Business development
Synopsis
As the Senior UX Designer, I led the transformation of our underperforming in-store discount offering into a seamless, trackable, and revenue-driving experience. This project required strategic leadership, stakeholder influence, and close cross-functional collaboration across Product, Partnerships, Marketing, Development, and an external vendor.
Through a series of high-impact initiatives - including introducing QR codes, integrating a third-party gift card provider (Tendr), and repositioning our in-store proposition - I helped the business unlock a new revenue stream, improve user experience, and strengthen retailer relationships.
Background
Our business was best known for online discount codes, but our small collection of in-store offers went largely unnoticed and unredeemed.
Key problems included:
Low awareness of in-store offers
Retail staff unfamiliar with our brand, causing redemption issues and poor UX
No way to verify legitimacy at the checkout
Lack of tracking mechanisms
Limited partnerships with everyday retail brands
Our goal was clear: make in-store discounts visible, credible, and easy to use - for both customers and retail partners.
Key deliverables
Over a focused three-month period, I led the end-to-end UX strategy and delivery of three initiatives that redefined our in-store and omnichannel offer experience. These projects exemplified my role not just as a designer, but as a strategic leader — aligning teams, influencing stakeholders, and driving a shared vision across business, product, and development functions.
QR codes for in-store redemption
I championed the introduction of QR codes across our app and website to eliminate reliance on brand recognition during redemption. This required cross-functional collaboration with Partnerships and Engineering to align on technical feasibility and retailer requirements. By combining user insight with commercial priorities, I guided the team toward a scalable solution that enhanced usability and delivered measurable business impact.
Discounted Gift Card integration
Acting as the design lead, I shaped the UX strategy for integrating a third-party provider of discounted gift cards into our ecosystem. Working in an agile environment, I collaborated closely with external stakeholders, defining white-label guidelines and end-to-end flows that maintained brand consistency. I also led internal collaboration between design, marketing, and copy teams - mentoring junior designers and aligning messaging and visual design. My influence extended to the executive level, where I presented the user proposition and naming strategy to secure leadership buy-in.
Offer differentiation & discoverability
I initiated and led a redesign of all offer touchpoints to improve discoverability and clarity. Previously, users could only distinguish offer types by reading the fine print. I introduced a clear visual system and consistent taxonomy to differentiate online, in-store, gift card, and cashback offers. Through stakeholder workshops and iterative testing, I aligned multiple teams around a cohesive, user-first design system that improved navigation and supported future cross-selling opportunities.
QR codes for in-strore redemption
Problem: Users faced friction at checkout as redemption relied on staff recognising our brand. This created uncertainty for users and lost sales for the business.
My Role:
I led the decision to introduce QR codes across web and app experiences, reframing the way users redeemed in-store discounts.
Partnered with Partnership Leads to define retailer requirements
Collaborated with Dev to ensure our one-time-use codes could be securely displayed as QR codes
Defined the end-to-end redemption flow for a frictionless user experience
Impact:
✅ Removed reliance on staff recognition
✅ Protected in-store revenue by making all redemptions trackable
✅ Simplified the user experience at checkout
Discounted gift card integration
Problem: Users wanted access to everyday retail and supermarket brands, but we lacked the partnerships and infrastructure to deliver these at scale.
My Role:
I led the UX and integration strategy for our partnership with Tendr, a third-party provider of discounted gift cards.
Conducted UX research and mapped seamless user journeys from browse → purchase → redeem
Designed flows and produced a detailed whitelabel style guide for Tendr’s implementation team
Aligned visual and interaction design to ensure consistency across platforms
Led collaboration between internal design, marketing, and copy teams to define the product name, iconography, and messaging influencing the product strategy to better align with user experience and consitency
Whitelabelling Style Guide
To ensure a seamless experience between our platform and Tendr, I produced a comprehensive whitelabelling style sheet. This document outlined visual and interaction design standards - from typography, colour, and spacing to component behaviours - enabling the external team to align their interface to our design system efficiently.
It served as both a design governance tool and a bridge for cross-company collaboration.
Branding & User Journey Research
In parallel, I conducted extensive branding and user journey research to guide how the new proposition should be positioned across web, app, and marketing touchpoints.
The research combined qualitative insights, competitive benchmarking, and journey mapping to identify where and how users would engage with the new discounted gift card experience and redeem the purchased gift card.
I presented these findings to the CEO and executive team, and the resulting strategy directly secured senior buy-in for the project’s naming, visual identity, and product positioning.
Leadership & Strategic Influence:
I presented my UX and naming recommendations to the CEO and executive committee, securing executive buy-in for the integration and positioning strategy.
Impact:
✅ Introduced high-demand, everyday brands into our in-store ecosystem
✅ Created a cohesive, trusted experience between our platform and a third-party system
✅ Increased user engagement and retention through more relevant offers
My Strategic Contributions
Leadership: Pioneered new UX solutions that redefined our in-store proposition
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Drove alignment between internal teams (Product, Dev, Marketing, Partnerships) and external vendors
Stakeholder Influence: Presented and gained approval from senior leadership, demonstrating the business value of UX strategy
User-Centric Design: Balanced user needs with commercial goals to create a scalable and measurable solution
Offer differentiation & discoverability
Problem: Previously, all offers appeared visually identical until the user reached the offer page and read the small print. There was no clear indication of whether an offer was online, in-store, cashback, or a gift card, making it difficult for users to navigate or find what suited them best. Additionally, once a user reached the offer page, the journey effectively ended — there were no opportunities for cross-selling or guiding users to related offers.
My Role:
As the design lead, I took ownership of redefining how users discover, differentiate, and navigate between offers. I led the redesign of all offer pages and associated touchpoints to create a clearer, more engaging experience that also supported wider commercial goals.
Working in close collaboration with the product, marketing, and partnerships teams, I:
Introduced a new visual system to clearly label and differentiate offer types (in-store, online, gift card, cashback), reducing user confusion and improving discoverability.
Redesigned offer detail screens to promote continued exploration, adding links to “More offers from this retailer” — helping users discover alternatives if one code didn’t apply to them.
Implemented a toggle interaction allowing users to switch between in-store and online versions of the same offer seamlessly. This simple UX enhancement reduced friction for users who landed on the wrong version and strengthened brand trust.
Designed a cross-selling experience that leveraged the introduction of discounted gift cards. By adding a sticky, closeable helper popup, I helped users understand that they could “stack” discounts (e.g., use a discounted gift card with a code) — driving deeper engagement and multiple redemptions per purchase.
Leadership & Collaboration
Throughout this project, I worked closely with marketing and partnerships teams to ensure our offer taxonomy and labelling aligned with both user needs and commercial priorities. I also mentored junior designers on UI consistency and accessibility best practices, ensuring scalable implementation across web and app platforms.
Impact:
✅ Simplified and clarified offer navigation through clear visual differentiation
✅ Increased user retention and engagement via cross-linking and discovery pathways
✅ Drove higher redemption rates and revenue by introducing contextual cross-selling opportunities
✅ Strengthened the perception of value and trust across our ecosystem
Outcome
In just three months, our team delivered a tangible shift in how in-store offers were experienced and managed:
Frictionless redemption through QR codes
Trackable in-store revenue for the first time
Expanded brand offering through Tendr integration
Unified internal alignment around the new in-store proposition
This project marked a pivotal step in positioning UX as a strategic driver of growth, proving how thoughtful design and cross-team collaboration can transform both user experience and business performance.