely notifications and location-aware discovery.
Designing for mobile
I worked with the product owner to define feature goals within the existing backlog and roadmap.
Most of the native iOS and Android app adapted features already available on PerkSpot’s desktop website. I translated those web experiences into native mobile layouts and interactions while retaining the existing brand. I also designed a new mobile navigation structure and a GPS-enabled map for discovering nearby deals.
The work balanced three goals:
- Retain the value of the web experience.
- Respect mobile platform conventions.
- Create a foundation for capabilities such as location-based offers.
Browse, discover, and search
The desktop experience presented many offers at once. On mobile, I designed ways for members to move from a broad overview to a focused selection and search for something specific. The home, individual section, and search designs gave each of these activities a place in the experience.
Let members express their preferences
I also designed offer feedback so members could indicate brands and offers they liked or disliked. The documented designs show this interaction alongside the offer experience, with examples of a card menu and merchant page.
Card
Card Menu
Merchant Page
Relevant in the moment
Mobile offered more than another screen for the same catalog. Phones could help connect an offer with a member’s interests and current location.
Interest-based push notifications
Push notifications offered a way to bring relevant deals to members’ attention without requiring a website visit. We included notifications in the design so offers matching members’ interests could give them a reason to return.
Maps of nearby deals
Alongside the new mobile navigation, the GPS-enabled map introduced a new way to discover offers. It connected local offers with the member’s current location, making it possible to discover deals nearby rather than only browse the broader catalog.
Keeping the offer code available
Not every offer required a code. For those that did, the code could appear on an earlier page in the flow, before members reached the merchant’s website. In conversations with users, we learned that it wasn’t clear they needed to copy and paste it to use the offer.
Through back-and-forth with the development team, we worked through what was possible across that handoff. We couldn’t paste the code into the merchant’s site for members, but we could copy it to their clipboard beforehand and keep it visible in a persistent offer-code bar while they browsed the merchant’s site.
I designed a tooltip explaining where to find the code and that it had already been copied. Members could dismiss the guidance with “Got It” or choose “Don’t show me this again.”
Select a screen to view the full design.
Design foundation
Alongside the app designs, I created a mobile design library. Reusable components and interaction patterns provided a foundation for extending the experience as PerkSpot’s feature set grew.
Working closely with developers helped connect the designs to React Native implementation and the available data. Collaboration with PerkSpot’s internal design team kept the new mobile experience aligned with the existing brand.
Results
My contribution
My work covered the mobile app designs and a reusable mobile design foundation, including browsing, offer feedback, local discovery, and notifications.
As the engagement was winding down, I transitioned to a new role at Amdocs before launch. The results below reflect subsequent reporting.
Results reported after launch
In June 2022, TXI reported promising early traction for PerkSpot’s mobile app, even before an official announcement:
- 167% month-over-month economic activity growth from April to May
- 167% month-over-month economic activity growth from May to June (projected as of mid-month)
- 11% more leads per mobile user than email or desktop users.
The article also describes members finding the app in the app stores without being invited to the beta, providing an early signal of interest in a mobile experience.