Moonfare Referral Program

TL;DR

Moonfare wanted to reinvent their referral program (also know as Ambassador Program). I’ve supported a small team to reimagine and implement a new concept. The project scope was large but we managed to deliver a ready-to-test concept in record time.

TL;DR

Moonfare wanted to reinvent their referral program (also know as Ambassador Program). I’ve supported a small team to reimagine and implement a new concept. The project scope was large but we managed to deliver a ready-to-test concept in record time.

Context


Private Equity investment is a very closed niche and the power of the network is outstanding. HNWIs (High-Net-Worth-Individuals) typically rely on their close network to get recommendations on investment funds and asset classes that are worthwhile.


To leverage that, Moonfare launched, in its early years, a Referral program to incentivize investors to refer the platform and, as a reward, receive grants as Moonfare equity. The program showed good ROI but had severe scalability issues.


Since there's a limited pool of Virtual Stock Options (VSOPs) that the company could grant, we were tasked with the job to define a new program, which should provide a unique reward system. This project's scope was not to completely redesign its experience but rather to relaunch it with minimal changes to the code infrastructure and remove the Stock Options reward.

How might we provide value to investors that are willing to refer Moonfare to their personal network?

How might we provide value to investors that are willing to refer Moonfare to their personal network?

How might we provide value to investors that are willing to refer Moonfare to their personal network?

Team


  • Main stakeholders: VP of Marketing, Head of investing relationships

  • Me as Design lead

  • Research assistant

  • Project lead: Lead of Experiential Marketing

  • Product Manager - Registration team

  • Development team

Research


We have started the work relying on 2 pieces of research: A survey run before the current program was implemented and pulling data from foundational research done by the UXR team. From those, we learned the following:

What they expected from the program (wishlist):

Participating in a referral program increases their connection to Moonfare (proximity & community)

Participating in a referral program increases their connection to Moonfare (proximity & community)

Referral status and attribution are critical (recognition)

Referral status and attribution are critical (recognition)

Early or priority access to upcoming funds

Early or priority access to upcoming funds

Fee discounts

Fee discounts

Invitations to exclusive Ambassador events (community & social capital)

Invitations to exclusive Ambassador events (community & social capital)

Recognition for referrals and opportunity to participate in the growth and success of Moonfare (status & social capital)

Recognition for referrals and opportunity to participate in the growth and success of Moonfare (status & social capital)

Things they disliked:

A financial reward makes the referral less genuine

A financial reward makes the referral less genuine

Lack of transparency on my referral status

Lack of transparency on my referral status

Marketing materials looking like just another marketing e-mail

Marketing materials looking like just another marketing e-mail

UX/UI - referral status and engagement

UX/UI - referral status and engagement

Signing an agreement (for VSOPs)

Signing an agreement (for VSOPs)

The Plan


Alongside the Project Manager, and based on the research insights, I've worked on defining what the new rewards program would look like. We came up with some principles for it:


  • Helping others build their legacies

  • Being a meaningful part of Moonfare and helping it grow

  • Exclusivity

  • Transparency

  • Access and Community

  • Benefits, not incentives

  • Structure/program format, not scheme

  • Levels, not tiers


The tier-based system was the main change we proposed by creating a scenario where investors would be rewarded accordingly for the quality of their referrals. That would allow us to create a system where "soft rewards" such as taking part in events and exclusive information would provide good value and a better ROI.


Since we learned through a new survey (second round of research) that VSOPs were still a powerful tool to encourage referrals, we decided to keep it, but only for higher tiers (VIPs).

Final Result


We managed to rebrand the program, now called "The Investor's Club," and "reskin" the current implementation, adding the tiers logic to the backend.


The project took about 3 months to finalize, including pitching the new logic to high-level stakeholders (including the CEO). What we delivered:


  • Program renaming and rebrand with front end implementation

  • New tier-based reward system based on qualified referrals (referrals with actual investment vs. the referral with registrations only) with back end logic implementation

  • Complete CRM strategy for phasing out of old program and launch of new one

  • Improved user experience for referrals’ status (based on research insights)


With V1 implemented and ready to roll-out, I’ve handed-over the topic fully to the Sr. Product Designer who helped throughout the project. They’re researching further improvements to the referral experience and an the a program extension including affiliate links.

Tier logic, based on referrals with investments

Investor’s Club main pages redesigns (+ enhanced moble view)

Improved referrals’ visibility with progress status
Improved referrals’ visibility with progress status
New referral journey (simplified)

The project is currently being rolled out in 4 geographies (the US, EU/UK, and Singapore), with slightly different rules to comply with local regulations.

The project is currently being rolled out in 4 geographies (the US, EU/UK, and Singapore), with slightly different rules to comply with local regulations.

The project is currently being rolled out in 4 geographies (the US, EU/UK, and Singapore), with slightly different rules to comply with local regulations.

Learnings


We managed to rebrand the program, now called "The Investor's Club," and "reskin" the current implementation, adding the tiers logic to the backend.


The project took about 3 months to finalize, including pitching the new logic to high-level stakeholders (including the CEO).


Avoid relying only on anecdotal evidence


We blindly trusted the old survey and the anecdotal evidence found in foundational research, which drove us throughout the first half of the project. Later, we decided to run another study, which brought contradictory data about investors' perceptions of financial rewards (including VSOPs).


Run your main hypotheses with all stakeholders and sponsors, multiple times if needed


The initial program was conceived by the CEO himself, so we took it for granted that he would be ok with the rationale of removing the grants as rewards (based purely on ROI calculations). He opposed it (after months of work) and explained why, with strong empirical evidence (as mentioned before, PE is a very closed niche), VSOPs were the ultimate reward for people who believe in the company vision. Therefore it was important to him to keep it.

Contact

Based in

🇩🇪 Berlin/Germany

Social

Now reading

Work experience

2023 (current)

Senior Product Design Manager @DeliveryHero

2022 (MAY-NOV)

Product Design Manager @ Moonfare

2018-2022

Product Design Manager @ HelloFresh

Contact

Based in

🇩🇪 Berlin/Germany

Social

Now reading

Work experience

2023 (current)

Senior Product Design Manager @DeliveryHero

2022 (MAY-NOV)

Product Design Manager @ Moonfare

2018-2022

Product Design Manager @ HelloFresh

Contact

Based in

🇩🇪 Berlin/Germany

Social

Now reading

Work experience

2023 (current)

Senior Product Design Manager @DeliveryHero

2022 (MAY-NOV)

Product Design Manager @ Moonfare

2018-2022

Product Design Manager @ HelloFresh