Increasing Referral Engagement Through Reward Choice
I redesigned the referral reward journey by introducing interactive reward experiences to make successful referrals more engaging while creating a scalable end-to-end flow. The new experience transformed reward claiming into a memorable moment and established a reusable framework for future referral campaigns.
project role
Product Designer
Status
Live
Year
2024
Problem
The referral programme successfully incentivised invitations, but the reward experience lacked excitement and didn't reinforce the emotional value of successfully referring a friend.
Once a referral was completed, claiming a reward became a simple transactional step, creating little anticipation or delight.
Process
I mapped the entire referral journey—from inviting a friend to receiving and redeeming rewards—to identify opportunities for increasing engagement without adding unnecessary friction.
Working with Product and Engineering, I explored different reward mechanics, evaluated user flows, and designed multiple interaction models that could fit within the existing referral system while remaining scalable for future campaigns.
Outcome and impact
Instead of automatically assigning rewards, we introduced interactive reward experiences that encouraged users to actively participate in claiming them. Users could either choose from a selection of mystery rewards or reveal their prize through a scratch interaction, transforming reward collection into a memorable moment while keeping the claiming process simple.
The solution covered every stage of the referral journey—including referral progress, reward redemption, expiry, and error states—to deliver a production-ready experience. By turning rewards from a transactional step into an engaging interaction, we created a scalable framework for future referral campaigns that introduced anticipation, personal choice, and stronger emotional engagement.
Supporting research suggests that introducing uncertainty into referral rewards can increase referral activity and encourage stronger downstream engagement by making rewards feel more exciting and meaningful.
reflection
This project reminded me that small moments can have a disproportionate impact on how users perceive a product. The challenge was designing an experience that increased excitement without creating friction or distracting from the primary goal of successful referrals.
It reinforced the importance of combining behavioural psychology with thoughtful interaction design to make functional product flows feel genuinely rewarding.
Increasing Referral Engagement Through Reward Choice
I redesigned the referral reward journey by introducing interactive reward experiences to make successful referrals more engaging while creating a scalable end-to-end flow. The new experience transformed reward claiming into a memorable moment and established a reusable framework for future referral campaigns.
project role
Product Designer
Status
Live
Year
2024
Problem
The referral programme successfully incentivised invitations, but the reward experience lacked excitement and didn't reinforce the emotional value of successfully referring a friend.
Once a referral was completed, claiming a reward became a simple transactional step, creating little anticipation or delight.
Process
I mapped the entire referral journey—from inviting a friend to receiving and redeeming rewards—to identify opportunities for increasing engagement without adding unnecessary friction.
Working with Product and Engineering, I explored different reward mechanics, evaluated user flows, and designed multiple interaction models that could fit within the existing referral system while remaining scalable for future campaigns.
Outcome and impact
Instead of automatically assigning rewards, we introduced interactive reward experiences that encouraged users to actively participate in claiming them. Users could either choose from a selection of mystery rewards or reveal their prize through a scratch interaction, transforming reward collection into a memorable moment while keeping the claiming process simple.
The solution covered every stage of the referral journey—including referral progress, reward redemption, expiry, and error states—to deliver a production-ready experience. By turning rewards from a transactional step into an engaging interaction, we created a scalable framework for future referral campaigns that introduced anticipation, personal choice, and stronger emotional engagement.
Supporting research suggests that introducing uncertainty into referral rewards can increase referral activity and encourage stronger downstream engagement by making rewards feel more exciting and meaningful.
reflection
This project reminded me that small moments can have a disproportionate impact on how users perceive a product. The challenge was designing an experience that increased excitement without creating friction or distracting from the primary goal of successful referrals.
It reinforced the importance of combining behavioural psychology with thoughtful interaction design to make functional product flows feel genuinely rewarding.