Overview

Ridwell is on a mission to help people keep hard-to-recycle items out of landfills. I worked with them to improve their referral program, resulting in 3x growth in new members through referrals.

Problem

Users weren't referring at a high rate.

Goal

Increase new sign-ups via referrals.

role & Process

Lead Product Designer: User research -> competitive analysis -> prototyping -> usability testing -> content design -> design system usage and enhancement -> UI -> stakeholder presentation -> design <—-> dev handoff

The team

1x engineers, 1x designer, 1x PM

impact
0x
Growth in new members from referrals
+$0
In increased revenue for Ridwell via referals
+0%
Increase in share sheet opens via new interactions

  • Some of the finalized designs for the new referral program

  • Some of the finalized designs for the new referral program

  • Some of the finalized designs for the new referral program

  • Some of the finalized designs for the new referral program

  • Some of the finalized designs for the new referral program

  • Some of the finalized designs for the new referral program

Step 1: gather & Understand

Ridwells' previous referral program allowed users to invite friends and family to join the platform. The referred user would then receive a free month of Ridwells' services. We knew that, given the type of product, referrals would be our easiest source of growth. So we asked, "How might we increase our referral rates?".

We wanted to know how our current users felt about the referral program. So I conducted user interviews, and the takeaways were: current users were unaware of the referral program and felt the current program was "meh". We also found out that if users got a free month when a referred user signed up, they were "much more" likely to refer someone.

I also dug into data from our analytics platform—Mixpanel—to see how users were currently referring. The takeaways were that users are more likely to refer someone via the impact screen, where users can see the amount of pounds they have saved from the landfill, and it also provided a benchmark to compare our new designs and program against.

The findings also gave the bizops team confidence to try a new referral program out.

  • Some of the raw data coming out of Mix Panel–Ridwell's analytics tool

  • Some of the sharing data

  • Some of the findings from user interviews

  • Some of the raw data coming out of Mix Panel–Ridwell's analytics tool

  • Some of the sharing data

  • Some of the findings from user interviews

Step 2: Explore

Based on the research, I started exploring ways we might share the new referral program with users — where are the right places and times to encourage referrals?

At this point, I also began exploring hi-fi design. Ridwell already had an excellent design system in place, so I was able to iterate on different directions and flows quickly.

  • How might we exercise conducted with a variety of stakeholders

  • Exploring different directions

  • How might we exercise conducted with a variety of stakeholders

  • Exploring different directions

Step 3: Refine

After sharing internally with the team and getting stakeholder sign-off, we put the new designs in front of users. We used Maze to do some prototype tests. The results were: new users loved the new referral program and were really excited about potentially getting a free service when they shared with their network, but they also said, "It sometimes feels like every screen wants me to share with friends. It feels very salesy."

This feedback led me to really consider where and how often we were displaying/encouraging users to refer. After a few adjustments, the team felt the designs had struck a nice balance — informative and encouraging, but not pushy.

  • One of the new positive motivation notifications

  • A new design system element I called "partial sheet"

  • Native iOS sharing

  • One of the approaches I tested to increase referral visibility

  • Full share sheet

  • Encouraging users to share from the Impact screen

  • Confetti celebration for when a user completes first pick up

  • Partial share sheet shown after first 4 pickups

  • Encouraging users to join the referral program in the payment history

  • One of the new positive motivation notifications

  • A new design system element I called "partial sheet"

  • Native iOS sharing

  • One of the approaches I tested to increase referral visibility

  • Full share sheet

  • Encouraging users to share from the Impact screen

  • Confetti celebration for when a user completes first pick up

  • Partial share sheet shown after first 4 pickups

  • Encouraging users to join the referral program in the payment history

Step 4: build & monitor

Moving into dev was a breeze, given the state of the design system. During the design handoff, I walked engineering through the screens, which they were already very familiar with. I had created a few new components that needed to be incorporated into the core design system. This also led to a small exercise in clarifying the roles and types of different notifications within the product.

  • Documentation for new components in the design system

  • Documentation for new components in the design system

Summary

We launched the new referrals program in Ridwell's biggest market — Seattle —and in the following quarter, we saw ~3x growth in new members from referrals.

Next up on the roadmap will be launching in all markets and bringing the idea of "your networks' impact" to the Impact screen.