Delta needed to raise participation in its stale and aging SkyMiles AMEX program because the program was no longer seeing the growth in travelers signing up for the reward program through Delta employees.
We immediately set out to discover what parts of the current program served as barriers to employee participation. We found two distinct groups of employees using the program each with their own set of barriers and needs. The first group of employees was traveler facing, having direct interactions with consumers that would benefit in enrollment. The second group consisted of non-traveler facing employees, who were mostly tapping friends and family to sign up in the rewards program. The traveler facing employees had a strong desire to perform better in the program, but lacked the tools and guidance to both receive and share insights and tips that would lead to a higher level of rewards. The non-traveler facing employees did not possess a strong understanding of program benefits and needed a tool that took the burden of explaining the program off their shoulders. The rewards desired by these two groups also differed. The traveler facing desired a goal-based system that rewarded the volume of interactions and sign-ups they could achieve, and the non-traveler facing employees desired a more straightforward cash-based system.
Looking at the opportunity with these two groups, we designed an adaptive program that would tailor the UI/UX to each individual login. Employee roles where mapped to either view the Delta Blue or Delta Red mobile app. The Delta Blue app contained a socially connected dashboard that imported and analyzed the employee’s social community for opportunities to provide easy ways to present and set goals, share the program, take sign-ups, and view their progress. The Delta Blue program also included an expanded desktop web application with expanded views, additional content, and mentoring. Additional program rewards were targeted to the employee’s goals and seasonal incentives to maintain a consistent level of employee participation throughout the year.
The Delta Red app was a straight forward UI centered on presenting the program benefits and signing up travelers. Cash rewards were reflected on their paychecks.
The program was so well received that our assignment was expanded to include a second phase of research, to define the opportunities to better serve the travelers and increase their desire to participate in the SkyMiles reward program.