Because the mobile coupon was new to our digital ecosystem, we didn’t have direct data or insights on how our consumer base would interact with this feature. We tackled discovery from two perspectives: technical and experiential. A competitive analysis revealed how companies like Target or McDonald’s were integrating this functionality, though we faced the added complexity of this needing to work at your local 7-Eleven, as well as the mom-and-pop shop on the corner. I looked at typical behaviors of convenience store shoppers, as well as user mindsets for adjacent tasks like stopping in at Starbucks for your morning coffee. This revealed a core set of personas to design for.

This design process required close collaboration with developers, and we moved fluidly between designing screens and optimizing flows. I outlined a set of usability principles in the early stages to serve as an ongoing reminder not to sacrifice ease of use for less complex technical solutions. Sketches advanced to prototypes, and we added features to improve convenience, such as remembering last-visited stores and enabling mobile reminders. As we wrapped up visual design, we turned our attention beyond our coupon redeemers and looked at the needs of the sales team, creating an educational prototype to help introduce mobile coupons to participating stores.

Within a year of introducing mobile coupons to the web, Marlboro launched an app as a new channel for value, promotions and entertainment. Mobile coupons served as the backbone of the app, and moving to this new channel allowed us to reassess the convenience and effectiveness of our coupon transactions. I created a fresh experience strategy that prioritized location as the focus of the consumer’s mindset and introduced first-party feedback. This evolution took advantage of app functionality with the addition of push notifications, lock screen previews and enhanced location awareness.