Discover exciting Mystery Rewards every time you pay with Grab!
Intro
Grab is one of Southeast Asia’s super apps that helps users book rides, order food/groceries, send parcels, and more - all in one app.
The goal of this project was to increase users' loyalty towards Grab by:
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Rewarding users every time they pay with Grab.
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Build positive habits by making Grab their go-to payment method.
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Enhancing user engagement by adding a touch of fun and surprise.
My role
I was the lead designer for this project. I collaborated with the Product Manager, the Data Analytics team, the UX Research team, the Business and Marketing team, and the Core Experience Engineering team.
Impact
Transformed a high-cost experimental loyalty feature into a sustainable revenue driver. Post-relaunch in Oct 2022, revenue per unit ($ reward) increased 4x, making the GrabPay QR campaign the platform’s most successful loyalty initiative to date.
Total rewards spend for Grab dropped by
80%
% of users receiving rewards more than the average:
33%
Content was replicated for the
Malaysia & Philippines
After
The Problem
Users had trouble understanding the redeemable value of their points, and many received empty rewards, making them less confident in their perceived worth. This also hurt Grab's profit margins.
An Opportunity
How might we improve the Grab payment experience to make it more rewarding and convert our users into loyal customers?
Next Thinking
I analyzed GrabPay transaction data across 3 markets by:
- analysing 500K+ transactions
- conducting user interviews with 12 GrabPay Power users across SG, MY, PH
- conducting competitor analysis of loyalty programs (Starbucks, Shopee, Gojek)
Finally, based on users' spending habits, redemption patterns, behaviours, and journey drop-offs; I developed the hypothesis that the rewards system was transactional, and primarily benefited those who spent more.
We identified 3 user segments:
By synthesizing user needs with our strategic reward objectives, I established a set of core value drivers we used to architect the end-to-end experience:
Valuable
Engaging
Convenient
The challenge was to make rewards more enticing while cutting Grab's spend on them.
So, along with the Data Analytics team, we introduced a new rewards structure
Points value restructured
Users would receive 200 points per dollar instead of 600 points per dollar.
New rewards criteria based on
Engagement
Frequency
Transaction Value
Services Used
Issue randomised rewards
Offer variable rewards using a data science model.
Offer a variety of rewards
Easily redeemable vouchers, random points, and premium prizes with physical products.
Voice and Messaging
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The new rewards structure set the tone for personalised value propositions that would attract users.
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Next, I teamed up with business and marketing to craft the product's persona and give it a unique voice dimension.
The Design
I used Nir Eyal's hooked model to reorganise the information architecture and add familiar discovery cues to create an engaging and rewarding experience for our users. Additionally, offering ways to win and unbox mystery rewards up front reduced time and provided users with instant gratification.
Here's how I improved the home screen and secondary entry points:
Before
After
Users are able to quickly unbox the mystery rewards they've won.
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As we went from a single to multiple campaigns, I adopted a campaign-specific approach and focused on users winning "A mystery reward for each task they complete". Users got used to this theme because it conveyed a fact and was easily digestible.
Before
After
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Using the behavioural science principle of priming.
Why priming works: I placed key information in the simplest way for user engagement because behavioral science shows that users are more likely to engage with prompts they encounter repeatedly in low-friction contexts.
Before
Used the “Did you know?” technique to pique the interest of users to earn more rewards.
After
Tied mystery rewards to completing just one task.
Added a tip to motivate users to keep transacting with Grab.
Added a CTA for prompt action.
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Checkout: As users linked their bank accounts, topped up their wallets, or shopped online on merchant websites, they started accruing mystery rewards. By surfacing mystery rewards at checkout, we created a habit loop: purchase → see reward → anticipation → next purchase.
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An integrated rewards journey: Users complete activities, earn rewards, view their history, and redeem them from a single location.
