CHASE ULTIMATE REWARDS
Helping Chase Customers Maximize Their Rewards and Increasing User Satisfaction by 40%
A speculative feature design for the Chase Mobile app.
Year
2024
Duration
3 Weeks
Role
Sole UX/UI Designer
Background
Credit card rewards have an undeniable appeal but mileage may vary.
I have to admit—I’m pretty attached to my credit card points. And that’s by design.

Credit card rewards programs have effectively gamified spending, turning everyday purchases into opportunities to earn points. Chase Bank offers one of the largest rewards programs in the industry, with perks like cash back and bonus points on travel and dining.

Premium cardholders pay annual fees—some as high as $550—to access these rewards. To justify the cost, cardholders need to see clear value in their rewards, or they may question their investment.

This project explores how a simple in-app feature could help customers earn more points.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
How might we help users make the most of their credit card rewards?
RESEARCH
To many users, earning points feels like guesswork.
During interviews, users said their biggest challenge in maximizing rewards was figuring out which purchase categories earned the most points.

Many also felt they weren’t maximizing their earnings and believed Chase provided little guidance.
“The most frustrating part is remembering which card to use and for what purchases.”
USER Participant
User participant
RESEARCH ACTIVITiES & OUTPUTS
User InterviewS
Affinity Map
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
PERSONAS
To understand user sentiments regarding credit card rewards programs, I conducted five remote user interviews via Zoom. Each participant has at least one rewards card with Chase Bank.

Key questions I aimed to answer through these interviews:
  • What motivates a user to apply for a credit card that offers rewards?
  • How well do users understand how their rewards programs work?
  • How closely are users paying attention to their rewards activity?
Through an affinity mapping exercise, I uncovered the following common themes among participants:
  • Most participants were only vaguely aware of their points activity—checking only every once in a while.
  • When asked directly about their rewards, most users were uncertain about their point structures.
  • Most users feel they do not make purchases in a way that maximizes their points earnings.
  • Most users feel Chase does not help them maximize their points.
To better understand the rewards card landscape, I conducted a competitive analysis of Chase, American Express, Citi Bank, and The Points Guy, focusing on the features of their digital products.

Three takeaways from this analysis:
  • Users have to rely on third parties to get help maximizing their points.
  • Other banks offered personalized credit card suggestions based on spending trends; Chase does not.
  • Other banks offer calculators to help users understand the value of their points; Chase does not.
Based on my user interviews, I identified two distinct user groups and created a persona for each.
  • Highly engaged users who actively strategize their credit card usage to get the most out of their rewards.
  • Passive users who take a “set it and forget it” approach to earning rewards points.
PLANNING
We want to make it easier for users to know which purchases earn them the most rewards.
Research highlights the fact that the onus is on the user to audit their own transactions to identify missed opportunities for points earnings.

This insight established a clear goal for the feature design: How can we remind users of their benefits in moments when they're most likely to notice?
PLANNING ACTIVITiES & OUTPUTS
USER FLOW
To better understand how users move through the Chase Mobile app, I created a user flow for checking points earnings on a recent transaction.

This exercise revealed the app's complexity and the often circuitous paths users must take to find key information.
Wireframes & mockups
Information about increasing points earnings was added to the app’s most relevant sections for users.
The two most common reasons users access the Chase Mobile app are to pay bills and review recent transactions.

Since transactions already display some points-earning details, this was the most intuitive place to add more information to help users maximize rewards.
“I typically only use the Chase Mobile app to review transactions or pay my bill.”
USER Participant
The following points-related details have been added to existing transaction cards:
  • A callout indicating potential missed points.
  • The total points earned and total points missed.
  • The benefit that could have increased earnings.
By highlighting information from a past purchase, users can better understand how their rewards program works. Providing a personal point of reference aims to improve recall of benefits in future transactions.
DESIGN ACTIVITiES & OUTPUTS
Mockups
Wireframes
TESTING & ITERATION
Testing confirmed that the new feature made it easier for users to maximize their rewards.
Five users participated in a remote, unmoderated usability test created with Lyssna.

To determine if the new transaction details increased the user’s understanding of how to maximize their points earnings, users were asked to perform the following tasks:
  • Find points earning rates for previous transactions
  • Find points earning rates for future transactions
  • Find information about spend categories
  • Find information regarding increasing points earnings
To aid users struggling with navigation, a new quick link section was added to the Rewards home screen.
User feedback for the new feature was overwhelmingly positive, with one catch: Some users still struggled to find their way around the app.

Restructuring the Chase Mobile app is outside the scope of this project but I was able to address this pain point by adding a quick link section above the fold on the Rewards home screen.

This section guides users towards common rewards-related actions, including the new point maximizing transaction details.
Before
After
Results
The new feature led to a
 40% increase in user satisfaction with the app’s ability to help maximize points.
The ease of completing tasks received an average user score of 8.6 out of 10.
Final Thoughts
Credit card rewards programs are complex. Even for users that are highly engaged, point structures can be difficult to process or recall.

While helping customers maximize their points earnings was the goal of this feature, educating or reminding users about how the points program works was an important part of achieving that goal.
Increasing
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