Hut Reward Play

To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted and obfuscated confidential information. All information is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of Lloyds Banking Group.

Understand

Understand what matters to the user

Pizza Hut UK is a well-established pizza chain with a strong brand presence in the UK market. However, the company has identified a need to revamp its customer and loyalty experience to stay competitive and responsive to evolving consumer preferences.

The key drivers behind this initiative are:

  • Declining customer retention and order frequency: Despite a loyal customer base, Pizza Hut has noticed a gradual decrease in repeat business and order frequency compared to previous years.
  • Increasing competition from delivery-focused businesses: The rise of online food delivery platforms and specialised pizza chains has intensified the competitive landscape, putting pressure on Pizza Hut to differentiate its offerings.
  • Outdated loyalty program: The existing loyalty program is seen as complex and inflexible, leading to low engagement and diminishing customers' perceived value.
  • Lack of personalisation: Customer data is not being leveraged effectively to provide personalised experiences, recommendations, and offers, which is becoming a growing expectation among consumers.
  • Ambition for global expansion: Pizza Hut's parent company, Yum! Brands, has identified the need for a scalable, adaptable customer experience that can be replicated across international markets.

The key objectives for this project are:

Increase customer retention and frequency of orders:

  • Improve customer loyalty and encourage repeat business.
  • Increase the average number of orders per customer.

Boost customer satisfaction and brand loyalty:

  • Enhance the overall customer experience and perception of the Pizza Hut brand.
  • Foster stronger emotional connections and brand affinity among customers.

Create a scalable system for global implementation:

  • Develop a flexible and adaptable solution that can be easily deployed in various international markets.
  • Ensure consistency in the customer experience while accommodating local preferences and regulations.

Enhance personalisation in customer interactions:

  • Leverage customer data to provide personalised recommendations, offers, and experiences.
  • Empower customers to customise their preferences and interactions with the brand.

Improve data collection and utilisation for targeted marketing:

  • Implement advanced data analytics capabilities to gain deeper insights into customer behaviour and preferences.
  • Use these insights to craft more effective and targeted marketing campaigns.

Discovery

Helps us understand, rather than simply assume, what the problem is. It involves speaking to and spending time with people who are affected by the issues.

As the lead researcher on this project, I knew that gaining a deep understanding of our customers, their preferences, and the competitive landscape would be crucial to the success of this initiative. I kicked off the research phase with a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods.

First, I conducted a series of in-depth customer interviews via online video calls. I ensured a comprehensive representation of our customer base, encompassing both frequent and infrequent users, and customers from various demographic groups. This diversity in the interviews allowed me to uncover a wide range of insights about their pain points, desires, and perceptions of our existing customer experience and loyalty program.

Alongside the interviews, I also distributed detailed customer surveys to a larger sample size. Obtaining 400 responses to the quantitative study offers a margin of error of +/- 5% at the 95% confidence level. The survey covered various topics, from ordering habits and channel preferences to satisfaction levels and attitudes towards loyalty programs. The data collected from these surveys provided valuable quantitative insights that I could use to identify trends and patterns.

In parallel, I performed a comprehensive competitive analysis, studying the customer and loyalty experiences of our main regional and global competitors. I looked at their mobile apps, loyalty programs, personalisation features, and overall user experience. This allowed me to benchmark our current offerings against industry best practices and identify areas for improvement.

I conducted interviews with our international teams and partners to enhance my understanding of the global landscape further. I was particularly interested in learning about the unique preferences and behaviours of customers in different markets and the challenges they faced in delivering a consistent brand experience.

Throughout the research phase, I worked closely with our data analytics team to examine our existing customer data, including purchase history, order frequency, and redemption patterns. This quantitative analysis helped me uncover valuable insights that I could use to inform the design of our new customer experience and loyalty program.

By the end of the research phase, I had amassed a rich dataset that provided a comprehensive view of our customers, the competitive landscape, and the key considerations for global scalability. This research-driven approach laid the foundation for the subsequent solution design process, ensuring that our final product would truly address the needs and pain points of our customers, both locally and globally.

Define

The insight gathered from the discovery phase can help you to define the challenge differently.

Key Insights:

  1. Customers desire more personalised offers and recommendations

    Firstly, it became clear that customers crave more personalised interactions with the Pizza Hut brand. The existing experience felt generic and impersonal, failing to cater to individual preferences and ordering habits. Customers expressed a desire for tailored recommendations, offers, and even the ability to customise their "Profile" to reflect their dietary needs and favourite toppings.

  2. Mobile ordering is increasingly popular, but the current CX lacks features

    The analysis of the existing mobile web revealed significant room for improvement. While mobile ordering was on the rise, the experience needed more of the features and functionality that customers have come to expect from modern food ordering platforms. Users wanted a more user-friendly interface and greater integration with the loyalty program.

  3. Loyalty program engagement is low due to complex point systems

    Engagement in the loyalty program itself was relatively low due to the complex point system and limited flexibility in redeeming rewards. Customers expressed frustration with the time and effort required to earn meaningful rewards and yearned for a more straightforward, instantaneous recognition of their loyalty.

  4. Customers want more flexibility in redeeming rewards

    Customers expressed frustration with the time and effort required to earn meaningful rewards and yearned for more straightforward, instantaneous recognition of their loyalty.

  5. Global markets have diverse preferences and ordering habits

    Finally, as we looked at global expansion plans, it became clear that a one-size-fits-all approach would not be feasible. Different markets have diverse preferences, ordering habits, and cultural nuances that must be accommodated. The redesign must incorporate a localisation framework to ensure a seamless and contextually relevant customer experience worldwide.

Develop

Encourage people to give different answers to the clearly defined problem, seeking inspiration from elsewhere and co-designing with a range of different people.

My team and I collaborated with other squads to brainstorm several vital components that would work together to create a truly personalised and scalable solution.

a) Personalised web experience that would set the foundations for a new App: I spearheaded the web redesign, creating a user-friendly interface that could adapt to individual customer preferences. This provided a seamless ordering experience and offered personalised recommendations, making it easier for customers to find their favourite Pizza.

I assigned the junior designer on my team to research best practices in mobile app UI/UX, and they came back with some great benchmark examples from leading food delivery apps.

 

Together, we ideated on ways to implement AI/ML-driven personalised recommendations. The junior designer led the wireframing of the "Pizza Profile" feature, where customers can customise their preferences. I guided ensuring smooth integration with the backend systems to deliver accurate recommendations.

b) Simplified Loyalty Program Revamping the loyalty program was a critical piece of the puzzle. I knew we needed to make it more intuitive and rewarding for customers. I tasked the junior designer with benchmarking competitor loyalty programs and presenting their findings. Based on that research, we collaborated on the membership structure and the reward redemption mechanism.

I took a hands-on approach in designing the progress bar and worked with the PM to define exclusive benefits. This was an area where I could leverage gamification and behavioural psychology to create a program that would truly engage customers.

c) Omnichannel Experience: Ensuring a consistent experience across all customer touchpoints is essential for building brand loyalty. I worked closely with the product managers, market stakeholders, and engineering team to map the customer journey, create a service blueprint, and identify seamless integration points between the mobile app, website, and in-store interactions.

I assigned the junior designer to explore innovative solutions like QR code scanning for in-store ordering.

 

As the lead designer, I understood the paramount importance of data-driven decision-making. I collaborated with the data science team to conceptualise the centralised customer data platform and the predictive analytics capabilities, instilling confidence in our strategic approach.

 

e) Localisation Framework Ensuring global scalability was a key priority. I worked with the international expansion team to define the requirements for a flexible localisation framework. I assigned the junior designer to research successful global expansion case studies and present their findings.

We ideated on multi-language support, regional menu customisation, and loyalty programme variations.

Throughout this process, I provided mentorship and guidance to the junior designer, encouraging them to take ownership of specific tasks while also collaborating closely on the overall solution. Their fresh perspectives and innovative ideas complemented my experience, resulting in a comprehensive and scalable redesign of Pizza Hut UK's customer and loyalty experience.

Slide 1
Progress Bar Iterations

I iterated on numerous versions of a progress bar, continually testing and refining until I created a version that was easily understandable by all.

Slide 2
The winner

This was the iteration that resonated most with users and stakeholders after much hard work and dedication.

Slide 3
Let's not forget our desktop users 🙂

Ensuring scalability for multiple devices is just as important as scalability for multiple markets.

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Service Blueprinting Multi-modal Loyalty

Service Blueprint

Deploy

A solution that delivers and measures customer value, business value and quality.

As the lead designer, I developed high-fidelity prototypes for our new mobile app and loyalty program web experiences.

I recognised the potential of our junior designer, Nat, and gave her a significant growth opportunity. I assigned her the task of designing the secondary screens and micro-interactions, and scheduled daily check-ins to review her work and offer guidance, fostering her professional development.

For usability testing, I developed a comprehensive test plan. I delegated the recruitment of test participants to Nat, providing her with criteria for selecting a diverse group of users. This gave her exposure to the importance of representative user testing.
I conducted the initial round of usability tests myself, with Nat observing. For subsequent sessions, I had Nat lead some tests under my supervision, offering feedback on her moderation techniques.

For A/B testing, I designed the main variants for our reward structures and personalisation experiences. I then tasked Nat with creating additional variations, challenging her to think critically about user motivations and behaviours.

High-Fidelity copy

As we moved into the implementation phase, my role shifted to liaison between the design and development teams. I led the handoff meetings, ensuring our design intentions were clearly communicated.

I oversaw the design QA process during the phased rollout in the UK. I showed Nat how to effectively communicate design issues to the development team, emphasising the importance of clear, constructive feedback.

As we approached the launch date, it became clear that our initial scope was ambitious, given our agreed launch date with the UK market. As the lead designer, I worked closely with our product team and senior leadership to prioritise features and identify items that could be pushed to the next delivery phase.

After thorough discussions with product managers and stakeholders, we decided to prioritise the following for the initial launch:

  • The redesigned mobile app with basic personalisation
  • The new loyalty program structure
  • Essential omnichannel experiences (web, mobile, and in-store ordering integration)

We had to push several features to the next phase, including:

  • Advanced AI-driven recommendations
  • Dietary preferences
  • Social media integration for logon
  • Some aspects of the localisation framework

With our revised scope, I led the design handoff meetings, ensuring that our core design intentions were clearly communicated to the development team. I assigned Nat to create a prioritised list of design components, specifically the focus needed for our core functionality.

Business & User Outcomes

Results (3 months post-launch in UK):

  • 25% increase in customer retention rate:
    This significant improvement was primarily attributed our new end to end CX and to our new loyalty program. We saw a marked decrease in customer churn, particularly among casual users who were now more motivated to reach higher loyalty rewards.
  • 12% boost in loyalty program engagement:
    The simplified tier system and more immediate rewards led to increased interaction with the loyalty program.
  • 15% increase in average order value:
    This was an unexpected but welcome result. The app's personalized recommendations seemed to encourage users to try new menu items or add extras to their orders.
  • 10% improvement in customer satisfaction scores:
    Our post-order surveys showed higher satisfaction across various touch points.