Wells Fargo

GoFar Rewards

Wells Fargo

GoFar Rewards

Wells Fargo

GoFar Rewards

Wells Fargo

GoFar Rewards

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Overview & Problem

At Wells Fargo, I tackled a fragmented rewards program that frustrated customers who couldn't easily access their benefits. As lead UX designer, I transformed this disjointed experience into a unified mobile platform. The project required not just interface redesign but cross-department collaboration within vendor constraints. Using human-centered design, we created a cohesive system that simplified the customer journey and boosted engagement and redemption rates.

At Wells Fargo, I tackled a fragmented rewards program that frustrated customers who couldn't easily access their benefits. As lead UX designer, I transformed this disjointed experience into a unified mobile platform. The project required not just interface redesign but cross-department collaboration within vendor constraints. Using human-centered design, we created a cohesive system that simplified the customer journey and boosted engagement and redemption rates.

My Role

Senior Lead Product Designer, Digital Experience Design Group

As I stepped into this project, I took ownership of the entire customer experience vision. I found myself in the middle of a complex ecosystem, working to bring together product managers, engineers, business teams, and our external vendor. I crafted a responsive design system that became the foundation of our work, and when it came time to implement, I delivered detailed specifications that gave our developers exactly what they needed to bring our vision to life.

Senior Lead Product Designer, Digital Experience Design Group

As I stepped into this project, I took ownership of the entire customer experience vision. I found myself in the middle of a complex ecosystem, working to bring together product managers, engineers, business teams, and our external vendor. I crafted a responsive design system that became the foundation of our work, and when it came time to implement, I delivered detailed specifications that gave our developers exactly what they needed to bring our vision to life.

Senior Lead Product Designer, Digital Experience Design Group

As I stepped into this project, I took ownership of the entire customer experience vision. I found myself in the middle of a complex ecosystem, working to bring together product managers, engineers, business teams, and our external vendor. I crafted a responsive design system that became the foundation of our work, and when it came time to implement, I delivered detailed specifications that gave our developers exactly what they needed to bring our vision to life.

Senior Lead Product Designer, Digital Experience Design Group

As I stepped into this project, I took ownership of the entire customer experience vision. I found myself in the middle of a complex ecosystem, working to bring together product managers, engineers, business teams, and our external vendor. I crafted a responsive design system that became the foundation of our work, and when it came time to implement, I delivered detailed specifications that gave our developers exactly what they needed to bring our vision to life.

Human Centered Design Approach

HCD Approach

Desirability · Feasibility · Viability

  • Discover: Stakeholder workshops, interviews, surveys, competitive scan, journey maps.

  • Define: Surface friction (buried nav, unclear progress, complex redemption); prioritize by value + tech constraints.

  • Design: New IA, visual rewards dashboard, prototyped flows; iterative usability testing.

  • Deliver: Paired with dev/Epsilon; shipped pixel-perfect UI + annotated specs.

Desirability · Feasibility · Viability

  • Discover: Stakeholder workshops, interviews, surveys, competitive scan, journey maps.

  • Define: Surface friction (buried nav, unclear progress, complex redemption); prioritize by value + tech constraints.

  • Design: New IA, visual rewards dashboard, prototyped flows; iterative usability testing.

  • Deliver: Paired with dev/Epsilon; shipped pixel-perfect UI + annotated specs.

Success Measures (pre-launch)

  • We set a target of increasing customer engagement by 25% within 6 months, hoping our redesigned platform would draw users back regularly.

  • Our goal was to reduce navigation-related support calls by 10%, which would indicate we had created a more intuitive interface that customers could navigate without assistance.

  • For usability, we aimed for at least 90% of users to successfully complete the redemption flow without abandonment—a significant improvement over the existing experience.

  • All of this needed to be delivered on schedule, despite the complex vendor relationship with Epsilon that added layers of technical and communication challenges.

Results & Impact

  • Our platform drove engagement up by 37% in the first quarter after launch, as customers discovered how much easier it was to use their rewards.

  • The story gets better with redemption flows - what was once a frustrating experience completing only 68% of the time now saw 91% completion rates, showing our redesign truly removed barriers.

  • One customer summed it up perfectly: "It's finally easy to find and use my rewards." This validated all our hard work.

  • The business impact was equally compelling: retention increased 12% among rewards users, our scalable design system was adopted throughout the organization, and we built a collaborative model between design, engineering and vendor teams that continues to deliver results.

Lessons Learned & Solutions

  • Earlier low-fidelity prototype testing would have been valuable - we discovered users wanted a more visual dashboard approach only after weeks of design work.

    • Solution: Implement a rapid prototyping framework with weekly user testing sessions from project kickoff.

  • Involving support teams earlier would have helped us prioritize features better, especially for redemption tracking.

    • Solution: Create a cross-functional advisory panel that includes frontline support staff and meets bi-weekly throughout the design process.

  • A staggered rollout instead of a big-bang launch would have provided real user data sooner, allowing us to optimize features like the rewards calculator before full release.

    • Solution: Develop a phased release strategy with clear metrics to evaluate at each stage before proceeding.

  • Future iterations should focus on personalization - our research showed customers respond significantly better to tailored rewards suggestions.

    • Solution: Build a recommendation engine powered by machine learning to analyze transaction patterns and suggest relevant rewards.

Reflection

Looking back, I'm proud of how I navigated this complex project with multiple stakeholders. I learned that staying true to human-centered design principles wasn't just theoretical, it helped me cut through constraints and deliver real, measurable results that made a difference for both customers and the business.