Authentic Membership
Building a Scalable Membership Program through Design
In this ongoing project covering various touchpoints of the new Authentic Membership program, a paid monthly membership offering discounts on Authentic’s brands, I worked cross-functionally with analysts, developers, and content strategists to hit goals for conversion, retention, and reducing cancellation.
Timeline: July 2024 - Present (Ongoing)
Role: UI/UX Designer
Tools: Figma
OVERVIEW
Initially, conversion on the Membership program was under 2%, with the previously outlined goal being 12%.
User exposure to the program was limited to a single banner in PDP, cart and checkout, in which on PDP and cart, triggered another modal that would provide more information. Despite the membership offering a free 30-day free trial upon signup, cancellation prior to the end of the trial was over 70%.
CURRENT STATE
Through various design iterations and testing, conversion increased to over 9%, with cancellation dropping by 15%.
Designs of widgets, banners, and other touchpoints were refined and standardized at each iteration of testing, along with the cancellation flow that also provided a space for user feedback to gather more insight on cancellation reasons. The current checkout widget includes two touchpoints, one at the top and one right above the “Pay” button, where the one at the top is a larger banner and the one at the bottom is a checkbox. Additionally, the savings text is dynamic based on the user’s cart, in which it will change from “Save 10%” to the dollar amount if the user’s cart has over $100 worth of product.
GOALS & CONSTRAINTS
The team focused on three goals:
Increasing conversion through implementation on Authentic’s brand sites via widgets, banners, and other touchpoints, as well as marketing
Encouraging retention through content strategy and Authentic’s brands’ user bases
Decreasing cancellation through clarifying the benefits lost through cancellation and compelling return offers
Constraints included legal requirements on language around sign up and cancellation, and Shopify’s customization restrictions on modal or widget sizing and styling, particularly when design needed to look standard across all Authentic brands.
THE PROCESS
Whether conversion, cancellation, or retention, designs were always tested after each iteration along with reviewing copy with the legal team and developing with Shopify’s restrictions (or finding a loophole). Often design would need to be tweaked after legal review.
For our cancellation flow, we originally wanted another confirmation from the user to cancel their Membership account, but we were advised by legal against it because the cancellation process would have been more clicks for the user than signing up for the Membership.
We A/B tested versions of these widgets on the brand sites: users would randomly get one variation, and we tracked interaction with the widget and conversion, keeping in mind brand promos that may influence interaction. The new designs with the toggle, button, and checkbox overwhelmingly increased conversion from the original design.
Currently, we have launched and are testing my designs for member pricing, in which a new callout is added on the PDP and in cart to emphasize the price users would pay for a product as an Authentic Member.
NEXT STEPS
With both conversion and cancellation in a much better place, the team’s focus has now turned to retention. For design, next steps include working with content strategists on aligning marketing and web experiences to target non-member brand shoppers, members at risk of canceling, and past members.
CURRENT PERSONAL LEARNINGS
Working so collaboratively with a variety of other role specialists gave me a lot more hands-on insight into the entire process behind a product, which also helped me understand more preemptively the context I needed prior to beginning design work and the impact I should be aiming for.
Design-wise, I realized that sometimes problems don’t require complex solutions, and that a simple one may be the most effective. With this membership program, at least in our current state of design, it was much better to iterate on current best practices (ex. user behavior with the checkbox and toggle) rather than reinvent the wheel.