Converting members into active users by launching a mobile app: our work with PerkSpot

From the start, a key PerkSpot principle has been to deliver what users want, when they want it, in the format they prefer it. The team was convinced that, for a significant number of PerkSpot members, that format was a mobile app.

We agreed.

To answer the question of what that app should look like and how it should function, we started with user research.

We discovered that a big challenge would be one of translation:

• How to condense a map of local perks (which users see on their desktop screens) to a mobile screen?

• How to present weekly perks if not via email?

• How to limit information so it isn’t overwhelming to a mobile user?

These questions weren’t just aesthetic: mobile users wouldn’t be interacting with perks through the popular weekly email desktop users relied on to discover new and relevant offerings.

In other words: the app had to find a different mechanism for connecting members to the offers they wanted most. What's more, it had to deliver an enjoyable experience and provide a smooth transition when members left the app to claim their perks on partners’ websites.

For the first version of the mobile app, TXI built an optimized version of what exists for desktop users. That version became available for beta testing in mid 2021 so the team could see how initial users interacted with the app and get their feedback on how to make it better.

But a funny thing happened during the beta launch.

For every invited mobile user, a desktop user who was not part of the beta test searched for PerkSpot unprompted in the Google and Apple app stores.

This behavior validated PerkSpot’s original hypothesis: the company has an untapped user base eager to engage via mobile app.

As of mid-June 2022, the PerkSpot app has been live in a sort of stealth mode. And even without an official announcement, the company has seen promising signs:

• 167% month-over-month economic activity growth from April to May

• 167% month-over-month economic activity growth from May to June (projected as of mid-month)

• User growth is on track to more than double from May to June

• 11% more leads per mobile user than email or desktop user

PerkSpot was built on an unusual premise. Now the team is figuring out how to get it in front of even more people who will love it.

Interested in discovering ways to increase your organization’s user base by tapping new digital channels? Get in touch.