CASE STUDY - DESIGN LEADERSHIP & RESEARCH
Redesigning Vuse Loyalty
Serving over a million customers, Vuse loyalty program had stalled. Most members had already hit the top tier and had no reason to keep engaging except collecting monthly benifits. I led the UX strategy and an external agency team through a move to a gamified points model.
My Role
Design Lead & Researcher
Tools
Figma, Miro, UserTesting, Adobe Analytics
Timeline
6 weeks
Jun 2022
Design leadership
Competitive benchmarking
Unmoderated usability research
Workshop facilitation
Stakeholder management
Gamification strategy
01 -
Context: a program broken by its own success
70% of members had already reached the top tier. The program had no further path for them.
Flagged by the internal statistics & revenue team, the cause for the issue was structural. Vuse+ awarded tiers on lifetime dollar spend. After a few years of operation, most members had already "won," and the program could no longer influence their behaviour.
The business had a fix - replacing dollar spend with a gamified points model. That model included a points structure, tier thresholds, and badge mechanics, similar to industry standards.
My role was to translate complex business mechanics into an experience users could understand and want to engage with, while operating within the tobacco industry's legal constraints.
how might we
How might we translate a complex points-based loyalty model into a clear, motivating experience that retains existing members during migration while meeting the tobacco industry's strict legal constraints?
85% migrated & retained
Measured over 3 months post-launch via Adobe Analytics.
17% new member lift
An unexpected increase in new member acquisition over the same 3-month window.
02 -
RESEARCH: gamification grounded in evidence
Benchmarking competitors would have taught us nothing, so I studied four best-in-class products, each mapped to a specific program component.
Duolingo
How previous, current, and next tiers are presented by progress, drawing on a direct parallel for the tier structure.
Fizz
How redeemable and collectible badges are organized across locked, in-use, and available states.
Sephora
How tier benefits become a scannable comparison table, using the tier matrix as a parallel.
iCloud
How progress is gamified visually and tied to achievements and collectible badges.
Drawing inspiration with intent, each reference solved a problem with a direct structural parallel in Vuse Rewards.
03 -
Strategy: benchmarked outside the category
No rival vaping brand ran a points program.
I anchored the strategy to Victor, an existing brand persona defined by Imperial Tobacco Canada's brand team. A multi-faceted Toronto freelancer who values autonomy and status, needing a program as dynamic and achievement-oriented as his lifestyle.
Using an established persona anchored the strategy to an organization-wide definition of the user, not my assumptions.
BRAND PERSONA
Victor
Freelance graphic designer · Toronto
Lives a multifaceted life, moving between roles over the course of a single day. Values autonomy and status, and forges his own path rather than fitting a box.
"I can't imagine a day without learning something new."
PASSIONS
The new. The leading edge. The groundbreaking.
AMBITIONS
To create, to lead, and to never stop learning.
ADMIRATIONS
People, tech and brands redefining what is possible.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE LOYALTY PROGRAM
AUTONOMY
A program he controls. Not one that rewards him passively.
STATUS
Visible progress and earned standing, pointing to tiers, badges, and achievements.
NOVELTY
Something always next to unlock. The reason a points model beat lifetime spend.
04 -
Leading the team: a force multiplier
My highest-value work was converting a written brief into a shared visual language, and protecting the team from fragmented feedback.
I led 3 junior designers at an external agency. I liaised with external developers, kicking off with a 2-hour workshop: one hour walking both teams through the new mechanics, and one hour for questions and surfacing technical constraints.
I translated the dense written business brief into a visual format both teams could absorb and act on quickly.
MY WORK
I created the user flow and wireframes for the account page. This core member experience included tier progress, points, and badges. The agency applied UI design to my layout.
MY DIRECTION
The agency wireframed and designed the program page, logo, tier identifiers, colours, and badges. I joined their UX strategy sessions, contributed insights, answered questions about mechanics, and reviewed iterations.
Shielding creativity from cross-functional noise
When the first UI were drafted, the Brand rejected the large crystal motif conveying tier prestige, Legal opposed any expressive tone that could read as "lifestyle", and Marketing rejected the tier description, large copy, and visual representation.
I chose not to forward the feedback to the agency unfiltered.
What I did instead
I collected feedback and synthesized it into a single, digestible, constructive direction. The agency received clear iteration guidance rather than a pile of notes, protecting both the timeline and creative momentum.
By running weekly reviews with the designers, plus ad hoc touchpoints for questions, and bringing the developers to the table from day one, I surfaced critical constraints early.
05 -
Validation: when the data said we were wrong
90% of customers were frustrated by the first thing every migrating member would see - a pop-up modal.
I built, configured, and ran an unmoderated UserTesting study with 15 existing Vuse loyalty members, the exact users who would have to migrate, on the agency's first high-fidelity drafts.
90%
Frustrated by the onboarding pop-up modal. The first thing every migrating member encounters.
57%
Did not understand how to earn points. The core mechanic of the entire program
33%
Did not understand the tier model at all. The structural backbone of the experience
06 -
Iteration: prioritise clarity over polish
BEFORE: ONBOARDING OVERLAY
A dense paragraph, a single "Opt-in" CTA, and no alternative action failed to guide users.
AFTER: ONBOARDING OVERLAY
Condensed copy, two colour-coded CTAs "Opt-in" and "Cancel" with an option to revisit, provided a fast decision.
BEFORE: TIER & POINTS MATRIX
Simple matrix explaining tiers in a column format focused on text.
AFTER: TIER & POINTS MATRIX
Colourful matrix with icons and symbols replacing text in places.
07 -
reValidation: when the data said we were on the right path
I re-ran the same test with fresh participants. This time, the data told a different story: a meaningful gain in structural clarity within a single iteration cycle.
50%
Less frustration with the onboarding overlay.
35%
Less confusion around points, perks, and badges.
10%
Improvement in overall program comprehension.
08 -
Lessons Learned
LESSON 01
Clarity is the prerequisite for delight
The usability test was humbling. No amount of gamification saves a flow if users don't understand how to play the game. Delight comes after clarity.
LESSON 02
A design lead is a force multiplier
My most valuable work wasn't the pixels. It was turning a brief into a shared visual language, aligning stakeholders around one constructive direction, and bringing developers in early enough to change course.
LESSON 03
Constraints sharpen the work