Harvey Nichols
A unique consumer-centred loyalty experience built to engage and reward
In partnership with Harvey Nichols, we designed and built a loyalty app that would work for and engage their whole customer base. Since the first release in May 2015, the app has surpassed all of our expectations, smashing sign up and adoption rates set out in our year one business case. User feedback has also been overwhelmingly positive. With a slick, on-brand and simple interface, stand out photography and the latest product news – it’s a must-have for the discerning digital wallet.
Kerem Atasoy, Head of Digital Marketing at Harvey Nichols, describes what they saw in ustwo as a partner to make this proposition a reality:
We wanted a mobile-led approach, given our customers’ behaviour and hired ustwo for their consumer-centred and agile approach to product development. We were interested in what other luxury brands were delivering in the loyalty space, but it was also important to us to look for inspiration and stimuli outside of our sector – we wanted to launch a product that delivered more than the norm. It was also important that the programme embodied our brand values, luxury and style, but was also daring and playful.
Engaging with the brand
At ustwo, we knew that the fastest way to get to understand how the service should look for Harvey Nichols customers was to talk with everyone we could at the store – from the shop floor stylists to the Management Board team. We ran a number of workshops to help create and iterate a service blueprint for the Rewards programme. Building an understanding of the Harvey Nichols customer depended in large part on the foundations we built early on through this open dialogue. We took a similar approach in bringing the customers themselves into the design process.
Close collaboration between the Harvey Nichols team and the team at ustwo was also hugely important. We co-located at the ustwo studio for two or three days per week and this, together with our one team approach to product design, meant we could work truly collaboratively with them on all aspects of the service and app design.
Keeping the customer front of mind
We tested everything with our users to ensure that our focus remained relentlessly on the customer – building exactly what works for them. Kerem explains what this looks like in practice:
ustwo helped us to take a 100% customer focused approach in everything that we did – from platform selection, programme design, rewards and benefits strategy to design and user experience. We tested everything… if our customers didn’t like it, we went back to the drawing board until we delivered a product that we knew our customers would love.
One of the first and most crucial assumptions we tested was – do customers actually want a digital-only loyalty programme? We had a very strong feeling that they would, but it needed to be tested. The feedback we got was overwhelmingly in favour of a digital-only programme (no surprises there), but the real insight we gained was from the few people who were sceptical. We heard comments like ‘what if my phone dies?’, ‘I hate fumbling through the lock screen at the till’, ‘I don’t have much free space on my phone’, and ‘I love having my Black Tier member’s card in my purse, it feels very luxurious and exclusive.’ These kind of comments were amazingly useful in determining the shape of the digital offering – we knew it needed to be easy to use, small in file size and make the customer feel like they had a luxurious product in their hands.
A luxury loyalty scheme
With the Harvey Nichols Rewards app, we’ve created an effective, stylish experience that has the customer at its heart. Customers love the programme and the indulgent experiences and Rewards we offer them, which helps them to put Harvey Nichols at the top of their list as an ultimate destination for luxury style.
If you’re interested in creating a bespoke loyalty experience – contact us work@ustwo.com