Mnogo.ru: mobile apps for customer loyalty service

In Russia, almost everyone knows the loyalty service Mnogo.ru — it’s one of the most respected and popular players in the market of loyalty management. This service has been giving businesses the tools to increase sales since 2000 (we are the same age). It's time for the next round of growth. Spider Group took on the task

The problem

Mnogo.ru has never had a mobile app. There is the website, which brought success to the service and perfectly fulfills the main task of the business, and the browser extension, which accompanies active users of the program in all online purchases

The need for the app is caused by audience analysis, which shows a shift in the bulk of consumers to mobile devices

The goal is to build and strengthen customer loyalty to Mnogo.ru partners

The task

Creating a mobile app from scratch, with minimal reference to complex legacy code

Closing the main needs of users in the bonus accumulation and partner directory with the first iteration

Reducing the percentage of bonuses that shoppers lose if they don't enter purchase data due to website inconvenience

Increasing the involvement of users of the loyalty program

The solution

The release of the first public version of the application with extensive scalability

The project consists of:
Native apps for iOS and Android
Modular architecture
UI / UX design

The sections that have been worked on are:
Partner directory
List of stocks
Loyalty card operation
User account
Bonus account

Main page

The user logs in to the app through a simple and secure authorization form with a phone number and SMS code. The main page contains a dashboard with bonuses and offers on how to get and use them

The page contains basic information about the user's profile, a link to notifications (with a request to turn on at the first login), account status, an invitation to the referral program, a link to the loyalty card, as well as the Mnogo.ru Partner directory and their promotions

Dynamic cards

Each partner card contains dynamic information about the last transaction with its participation. Thus, without unnecessary transitions you can understand who charged or going to charge bonuses, as well as their total number

An interesting feature of Mnogo.ru is receiving bonuses not only for purchases, but also for other target actions. The "Received bonuses" section on the main page reflects exactly such transactions

In the "Promotions of the Day" section, customers will find a daily selection of offers — another way to motivate them to earn and spend bonuses

Loyalty Card

This is a small but very important section. We tried to make the virtual card look like a physical one. It's interactive, three-dimensional, shiny and has an important advantage over its physical counterpart: it allows you to copy the bonus account number

Partners

The app has a general catalog of partners. As in promotions, filters and a quick search help to navigate through it

Easy navigation

The bottom tab bar instantly moves the customer between the key sections of the application: the main page, promotions, the store catalog and the bonus account

Partner card

Switching to a partner's page from the main page or from the list of partners opens its own dashboard with branding, description, the ability to add the store to your favorites, details on receiving bonuses and promotions

User account

The Mnogo.ru user gets a private, cozy corner in the app. The user can view personal information, quickly copy the card number, see the balance and history of all transactions using the search, filters by dates, categories and types of bonuses. The ability to unlogin and delete an account protects human digital rights

Promotions

A catalog of offers allows brands to engage their audience more effectively. Each promotion can be accompanied by a unique image; each card shows the store's logo, how to get bonuses, and the timing of the promotion

Thematic filtering and dynamic search with results for each new letter help in navigating the endless feed

By accessing the promotion page, the user learns the details of this offer and receives new ones from this partner of Mnogo.ru. Here you can also activate bonuses by going to the store. There is a hint on what to do to get the bonuses at a specific location

Diagrams help to keep track of accumulations. They show the status of bonuses and compare charges in different stores and store categories. Under the charts you can see the statistics in percentages

Bonus account

This is a special section of the app, a bonus wallet with motivation and information functions

The first thing the user notices is the Bonus Fever scale, a small game mechanic that supports the excitement of bonus accumulation. A section with balance information helps to break the fever. It shows today's earnings, expected ones, and account dynamics. From here you can also go to the history of transactions

Selections of products available for bonuses and promotions from stores that have already been in the user's sight cause additional motivation

Modular architecture

This modern type of architecture allows a stricter separation of blocks of code from each other. We use it to get a boost in application build speed by working on independent modules at the same time. The MVI pattern gives good scalability on large projects, so as the project grows, the code remains clear and structured

The benefits are:

1

Any component can be modified and replaced without having to refactor much of the code base

2

Separate modules are easier to reuse without separating their functionality from the monolithic application

3

It is easier to scale the team because the work and responsibilities can be divided into groups, each of which doesn’t affect the others

4

Less chance of conflicts in the version control system

5

A significant increase in the speed of building a project when compiling modules in parallel

The pitfall

The high load on the main service team led to the accumulation of a large amount of complex code and, as a result, difficulties in integrating the application into the overall system. The problem was solved by implementing middleware to proxy requests from the backend into a more convenient format for the application

The result was an acceleration of development by excluding from the list of works the API adaptation to the needs of the app

A pleasant moment

The customer noted that Spider Group effectively handled the monolithic system and outsourced the work, offloading the service's own employees

Keep accumulating bonuses

Statistics

Time

Analytics — 160 hours
Design — 695 hours
Backend — 614 hours
Testing — 260 hours
iOS — 608 hours
Android — 570 hours
Management — 515 hours

Team

Business analyst — 1
Designer — 1
Backend developer — 1
Web developer — 1
QA-engineer — 1
Project manager — 1