Increasing retention & referrals by 30% on Niyo

Increasing retention & referrals by 30% on Niyo

OVERVIEW

Revamping Niyo's rewards experience into a centralized, scalable ecosystem, improving clarity and consistency across reward journeys while introducing a dedicated referrals hub for seamless referral tracking and reward visibility.

MY ROLE

Owned the end-to-end redesign of Niyo’s rewards experience, aligning stakeholders, visual team to introduce richer interactions through sound & haptics, and leading the experience through design, prototyping, testing, and implementation

THE TEAM

Aditee Deore

(Sr. Visual Designer)

Manasi Tupule

(Motion Designer)

Anurag Agrawal

(Product Manager)

Smriti Ravi

(Product Designer)

THE WHY

Breaking down the problem

USER PROBLEM

Users could share referral codes but had no visibility into referral progress or reward status, creating uncertainty and diminishing trust in the referral experience

APP EXPERIENCE PROBLEM

In the current flow, users could only see their coin balance, but with zero visibility into redemptions, savings or referrals, limiting awareness and engagement

BUSINESS PROBLEM

The fragmented experience prevented users to understand, track and derive value from rewards and referrals. This limited the ability to drive long-term engagement and retention.

LIMITED SCALABILITY & OUTDATED EXPERIENCE

The loyalty experience had remained largely unchanged since 2023, falling behind current industry standards. This limited scalability and constrained future enhancements

PROCESS

Auditing the current experience

Niyo’s referral program rewarded both the referrer and referee with 2,500 Niyo Coins upon a successful card order. With 75% of coins redeemable on flights and hotels.

POOR VISIBILITY & STAGNANT RETENTION RATES

Despite referrals being one of the primary ways to earn Niyo Coins, poor visibility into referral status and reward eligibility led to low participation. As a result, retention remained stagnant at 18%.

LACK OF CLARITY & CONSISTENCY

Users lacked clarity on both how Niyo Coins could be redeemed for flights and hotels and inconsistent interaction patterns in coin history reduced discoverability and created confusion

LIMITED SCALABILITY & OUTDATED EXPERIENCE

The loyalty experience had remained largely unchanged since 2023, falling behind current industry standards. This limited scalability and constrained future enhancements

THE STORY

Defining the visual structure

The story was simple, Niyo takes care of the finances, so users can focus on what really matters, saying yes to new experiences, living in the moment, and making every trip count. That YOLO mindset became the foundation of the rewards visual language.

CREATING MOTION WITH MEANING

Motion was intentionally reserved for the moments that mattered most, it was used to make rewards feel rewarding and transform into something users genuinely enjoyed engaging with.

WHERE IT MATTERS MOST

Creating anticipation and a memorable first impression

Celebrating meaningful milestones

Designing for long term engagement

DESIGNING FOR CONFIGURABILITY & SCALABILITY

By decoupling visuals from the core UI, which made the experience inherently configurable, allowing it to evolve with minimal design and tech effort while maintaining consistency

INTRODUCING SOUND & HAPTICS

Sound and haptics completed the experience, every interaction felt more responsive and achievements felt more rewarding. This also laid the foundation for sound and haptic patterns within Niyo's design system

WHERE IT MATTERS MOST

Celebrating meaningful milestones

Reinforcing triggers and actions

Guiding focus and directing attention

CREATING MOTION WITH MEANING

Motion was intentionally reserved for the moments that mattered most, it was used to make rewards feel rewarding and transform into something users genuinely enjoyed engaging with.

WHERE IT MATTERS MOST

Creating anticipation and a memorable first impression

Celebrating meaningful milestones

Designing for long term engagement

THE SOLUTION

Bringing the vision to life

01 - EVERYTHING NIYO COINS

The Rewards homepage brought the entire experience into one place, surfacing coin balance, earning opportunities & redemption options upfront. Referrals were no longer hidden in the journey, but became a permanent, trackable part of the experience

The flow was divided into 3 simple steps, choosing country, selecting plan(s), review and payment. The homepage needed to sell the product so as to drive immediate conversions. Key USPs, followed by a device compatibility check, testimonials and FAQs

VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS

Elevated referrals into a persistent, animated touchpoint to maximise discoverability

Enhanced tab interactions with subtle motion for a more responsive experience

Configurable layer logics that simplified for future updates and for scalable implementation

02 - REFERRALS AND TRACKING

Niyo’s referral program rewarded both the referrer and referee with 2,500 Niyo Coins upon a successful card order. Users could invite friends in a single tap whatsapp share and track progress of each referral. To support future growth, the hero section was designed as a configurable visual system that could evolve without changing the core experience.

The flow was divided into 3 simple steps, choosing country, selecting plan(s), review and payment. The homepage needed to sell the product so as to drive immediate conversions. Key USPs, followed by a device compatibility check, testimonials and FAQs

VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS

Configurable top hero section that simplified for future updates and for scalable implementation

03 - INVITE ACCEPTED!

A successful referral deserved more than a confirmation.The animation brought the achievement to life, making the reward feel tangible & reinforcing the excitement of sharing.

The flow was divided into 3 simple steps, choosing country, selecting plan(s), review and payment. The homepage needed to sell the product so as to drive immediate conversions. Key USPs, followed by a device compatibility check, testimonials and FAQs

Smriti Ravi

WORK

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Smriti Ravi

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Increasing retention & referrals by 30% on Niyo

Increasing retention & referrals by 30% on Niyo

OVERVIEW

Revamping Niyo's rewards experience into a centralized, scalable ecosystem, improving clarity and consistency across reward journeys while introducing a dedicated referrals hub for seamless referral tracking and reward visibility.

MY ROLE

Owned the end-to-end redesign of Niyo’s rewards experience, aligning stakeholders, visual team to introduce richer interactions through sound & haptics, and leading the experience through design, prototyping, testing, and implementation

THE TEAM

Aditee Deore

(Sr. Visual Designer)

Manasi Tupule

(Motion Designer)

Anurag Agrawal

(Product Manager)

Smriti Ravi

(Product Designer)

THE WHY

Breaking down the problem

USER PROBLEM

Users could share referral codes but had no visibility into referral progress or reward status, creating uncertainty and diminishing trust in the referral experience

APP EXPERIENCE PROBLEM

In the current flow, users could only see their coin balance, but with zero visibility into redemptions, savings or referrals, limiting awareness and engagement

BUSINESS PROBLEM

The fragmented experience prevented users to understand, track and derive value from rewards and referrals. This limited the ability to drive long-term engagement and retention.

LIMITED SCALABILITY & OUTDATED EXPERIENCE

The loyalty experience had remained largely unchanged since 2023, falling behind current industry standards. This limited scalability and constrained future enhancements

PROCESS

Auditing the current experience

Niyo’s referral program rewarded both the referrer and referee with 2,500 Niyo Coins upon a successful card order. With 75% of coins redeemable on flights and hotels.

POOR VISIBILITY & STAGNANT RETENTION RATES

Despite referrals being one of the primary ways to earn Niyo Coins, poor visibility into referral status and reward eligibility led to low participation. As a result, retention remained stagnant at 18%.

LACK OF CLARITY & CONSISTENCY

Users lacked clarity on both how Niyo Coins could be redeemed for flights and hotels and inconsistent interaction patterns in coin history reduced discoverability and created confusion

LIMITED SCALABILITY & OUTDATED EXPERIENCE

The loyalty experience had remained largely unchanged since 2023, falling behind current industry standards. This limited scalability and constrained future enhancements

THE STORY

Defining the visual structure

The story was simple, Niyo takes care of the finances, so users can focus on what really matters, saying yes to new experiences, living in the moment, and making every trip count. That YOLO mindset became the foundation of the rewards visual language.

CREATING MOTION WITH MEANING

Motion was intentionally reserved for the moments that mattered most, it was used to make rewards feel rewarding and transform into something users genuinely enjoyed engaging with.

WHERE IT MATTERS MOST

Creating anticipation and a memorable first impression

Celebrating meaningful milestones

Designing for long term engagement

DESIGNING FOR CONFIGURABILITY & SCALABILITY

By decoupling visuals from the core UI, which made the experience inherently configurable, allowing it to evolve with minimal design and tech effort while maintaining consistency

INTRODUCING SOUND & HAPTICS

Sound and haptics completed the experience, every interaction felt more responsive and achievements felt more rewarding. This also laid the foundation for sound and haptic patterns within Niyo's design system

WHERE IT MATTERS MOST

Celebrating meaningful milestones

Reinforcing triggers and actions

Guiding focus and directing attention

CREATING MOTION WITH MEANING

Motion was intentionally reserved for the moments that mattered most, it was used to make rewards feel rewarding and transform into something users genuinely enjoyed engaging with.

WHERE IT MATTERS MOST

Creating anticipation and a memorable first impression

Celebrating meaningful milestones

Designing for long term engagement

THE SOLUTION

Bringing the vision to life

01 - EVERYTHING NIYO COINS

The Rewards homepage brought the entire experience into one place, surfacing coin balance, earning opportunities & redemption options upfront. Referrals were no longer hidden in the journey, but became a permanent, trackable part of the experience

The flow was divided into 3 simple steps, choosing country, selecting plan(s), review and payment. The homepage needed to sell the product so as to drive immediate conversions. Key USPs, followed by a device compatibility check, testimonials and FAQs

VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS

Elevated referrals into a persistent, animated touchpoint to maximise discoverability

Enhanced tab interactions with subtle motion for a more responsive experience

Configurable layer logics that simplified for future updates and for scalable implementation

02 - REFERRALS AND TRACKING

The flow was divided into 3 simple steps, choosing country, selecting plan(s), review and payment. The homepage needed to sell the product so as to drive immediate conversions. Key USPs, followed by a device compatibility check, testimonials and FAQs

VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS

Configurable top hero section that simplified for future updates and for scalable implementation

03 - INVITE ACCEPTED!

A successful referral deserved more than a confirmation.The animation brought the achievement to life, making the reward feel tangible & reinforcing the excitement of sharing.

The flow was divided into 3 simple steps, choosing country, selecting plan(s), review and payment. The homepage needed to sell the product so as to drive immediate conversions. Key USPs, followed by a device compatibility check, testimonials and FAQs

FINAL RESULT