Case Study: Irving Rewards App Passion Project
MICA MUXD:
October 2020
The Project
With other fuel station apps as a guidepost for success, Irving and Rusty Lantern Markets would benefit from providing their customers with more rewards options through their app. Irving and Rusty LanternMarkets can use their app to encourage customer loyalty and compete with the surrounding fuel stations’ fully-fledged app and benefits system in place. Using the app, the customer can track their gas and food discounts, track rewards earned through purchases, order food, make payments, and get food delivered to their vehicle.
Research Insights
I researched competitor fuel station apps, looking at customer reviews, through their websites and trying the apps themselves to glean information about what customers like, the overall success of branding, and the types of benefits offered. I used this as a basis for my assumptions on what users would want.
Assumptions from Research
• The customer wants and benefits from an app to track their rewards toward food items at the fueling station.
• The customer would like to see progress tracked in food “clubs” allowing them to gain a free beverage etc. after a
number of items bought.
• The customer would like to make contactless purchases using
the app and have items delivered to their vehicle.
Design Research
Sketches
I started by looking at competitor fuel station rewards apps and their reviews to get an idea of what users were finding successful. Additionally, I scoured the web for examples of successful UI to get a sense of how I could be presenting the design to my users.
I researched competitor fuel station apps, looking at customer reviews, through their websites and trying the apps themselves to glean information about what customers like, the overall success of branding, and the types of benefits offered. I used this as a basis for my assumptions on what users would want.
Wireframes + High-fidelity Mockups
Next, I created wireframes in Figma based on my sketches, and then created a high-fidelity mockup. I used the Irving and Rusty Lantern Market color palettes as inspiration for the UI design.
Usability Prototype
User Testing
My goals when seeking out users for the testing portion were to find users who went to the same fueling stations frequently and either had, in the past frequented the convenience store at the fuel station, or currently did so. I ended up finding three users who would find value in different parts of the app. One user did a lot of driving and road trips, another used convenience stores to make quick food purchases, and the last user uses a fuel rewards app for a competitor fuel station to Irving.
Key Learnings
• Users appreciated that they could view their purchase
history associated with their rewards progress, but they
wanted to view even more order history, or have a place
where all of thatinformation would be available to them.
• Multiple users mentioned they thought purchasing fuel
with the app would increase it’s value for them, which is
a feature that’s currently available on the Irving app but
I didn’t include it in my prototype.
• Two out of three users thought the way the rewards
progress was featured was the more impressive part
of the app.
• All users mentioned cleanliness as a motivator to use
an app such as this, especially during the pandemic.
Next Steps + Reflection
This project was an interesting exploration in the ways that COVID has changed how we interact with public spaces. Apps that allow for contactless experiences at businesses have never been more prevalent, and UX is an essential part of ensuring users feel they get value from these apps. Although this was a project completed as a project for my graduate program, if I were to take my insights from users and implement updates to the app as a next step they would be as follows:
• Creating a contactless fuel pump experience
for users to test
• Providing more ordering options for users
to test, like essential grocery items to give
the app more value to users
• Designing a section where users could view
their order history
• Additional user testing to continue the
validation process