An exclusive mobile app to help retail staff stay up-to-date on the latest Samsung products.
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1 min read
Product overview
For quick access
Clear information structure and peer FAQs
Retail staff have a quick and easy way to look up specific device technical information to aid them during customer support conversations. With a dedicated peer FAQ area, staff members can support each other beyond their own store, increasing knowledge share and job performance.
For engaged learning
Incentivised quizzes, mini-games & league tables
Gamified learning experience supports retail staff every week with bitesize continuous learning activities. Staff get rewards for participating and progress is tracked on their profile through in-app points and badges, which act as both social currency and proof of their domain expertise.
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2 min read
Challenge, principles & role
Customer problem
Samsung UK relies on their retail staff to be the experts in all devices. But when the go-to employee information source had a drop-off in engagement and new sign-ups, this put sales at risk.
Although new employees would willingly sign up for the app, they would quickly stop using it. Working in a small team, we were tasked with understanding what the issues were to prevent further drop-offs and increase app engagement.
Design challenge
How might we help retail staff learn about technical information in an engaging way?
We noted the app didn't meet any accessibility criteria (WCAG 2.1). Interviews highlighted 3 key pain points in the current experience:
Staff struggle to quickly recall device information, disrupting customer sales conversations.
Poor achievement tracking causes employee frustration and confusion.
No communications between stores, limiting the use of customer care learnings.
Design principles
We used insights from interviews to shape 3 core principles to guide our approach and stay focused on key experience pain points.
Quick knowledge
Device look-up and in-app training need to deliver quick, concise and engaging information. Complex technical details should be delivered in a clear and engaging way.
Personal
User profiles should reflect the employee's real world accomplishments. Tracking progress and achievements will make it a useful tool for annual reviews with line managers.
Community
Ultimately, the Elite app should encourage discussion and knowledge sharing between stores across the nation. Peer-to-peer messaging can help Samsung employees connect and communicate.
What I worked on
UX & UI
Rapid Prototyping
Interaction Design
Information Architecture
Guerilla Testing
SME Interviews
Brand Definition
Design System
Who I worked with
3 Developers
1 PM
1 Designer
2 Samsung Stakeholders
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Spotlight 1 • 1 min read
Newsfeed, product list and peer-to-peer FAQs
The newsfeed enabled the staff to quickly catch up with the latest Samsung activity.
Staff had options to view updates from various partners like EE, Vodafone, and O2. We made sure that product information was easily accessible by giving it priority in the navigation. Though search functionality would have been useful, it was not a part of our scope. Instead, we provided peer-answered FAQs to support any unanswered questions.
How we got there
Internal workshop
Information mapping & wireframing concept
We ran an internal workshop to better understand common customer support questions and how to position the content effectively. If we had more time/budget, I would have wanted to run tree testing or a card sorting exercise with users to test our assumptions.
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Spotlight 2 • 1 min read
User profiles, achievements and league tables
We increased engagement through incentives, offering real-world and in-app achievements.
By introducing a points and badge system, staff could build social currency and track progress. This also allowed managers to more accurately track staff engagement with the platform.
Rewarding users for knowledge, but more importantly, for participation
To encourage engagement, training quizzes were designed as competitions. These interactions required only 5-minute yes or no inputs to reduce effort while promoting learning. Each product update or article was accompanied by a link that directed staff to complete the corresponding quiz and earn points or badges. Rewards were given step-by-step for micro-actions taken along the journey, rather than waiting until completion.
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Spotlight 3 • 2 min read
Learning through play
Educational mini-games engaged staff and improved their information recall
Our desk research and SME interviews showed that fun and interactive content improves memory retention. I led the design of two mini-game experiences for retail staff, focusing on key device features. These games used repetitive learning techniques and prompted friendly competition across store branches, enhancing communication and learning among peers.
How we got there
We tested internally using rapid prototypes
I ran concept and usability tests with Samsung stakeholders and the internal team. First, testing other similar mini-game experiences helped us understand what to keep or kill in our own experience.
We learned that core gameplay elements like speed, time and hazards increased difficulty and encouraged users to pay more attention. We saw that memory retention was effective using positive reinforcement, combining gameplay success with product benefits.
Outcomes
↗︎ Samsung Elite users sold 64% more premium devices
Compared to retail stores without a brand advocate over the following 2 years (2018 – 2020)
↗︎ 34% increase in active sessions
14% above target – measured compared to previous month period
↗︎ 46% increase in quiz engagement
Compared to previous Samsung device release period - a key measure agreed with stakeholders
↗︎ 5,300 new user registrations
Measured in the first month of release