WEB CASE STUDY

Publix Customer Perks

Testing & Improvements

OVERVIEW

The Publix customer perk journey required thorough research, testing, and enhancement.

Publix Super Markets, a well-known grocery chain in the Southeastern United States, is celebrated for its helpful employees, clean stores, legendary fried chicken, and loyal customer base. When customers create online accounts, they receive personalized email communications featuring perks like discounts on items of their choice and special birthday rewards. While testing other parts of the site, I discovered many users didn’t fully understand what Publix perks were, so I decided to dig deeper and enhance the entire experience.

ROLE & DETAILS

Lead Product Designer
User Testing, Wireframing, Prototyping, Documentation, Visual QA

Team
1 Product Designer, 1 Product Owner,
2 Engineers

Timeline
March 2021 – May 2021

Tools
Figma

THE CHALLENGE

"How might we make the customer perk journey more informative and user-friendly for every customer?"

After conducting multiple user tests with Publix.com account holders, I observed a common issue: many users didn’t fully understand the benefits tied to their online accounts. With so many valuable perks available, I set out to test and enhance the experience to ensure every shopper could fully enjoy the advantages of their Club Publix membership.

USER TESTING

I tested the current experience to hear directly from our shoppers.

Using the User Testing platform, I conducted tests with 15 Publix account holders to gather deeper insights into the full perk experience. We guided customers through the process of receiving a perk email, viewing it on the website, and opening a modal to learn more. Testers were asked about any frustrations they encountered and suggestions for improving the journey. Nearly all participants recommended reducing redundancy and enhancing the educational aspects throughout the entire perks experience.

Some notable soundbites during user testing included:

• Regarding the effectiveness of the wallet page, one user said: "From the previous page, I understood this was supposed to be $3.00 off a specific item if I spend $50.00 or more. But I don’t see that information here at all. This page doesn’t make that clear."

• When asked how they would redeem this perk, the user replied, “That’s a good question—I was wondering the same thing.” This highlighted the need to provide clearer guidance on the redemption process.

WIREFRAME ITERATION

It was important to educate users not just on what the perks are, but how to redeem them.

To create a seamless redemption experience, I combined an explanation of the perks with clear redemption instructions on a single card. The headline, “Your Perk Is Here!”, was placed prominently alongside clear directions on how to redeem, ensuring users immediately understood both the offer and how to use it. I also enhanced the design by adding more white space around the offer, increasing the font size, and incorporating appealing imagery to better highlight the perk’s benefits.

ADDING ADDITIONAL CONTEXT

I explored different scenarios to better educate customers on the benefits of perks.

When a perk is active, it replaces the homepage hero section—something that’s less than ideal from a marketing standpoint. I aimed to design a solution where both the hero and the perk could coexist, using different scenarios to educate other customers. For example, what if a customer wasn’t enrolled in perks or didn’t have an online account? How could I encourage and guide them to opt in and sign up? I addressed this with a banner notification designed to do just that.

THE SOLUTION

Customers now have all the information they need in one place.

Customers no longer need to open a modal to find information about their perks. Instead, they now have a streamlined experience that clearly displays their perk and redemption instructions all within a single card. Looking ahead, we plan to add features like the ability to add perks directly to their shopping list to help customers remember them. We also plan to introduce empty states in the wallet, so customers without perks are aware of them and can easily enroll. With more perks having launched throughout 2021, it’s been rewarding to enhance this experience for our customers.