Mobile CRM App: A Case Study of SaSaHK App

The traditional loyalty program of Sa Sa has provided customers with a physical VIP card, with which customers can enjoy a 10% off discount, earn bonus points and obtain paper coupons by showing their card or verifying the VIP status with their registered phone number during checkout. This group of return customers tend to follow SaSa’s latest promotions and special offers and do physical shopping.

Limits of Paper Coupons
• Shoppers did not notice their paper coupons already overdue nor bring them along;
• Customers failed to get the bonus points because they lost their VIP Card or no longer used their registered phone number;
• Paper coupon issues caused an extended checkout process, and other customers queued up for checkout.

Our Hypothesis
1. E-Coupons in SaSaHK App may allow users to redeem coupons with ease.
2. A VIP Card in SaSaHK app may enable users to show their QR code for scanning during checkout in store.

Objectives of Our Case Study
1. Back up our hypothesis with data;
2. Conduct testing to uncover issues;
3. Identify hassles in data saving and page navigation;
4. Propose and validate design solutions.

User Research
Following the IDEO model for the human-centered design, we started the process with usability testing and ended with validation. This approach provided us with a roadmap and a solid foundation so that we can base our design solutions on user findings.

Identifying Issues with First-hand Experience
Due to the time limit, we didn’t recruit participants for our user research. Instead, we opted for a low-budget and lightweight research format to do the observation and experience the flow by our team. Some pain points were found:

Pain Point #1: Limits of Paper Coupons
SaSa offered a bunch of promotions and frequently updated its special offers, while shoppers did not check the expiry date of their paper coupons nor come back with them. In most cases, they took the items out of the cart when the discounts were not given.

Pain Point #2: Triggering Frustration
Customers failed to earn bonus points when their VIP Card was lost and their registered phone number was no longer in use. Point-earning issues also extended the checkout process.

How do we come up with solutions and make design decisions?

Understanding each design decision in the context of user experience (UX), and taking every special case into consideration are essential.

Trade-offs are unavoidable, and we need to deeply understand user behavior so that we can modify and level up UX by smart design.

Ideation
Legato mapped out the entire flow with all entry points and scenarios, and filled it with missing steps. For example, we proposed creating an “E-Coupons” section to replace paper coupons. With it, all updates and available coupons are shown with just a few clicks, in-store shoppers can browse the section and redeem any coupon immediately. Users can review redeemed coupons from the “History” tab included in the section.

Design Solutions
1. Creating an E-Coupons section: We propose adding an “E-Coupons” tab, just next to “Homepage” tab, on the navigation bar.

Our rationale: As for the loyalty program, promotional updates and special offers should be the main content of this app. Therefore, by making “E-Coupons” tab on the navigation bar, users can access privileges more easily.

2. Creating a QR-coded VIP Card: A page to show the simulated VIP Card for the QR code scan and point-earning was proposed. We suggested adding the “Card” icon on the right corner of the top toolbar instead of the navigation bar, allowing users to access it from every screen.

Our rationale: Existing VIP customers can always show their simulated VIP card and earn points during checkout rather than searching the “Card” icon from screen to screen.

Challenges Ahead
Changing a person’s habits is one of the biggest challenges we have faced, especially when the app is packed with different features.

For example, would users adapt to the use of the simulated VIP Card for point-earning and E-Coupons redemption?

How do we make each feature easily accessible to users without any hassle?