experience matters

Critical Mass recently launched a redesigned website for United Mileage Plus®. The site features a new look and feel, and offers a more personalized, intuitive experience for members of the United Mileage Plus loyalty program.

The Ask

“There are a lot of loyalty programs out there. Our challenge for United Mileage Plus was to create a uniquely compelling experience that would help us drive acquisition and engagement,” said Dave Anderson, Managing Director of Product Development, United Mileage Plus. “If members can easily use their miles, they are more inclined to stay engaged with the program. Mileage Plus is the program that wants you to use your miles and we needed our new website to encourage that,” Anderson added.

The Insight

Drawing on segmentation studies, qualitative research and stakeholder interviews, the Critical Mass team isolated key customer pain points in the existing United Mileage Plus experience. Members often found it difficult to navigate the site and find relevant information on how they could optimize their membership, such as all the different ways they could earn and use their miles, as well as the benefits of elite status. The experience was frustrating for both savvy and new members alike.

The Strategy

Critical Mass worked with Siegel+Gale, United’s brand strategy partner agency, to develop a blueprint for the website that focused on the needs of the members. The web redesign centered on showing the breadth of opportunities in the program, encouraging members to stay engaged, helping them find relevant information and recognizing them for their achievements. An additional goal was to showcase all the new program features that allow members to easily use their miles, such as Hotel & Car Awards, One-Way Awards, Miles & Money Awards and the elimination of last-minute award booking fees.

Deep Dive Into The Solution

The redesign focused on two main areas: Online Account
Management and a Site Content overhaul.

Online Account Management
Critical Mass developed a personalized United Mileage Plus dashboard to give members one-stop access to information most relevant to them. The content is personalized based on the member’s activity level and clearly encourages various ways to earn and use miles. The member sees a personalized progress bar indicator that shows their current status level in addition to exactly how many Status Miles or Status Segments are needed before they can reach the next level. Members can also easily access all of their account details, upgrades and relevant offers.

Site Content
With the new design, Critical Mass also re-architected the content and improved the navigation to be clear and simple to understand, thereby improving customer satisfaction. The site also includes tips for how the member can best take advantage of the program. To show members the new improved site structure, a tutorial page was developed to guide members through the site elements that have changed with the launch.

To further encourage member engagement, an Interactive Tour highlighting the benefits of Mileage Plus membership was developed and implemented by Critical Mass and is featured on the United Mileage Plus homepage.

Delivering a Great Customer Experience

“By simplifying and personalizing members’ interaction with the website, we were able to work with the United Mileage Plus team to create an experience that truly serves their customer needs,” said Karolina Vieser, Vice President, Client Partner, Critical Mass. “The initial feedback from members has been extremely positive and we hope that translates into greater loyalty and new members for the United Mileage Plus program,” she added.