Optimizing Customer Experiences (CX)
Driving customer engagement and spending with Discover brand partners through enhanced digital marketing strategies.
ROLE
UX Designer at MCD Partners
TIME
7 months (2023)
PLATFORM
Email
INDUSTRY
Financial Services
TOOLS
Miro, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, User Testing, User Zoom
AREAS OF FOCUS
Research, Information Architecture, Marketing, Omnichannel CX
Overview
Through strategic email campaigns, Discover sought to boost credit card spending within its portfolio. As UX consultant for internal creative teams, I supported multiple email campaigns and workshops highlighting the value of shopping with Discover's brand partners to cardholders.
During my time at MCD Partners, I played a key role in elevating the customer experience within Discover's Strategic Partnerships division. My work focused on optimizing interactions with leading digital wallets and esteemed brand partners such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal, Amazon, and Walmart.
Key Contributions:
Research: Executed in-depth primary and secondary research to grasp customer needs and market dynamics.
Audit and Analysis: Conducted thorough content and web experience audits to pinpoint opportunities for UX improvement.
Persona Development: Created detailed, data-driven personas to gain insights into distinct customer segments.
Strategic Support Tools: Developed planning templates to optimize our team’s workflow and enhance decision-making processes.
This nuanced approach led to more accurate information dissemination and uniform content across all customer touchpoints. As a result, our efforts increased the provisioning of Discover credit cards and elevated spending with Discover's brand partners, showcasing a successful blend of UX principles and marketing strategies.
In one of our projects, I designed this triggered email campaign flow chart to depict the timeline of email distribution for customers who provisioned their credit card(s) with these brand partners.
Key Goals & Success Metrics
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Methods:
Create data-driven user personas to target customers based on behavioral and psychographic characteristics
Consult in the production of relevant and engaging email content tailored to diverse customer segments
KPI (Key Performance Indicator): Enhanced spending with Discover's brand partners
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Methods:
Capture contextual errors and pain points for Discover cardholders throughout their credit card provision journey
Map current vs. ideal provision journeys from all possible entry points
Provide creative teams with suggestions to better communicate the benefits of adding Discover credit cards to digital wallets and establishing them as the preferred payment method
KPI: An increase in card provisioning rates
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Methods:
Identify and highlight points of customer disengagement within email marketing campaigns
Plan strategic workshops for clients aimed at evolving creative content across the email marketing lifecycle
KPI: Improved user interaction and engagement with email communications
My drip email campaign flow chart helped our creative team finalize the strategy with the client for distributing emails to Discover customers based on their card activation status and purchase behavior.
My Contributions
⭐️ User Research & Insights
Collaborated with our UX Lead to conduct unmoderated interviews with target users. We synthesized these insights to guide the internal teams at Discover’s Strategic Partnerships division, ensuring our strategies were firmly rooted in user feedback and needs.
⭐️ Campaign Optimization
In partnership with our account manager and creative director, I planned workshops aimed at optimizing campaign strategies for Discover's in-house teams. This involved setting up efficient collaborative workspaces, designing comprehensive email journey templates, and transforming cardholder analytics into actionable insights.
⭐️ Persona Development & Journey Mapping
I developed detailed personas and customer profiles within established customer segments. I also created customer journey maps, email campaign flowcharts, and touchpoint maps. These tools provided our creative teams with clear, informative visuals, enabling them to update content and messaging cohesively across various customer touchpoints and brand communications.
⭐️ Data-driven Strategy
Working alongside the client's in-house data analysts, I employed behavioral and psychographic segmentation, coupled with exhaustive secondary research to inform UX and marketing creative teams. This approach was crucial in refining and optimizing Discover’s email campaign strategies, ensuring they were well-targeted and effective.
More details about this work are restricted under an NDA.
If you would like to learn more about my experience designing for financial services, feel free to contact me.