From a loyalty platform to a
community platform
We’ve been working alongside Philip Morris Romania for 15+ years, during which we redefined what brand loyalty looks like. Philip Morris is a pioneer in the tobacco industry, focused on shaping a smoke-free future and having a customer-centric approach to business. The latest challenge we took on was to improve the user digital experience – transforming the loyalty platform into a community for its members.
Boosting the digital experience for the members
Continuously focused on consumer satisfaction and providing a one-of-a-kind customer experience, in 2016, Philip Morris Romania embarked on a long-term journey with us. It was the year when the platform was created and started fostering a true community of IQOS users from all around the country.
The Club’s purpose was to create a virtual space that offers genuine experiences for its users. From profile personalization to interaction with other club members, and even joining monthly challenges, each user could find activities matching their tastes or needs. Moreover, being a club member came with a wide range of exclusive rewards and benefits.
The end goal of the IQOS loyalty platform was to encourage engagement among users, increase user motivation through gamification tactics, and build new in-app features (including events, rewards, and even member-to-member messaging).
The Club’s purpose was to create a virtual space that offers genuine experiences for its users. From profile personalization to interaction with other club members, and even joining monthly challenges, each user could find activities matching their tastes or needs. Moreover, being a club member came with a wide range of exclusive rewards and benefits.
The end goal of the IQOS loyalty platform was to encourage engagement among users, increase user motivation through gamification tactics, and build new in-app features (including events, rewards, and even member-to-member messaging).
Why a loyalty platform
One of our favorite parts in any project is discovering our clients’ needs and objectives. With our client, the stepping stone was very well set from the beginning: let’s build a revolutionary long term loyalty platform that will act as a status enhancer.
This platform would be a personalized space where our users could directly interact with the brand, get in touch with other like-minded users and gain rewards. We would offer custom experience based on the user’s level of engagement: gain access to special events, designer products and exclusive offers.
In return, they would have to test new features, share their experience with our product, and refer new users. The more they interact with the platform, the more often they interact with our content, the more benefits they gain.
From a transactional point of view, the platform can attract and maintain users through witty gamification techniques. On the other hand, users become loyal customers and brand ambassadors through status driven symbols: personalized content based on the products they purchase, the customer journey to higher levels, unlocking access to more and more benefits.
This platform would be a personalized space where our users could directly interact with the brand, get in touch with other like-minded users and gain rewards. We would offer custom experience based on the user’s level of engagement: gain access to special events, designer products and exclusive offers.
In return, they would have to test new features, share their experience with our product, and refer new users. The more they interact with the platform, the more often they interact with our content, the more benefits they gain.
From a transactional point of view, the platform can attract and maintain users through witty gamification techniques. On the other hand, users become loyal customers and brand ambassadors through status driven symbols: personalized content based on the products they purchase, the customer journey to higher levels, unlocking access to more and more benefits.
The goal: a new version
of the loyalty platform
One of the challenges was to launch a platform that would provide IQOS users with new opportunities to engage with the brand and the community, while also improving its design. At the same time, we had to take into consideration the pre-existing user behavior and the desire to keep the sections of the online platform with which members were already familiar. Our team was tasked with the following:
• Updating existing in-app functionalities by taking into consideration a new look and feel and new UI elements;
• Developing new functionalities to support the business and user goals (e.g. in-app member-to-member messaging).
The goal of the new version of the loyalty platform was to give users reasons to play, offer them meaningful and personalized experiences, and reward their engagement with the brand and the platform.
• Updating existing in-app functionalities by taking into consideration a new look and feel and new UI elements;
• Developing new functionalities to support the business and user goals (e.g. in-app member-to-member messaging).
The goal of the new version of the loyalty platform was to give users reasons to play, offer them meaningful and personalized experiences, and reward their engagement with the brand and the platform.
Methodology and
timeline
After defining the scope of work, as we do with all our projects, and following a sharing session with the client on what new features were needed for the platform, a multidisciplinary team of 11 people (Project Manager, Scrum Master, QA, Front-end, Back-end developers) was assigned to work on defining and upgrading the user journey. Following this step, a period of six months was dedicated to the development and launch of the new digital platform and PWA.
In the first two months (September & October), we focused on clarifying the functional requirements of the new features to get a better overview of the backlog. We chose 1 front-end lead and 1 back-end lead to handle any technical challenges within their respective areas. They were also in charge of providing support in discussions about architectural changes and data flow modifications with other systems involved, in line with the client’s Information Systems departments.
“Knowing how important the launch date was, we planned recurrent - weekly hands-on sessions for refinement together with UX designers, client stakeholders, and project managers. All new user flows were subject to requirements elicitation in order for us to understand user interactions and the business logic behind them. This was also the timeframe when our backlog had a few spikes for us to identify the right 3rd party services that would help us develop new features. (Project Manager at Grapefruit).
We felt a true partnership between us and the client since they were open to prioritizing as we discovered new use cases. Together we decided what is truly needed for the launch and what is nice to have, and we can address it afterward.
In the first two months (September & October), we focused on clarifying the functional requirements of the new features to get a better overview of the backlog. We chose 1 front-end lead and 1 back-end lead to handle any technical challenges within their respective areas. They were also in charge of providing support in discussions about architectural changes and data flow modifications with other systems involved, in line with the client’s Information Systems departments.
“Knowing how important the launch date was, we planned recurrent - weekly hands-on sessions for refinement together with UX designers, client stakeholders, and project managers. All new user flows were subject to requirements elicitation in order for us to understand user interactions and the business logic behind them. This was also the timeframe when our backlog had a few spikes for us to identify the right 3rd party services that would help us develop new features. (Project Manager at Grapefruit).
We felt a true partnership between us and the client since they were open to prioritizing as we discovered new use cases. Together we decided what is truly needed for the launch and what is nice to have, and we can address it afterward.
All eyes on: platform
stability & streamlined
user experience
To ensure on-time project delivery and exceed client expectations, we worked with the Scrum framework and we adopted a two-week sprint framework. This approach allowed us to closely monitor and identify necessary actions and changes in three key areas: people, processes, and tools. With each sprint, we continuously fine-tuned the approach, making iterative improvements to drive progress in the right direction
“The existing IQOS app required a complete rewrite due to the significant impact of the new functionalities on the data model, as well as the existence of technical debt. To ensure the technical stability of the platform and provide users with a seamless navigation experience, we decided to rewrite the codebase using an updated stack with TypeScript integration on the front end.” (Tech Lead at Grapefruit)
“The existing IQOS app required a complete rewrite due to the significant impact of the new functionalities on the data model, as well as the existence of technical debt. To ensure the technical stability of the platform and provide users with a seamless navigation experience, we decided to rewrite the codebase using an updated stack with TypeScript integration on the front end.” (Tech Lead at Grapefruit)
Tech stacks & tools used
in developing the new PWA
We used PHP with Laravel for back-end development, while Typescript, React with Redux, and Ant Design were utilized for front-end development. Provisioning was done using Laravel Forge on the DigitalOcean cloud, and deployments were handled with the Envoyer tool. Grafana and Prometheus were employed for platform monitoring, and Sonarqube scanning via Bitbucket pipelines ensured code analysis.
“Technical challenges were easily overcome and were mostly related to the learning curve of integrating third-party services. We chose to use an external service for a specific category of new and important features that aligned with the brand’s loyalty strategy. This approach allowed us to meet the deadline, which was critical for the client.” (Tech Lead at Grapefruit)
Furthermore, all essential integrations with third parties were extracted into separate packages from the main project, allowing them to be reusable in other future projects that utilize the same APIs.
“Technical challenges were easily overcome and were mostly related to the learning curve of integrating third-party services. We chose to use an external service for a specific category of new and important features that aligned with the brand’s loyalty strategy. This approach allowed us to meet the deadline, which was critical for the client.” (Tech Lead at Grapefruit)
Furthermore, all essential integrations with third parties were extracted into separate packages from the main project, allowing them to be reusable in other future projects that utilize the same APIs.
Omnichannel brand
experiences & launching new products
Prior to launching the new platform, we documented a complex analytics tracking plan to help us examine app usage and user activity and help the client make new decisions.
Due to our team’s dedication to the project and hands-on expertise in creating exceptional digital experiences, we managed to launch the new IQOS platform on time. This allowed our client, Philip Morris Romania, to carry further omnichannel brand experiences, supported by launching new products and offline events for its community.
Due to our team’s dedication to the project and hands-on expertise in creating exceptional digital experiences, we managed to launch the new IQOS platform on time. This allowed our client, Philip Morris Romania, to carry further omnichannel brand experiences, supported by launching new products and offline events for its community.
Code rewritten 100% & new platform features
Working with Philip Morris Romania on improving the digital user experience of its platform represented a unique and intriguing experience for our team. Throughout the process, we’ve learned that every challenge has a solution, as long as you’re determined to find it. Although we’ve had many stakeholders involved in the process of clarifying new user flows for the PWA, our team’s organizational skills exceeded everyone’s expectations. We’re proud to state that we’ve rewritten the code 100%, taking into account one of the client’s most important requirements: implementation speed. The updated version was launched on time, with new features meant to help Philip Morris Romania increase user motivation and engagement.
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