Increasing customer engagement 40% by redesigning rewards

The challenge

Device Dollars were consistently one of the top three rewards selected by Verizon customers enrolled in the monthly rewards program, Verizon Up. But, customers struggled to understand what they could spend their Dollars on. The program had multiple restrictions and expiration deadlines — it was a lot to keep track of the the Device Dollar flow wasn’t doing enough to explain each step at the right time.

The goal

Clearly explain Device Dollars to customers: What the Dollars could be used, and what was excluded; how the reward could be stacked; and when the reward expired.

Choosing Device Dollars

The reward was either a $5 or $10 credit that customers could use when purchasing a new smartphone or tablet. While the amount seems inconsequential, the Dollars could be selected each month and saved.

The promotion customers didn’t provide enough information to understand when to use their reward and what they could buy.

An important trigger also wasn’t accounted for: when are existing customers eligible for a new device? Unless they’re adding an entirely new line, their upgrade eligibility is a major factor in planning to buy a new device. Research confirmed that most customers continued to update their devices in 24-month cycles. I hypothesized that customers could be saving their Dollars for the end of their update cycle, and we should provide this personalized data to help them plan.

Understanding Device Dollars

If customers wanted to understand more, their only option is to read the “full offer details.” But, a heavy paragraph of legal language didn’t help them understand how Device Dollars could be used and when.

Confirming Device Dollars

While it’s great to celebrate, all of the primary copy was generic and used for all of the rewards. It didn’t give any specific or personalized Device Dollar information. (The business also wanted to avoid promoting calling Customer Support about every reward.)

Instead, I wrote new copy to support customer confidence. They would know the specific reward claimed and any unique information about the reward, like its expiration date.

Waiting to Use Device Dollars

Customers were only given the instruction to “Get code” and the help tip that they’d have 30 days to use it. All of the other copy was boilerplate…as if they hadn’t claimed a reward.

To improve their experience and level of understanding:

• I wrote copy to reinforce that they could use or save the reward.

• We added an expiration date module so customers could keep track once they claimed more than one Device Dollar reward.

  • This was crucial because each Device Dollar reward expired 24 months after it was claimed. If customers waited too long to spend their Dollars, they may have fewer than they calculated.

• We added a link for customers to check their upgrade eligibility.

  • Research showed that "customers continued to purchase phones in two-year cycles and may save their discount.” I recommended this to reminded customers how close they were to the two-year mark to help them plan and drive redemption.

Using Device Dollars

Rather than repeat boilerplate explanatory copy that did nothing to introduce the code and instructions customers need to spend their Device Dollars, I wrote personalized copy encouraging them to complete their purchase.

Changing an inactive button to a link into the Shopping flow also removed a dead-end.

Finally, working with our developers, we were able to solve and simplify how users could copy the code to shop rather than manual steps that forced them to jump back and forth from rewards to shop.

User testing the changes

User testing was overwhelmingly positive, especially towards the copy revisions and new upgrade eligibility and expiration tracking content.