FordPass Rewards

​PROJECT OVERVIEW
Client: Ford Motor Company
Project: FordPass Rewards
​Overview:  Ford's reward programs (plural) were inconsistent and disparate.  We were tasked with combining them into a new, singular one.
The Team: 1 UX Designer, 1 Visual Designer, 1 Account Manager, 3 Strategists (The Lacek Group), 3 Developers (based in Poland)
MY ROLE
Role: Senior UX Designer
Responsibilities: Owned UX from kickoff to QA, including leading discovery workshops, auditing competitors, creating wireframes, writing test scripts, reviewing test results, and presenting to stakeholders.
​CHALLENGE
Ford's multiple rewards programs were fragmented, leading to customer confusion and inconsistent experiences.​
​OPPORTUNITY
Create a unified, user-centered rewards system to enhance customer loyalty and streamline dealership participation.
RESULT
Successfully launched FordPass Rewards, achieving over 8 million users and significantly increasing repeat dealership visits.​
Ford Appreciation (FordPass Rewards) was one of four major business initiatives for FordPass in 2019.

How We Worked

Collaboratively Across The World

A kickoff meeting was held in-person with members of Ford and each of the seven partnering agencies to align on goals and bounds, timelines, deliverables, etc. The partnered agencies spanned multiple states and a development team based in Poland. We had a weekly meeting to make sure that all parties were aligned on what was going on and where the project stood as design and development progressed.

Cross-Functionally

I worked as part of a cross-functional team that included myself (UX) and a creative partner that made up what we called a CRUX team. We both worked closely with our Strategist, Lead Developer, Project Manager, and Product Owner to ensure that we explored and delivered designs that aligned with the agreed upon strategy as well as met feasibility for the desired launch date. Regular stand-ups, iteration demos, and client presentations to executive leadership ensured a correct course throughout the programs lifecycle.

Iteration & Validation

SKETCHES

Working alongside our strategy partner (TLG), we identified a reward point system as a way to build long-term customer engagement. I led early-stage exploration with wireframes focused on displaying point balances, redemption opportunities, and driving repeat service visits. A supporting user survey helped us validate key assumptions and uncover early friction points.​​

A MAJOR HURDLE

Ford’s funding model required individual dealership participation to unify the point system. Gaining alignment from over 3,000 dealerships was seen as a major roadblock, and leadership cautioned that a single reward balance was unlikely. This meant designing around two separate point systems, a complexity we knew would introduce friction and confusion for users.

WIREFRAMES

I led the wireframing process, collaborating closely with creative and development partners to explore designs that clearly communicated point totals and guided users toward earning and redeeming opportunities. Personalization was a key strategic focus, so I pushed for layouts that could adapt to user behavior and business goals. After testing multiple approaches, we landed on a horizontal card system, implemented through Adobe Target, to dynamically surface the most relevant reward actions to each user.

USER TESTING

I wrote the testing script and created a clickable prototype in InVision to validate both usability and conceptual clarity. The first round of testing focused on whether users could confidently navigate the rewards experience and complete common tasks. The second explored point display options to gauge user comprehension. One key insight emerged. Users consistently expected a single, unified point system, reinforcing the need to push back on a dual-points model despite internal challenges.
"Our old program worked, but it didn't have the reach, flexibility and engagement from our brand to make it successful."
​Jason Sprawka, Ford's director of U.S. customer experience

New Program & Design

THE BIG WIN

Following user testing, Ford leadership presented the findings at a major dealership conference to build support for a unified funding model. The insights helped secure early buy-in from over 2,000 dealerships, with the remaining groups following suit shortly after.
The updated experience represented a fundamental shift in Ford’s rewards program. Instead of the legacy “dealership dollars” system, customers now earned and redeemed FordPass Points, a unified currency that could be used at any participating dealership. This removed location-based limitations, simplified the experience, and aligned the program with user expectations uncovered in testing. It was a massive evolution built through nearly a full year of research, iteration, and cross-functional collaboration.

HELPING CUSTOMERS

We recognized that a major shift in the rewards model would likely cause confusion for returning users. Customers weren’t losing value, dealership dollars were simply being converted into a new point-based system, but that distinction needed to be communicated clearly and confidently. To build trust and reduce friction during the transition, we designed a dedicated FAQ resource and created visual, page-level guides that demonstrated how to earn and redeem points effectively. I also proactively recommended placing contextual links to these resources throughout the experience and within program announcement emails, ensuring users had consistent access to answers before questions arose. This created a smoother transition and minimized potential support issues at launch.