I led the 0-to-1 launch of the referrals program for Rivian owners within the mobile app.
My role
End-to-end design
Prototyping
Presentation
Team
Copywriters
Product Manager
Brand Designer
Producers
Front-End Engineers
Back-End Engineers
Stakeholders
Director, UX Digital Design
Associate Creative Director, Commerce
Associate Creative Director, Brand
Chief Software Officer
Chief Design Officer
Background
To increase vehicle demand and offer a loyalty program for Rivian owners, an experimental referral program was launched quickly.
Goals
Launch MVP within 4 weeks
Increase the sales of ready-made vehicles
Increase brand loyalty among owners
Non-goals
Gameify experience to feel off brand. Rivian's brand loyalty is largely from word of mouth from owner to owner.
Incentivize any ecommerce activity.
Definition
Outline requirements
As Rivian explored a loyalty and referral program for the first time, this initiative required a 0-to-1 approach under an aggressive timeline. I started by focusing on establishing the core requirements of the program while identifying key user needs to ensure a meaningful and intuitive experience.
Conduct a competitive analysis
I conducted a light competitive analysis to understand the landscape of popular referral and rewards experiences. However, most existing models felt too ecommerce-driven or overly gamified—neither of which align with Rivian’s brand or user expectations. Instead, I focused on what would feel authentic to Rivian owners and fitting within the broader context of the Rivian app.
Concept explorations
With an aggressive timeline, I use the "zero to hero," method to explore a wide range of possible solutions and challenge desires for a "quick and simple" solution from our product and engineering partners.
Zero: A quick low-fideltiy approach using existing components. In this particular case, I shared with the team concerns that because we use very limited color in the Rivian app, the designs were looking like incomplete wireframes.
Mid: A continued a push on visual design using existing photography, illustrations, etc. and introducing "branded" cards for the rewards. How might we introduce moments of delight while keeping engineering efforts low and staying on timeline?
Hero: A fresh approach on the requirements. How might we make this experience exciting, fun, and delightful while fitting within the existing Rivan app look and feel? For this phase, I collaborated with brand designer to create a campaign that included email, and social media assets.
Interaction explorations
Ideate on components
Due to ongoing scope and requirement changes, these components had to be flexible and my explorations had to be robust. I explored a wide range of styles and interactions for every piece of the experience–weighing pro's and con's for each.
