Case Study

Evolving a Transactional Product into a Scalable Loyalty Platform

Transforming Cartera's experience from a transaction-focused product into a platform-driven loyalty ecosystem with improved engagement, personalization, and scalability.

Role

Design leadership across a multi-partner loyalty platform

Sole designer → scaled to a team of 3

Partnered with product, engineering, and client stakeholders

Influenced product strategy and platform direction

Timeline

2017-Present

Context

When I joined Cartera in 2017, the product experience was largely transactional and heavily customized per client. This limited scalability, reduced consistency across partners, and constrained the ability to deliver more engaging user experiences.

Approach

Shifting from Transactions to Engagement

We transformed the platform from a purely transactional tool into an engagement-focused ecosystem:

  • Onboarding experiences that educated users about platform value
  • Favorites and recently viewed to enable quick access to preferred merchants
  • Alerts tied to increased rebate opportunities that drove timely engagement
  • Emphasis on elevated earning potential rather than just transactions

Personalization via Bonus Platform

A key initiative was implementing targeted personalization capabilities:

  • Targeted offers delivered to specific user segments
  • Personalized earn rates based on user behavior and preferences
  • More efficient marketing spend by focusing on high-intent users
  • Dynamic experiences that adapted to individual user patterns

Platform Standardization

We systematically reduced unnecessary customization while maintaining flexibility:

  • Reduced fragmentation by consolidating redundant client-specific patterns
  • Introduced reusable patterns that could be configured rather than rebuilt
  • Maintained flexibility where genuine differentiation was needed
  • Documented standards for consistent implementation

Elevating Design

Beyond product work, I focused on expanding design's strategic influence:

  • Cross-functional alignment on product vision and roadmap
  • Client relationships that positioned design as strategic advisor
  • Increased strategic influence in product planning and prioritization

Impact

  • Platform economics: Shifted from per-client custom builds to configurable platform model, enabling faster partner onboarding and reduced implementation costs
  • Member engagement: Increased active usage through personalized earning opportunities and targeted merchant recommendations
  • Marketing ROI: Enabled precision targeting via bonus platform, improving campaign efficiency and partner spend effectiveness
  • Technical scalability: Reduced codebase fragmentation by 40% through standardized component library and shared patterns across airline, banking, and retail partners
  • Strategic positioning: Elevated design from execution partner to platform strategy contributor, influencing product roadmap and client engagement models