Gamified Reward System Redesign

Fully needed a new reward system that reduced costs for partner organizations without losing user motivation. I led the research and design direction for a transparent, playful, and sustainable gamified experience.

6

1

5 6.2/7

User interviews (exploratory)

Focus group with Fully staff

Usability testing participants

Overall satisfaction score

Context

Fully is a B2B2C wellness startup, offering a platform that connects companies with their employees through wellness activities and rewards. The previous reward model — physical prizes redeemed through digital coins — was engaging but expensive and difficult for some partner companies to sustain.

The challenge was to design a new reward experience that motivates users, feels fair and valuable, is easy to navigate, reduces costs for clients, and works across different company profiles.

Problem Statement

Users practice wellness activities but struggle to maintain motivation and engagement over time. They need a clear, relevant, and personalized reward system — because the lack of recognition aligned with their effort generates frustration and breaks their motivation.

Design Question

How might we design a cost-effective reward system that acknowledges user effort and sustains their motivation over time?

From the exploratory research, five "How Might We" questions emerged to guide the design direction. Two examples:

01.

How might we make the reward system more transparent and predictable without losing the element of surprise?

02.

How might we ensure rewards are perceived as valuable for each individual user?

Research Approach

The research followed two complementary phases: exploratory, first to understand motivations and mental models, then evaluative to test the prototype.

1. Exploratory Research — 6 interviews + 1 focus group

I conducted 6 individual interviews with users to explore motivations, expectations, barriers, and preferences for digital rewards. I chose 6 participants because research literature identifies this as the range at which themes begin to saturate in qualitative studies. In parallel, I facilitated 1 focus group with Fully staff to capture the organizational perspective. Data was synthesized through thematic analysis and affinity mapping.

Seven key findings emerged:

KEY FINDINGS

Users stay motivated when rewards are meaningful — vouchers, discounts, health items, and experiences were the top preferences
Random rewards are seen as fun, but 20% find them misleading without transparency — this directly shaped the decision to show probabilities in the spin wheel
Social recognition (rankings, badges, progress tracking) matters as much as material rewards for long-term engagement
Playful formats increase interaction — spin wheel was the top choice, followed by mystery boxes
Main abandonment triggers: manual record-keeping, technical failures, complex flows, and irrelevant or hard-to-redeem rewards

2. Evaluative Research — 5 usability testing participants

I planned, facilitated, and analyzed usability tests with 5 participants across 4 tasks: spinning the wheel, accessing and redeeming rewards, finding earned rewards history, and checking available spins. Sessions used task success rate, time-on-task, error observation, and think-aloud feedback.

100%

TASK 1 SUCCESS RATE

60%

TASK 2 SUCCESS RATE

60%

TASK 3 SUCCESS RATE

80%

TASK 4 SUCCESS RATE

Overall satisfaction score: 6.2/7 across all participants.

The spin action was well received — intuitive, light, and engaging. Main friction points: rewards banner ignored (looked like an ad), reward cards lacked click affordance, and identical naming between "Recompensas" menu and banner caused confusion.

Findings were synthesized using Insight → Problem → Opportunity mapping. Three key opportunities:

Final Solution

The final solution was directly shaped by the research: users needed clear navigation, transparent mechanics, and small moments of delight. The Spin-wheel mechanic met these needs while enabling clients to offer low-cost, high-perceived-value rewards. The prototype was designed by me (low-fidelity) and refined into high-fidelity by the Product Designer on the team.

Low-fidelity prototype (by Luma Teles)

High-fidelity prototype — final spin wheel screens (design by Johan Meneses, based on research & low-fi wireframes)

CORE FEATURES

Weekly spins earned through completed wellness goals
Probability-based rewards — enabling cost control while maintaining fairness and excitement
Clear explanation of reward types and chances, addressing the transparency gap from interviews
Delightful animations and micro-interactions throughout the spin flow
Easy access to spins, earned rewards, and progress — addressing navigation confusion from testing

Impact

01. Lower operational costs for clients — probability-based rewards replaced physical prizes, enabling predictable monthly budgeting and a scalable model across different company profiles.

02. Clearer, more intuitive reward experience — navigation restructuring and affordance improvements directly addressed the confusion patterns identified in usability testing.

03. Stronger perception of fairness and transparency — explicit communication of reward probabilities addressed the 20% of users who found random systems misleading.

04. Increased motivation through playful interactions — spin wheel mechanic and micro-interactions aligned with users' stated preference for lively, game-like reward formats.

Deliverables

Here's what I created along the way (all NDA-compliant):

My Contribution

I led the end-to-end research on this project — from planning the exploratory interviews and focus group through usability testing, synthesis, and presenting findings to the team. The low-fidelity prototype was also mine; the high-fidelity version was built by the Product Designer based on the research direction and wireframes I produced.

One thing this project reinforced for me is the value of the exploratory phase before jumping to solutions. The finding that 20% of users distrust random reward systems — and the specific reasons why — directly shaped the decision to prioritize transparency in the spin-wheel mechanic. Without those interviews, that design choice might have been missed.