Envisioning the Future-State Ideal Experience for a low-cost Airline’s Loyalty Program
Challenge
Support the airline’s team in co‑creating the ideal experience for its loyalty program, understanding the role the program played in their fragmented brand ecosystem, to placing the user experience and Customer Care service at the core, while aligning internal processes, taking into account all customer touch-points (physical and digital), tools and support actions necessary to make the experience come to life.
Approach
To achieve this, we first needed to understand how the loyalty program aligned with the airline’s broader strategy. I leaded to begin with strategic research involving key stakeholders from both the airline and the program, enabling us to identify a north-star vision and few critical gaps. These insights were then used to later co-create and then build the service blueprint for the ideal end‑to‑end experience.
Outcome
A super happy client side team because the loyalty program took shape and an action plan was set-up. 11 crucial stages for the service blueprint were defined, 16 key features required to ensure the success of the loyalty program’s digital product were identified, and 10 quick wins and 9 major bets were conceptualized and projected through strategic roadmap.
Developing a shared vision, through a co-creative approach
When the client approached, they were dealing with significant mental overload and critical fragmentation across their partner ecosystem (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th parties) related to point accumulation and redemption for the loyalty program. On top of that, their digital product was completely disconnected from the customer experience, an experience they surprisingly didn’t fully understand.
Ideation Workshop
After conducting 15 interviews with key stakeholders, we were able –for the first time– to clearly articulate thir main strategy (“Grow the Core” and “Protect the Core”). Together, we analyzed the 11 main stages a user goes through when traveling (both digitally and physically), as well as a series of pain points affecting not only the traveler but also the Customer Care team responsible for resolving the typical issues of any journey (flight bookings, point accrual, point redemption).
This groundwork enabled us to map the first draft of the customer journey. With this draft in hand, we brought the broader team together to collaboratively work through identified gaps and, stage by stage, and later come up with initiatives (quick wins and big bets) that would rapidly deliver value in communication, tools, and overall experience, without compromising the long‑term strategy.
Outcomes
Outcomes
10 quick wins agreed to prototype and test in 2026
Each initiative was evaluated using an impact vs. effort matrix, allowing us to identify which actions can generate tangible results in less time, and which require greater investment and planning.
28 Key Support Processes identified leveraging Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Understanding how to leverage Salesforce Marketing Cloud was critical to enabling hyper-personalized communications in real time, boosting engagement, retention, and loyalty program value at every point in the customer journey.
At Least 8 Critical Moments Where the Customer Care Team Could Shine
Mapping the actions of the Customer Care team was another critical point; without them on board, it would be virtually impossible to guarantee the successful delivery of the ideal experience.
