Joining the project as a Lead Product Designer, I redesigned the loyalty experience for a real estate developer, shaped the product logic across rewards, partners, and resident services, and created a scalable app structure to support long-term customer engagement after property purchase.
Acquiring new customers in real estate is increasingly expensive, while relationships with homeowners often end shortly after the property purchase. The existing loyalty program offered discounts for repeat apartment purchases, but provided little value in everyday life, resulting in low engagement, infrequent returns and limited opportunities to build long-term customer loyalty.
Rather than creating another coupon app, we redesigned loyalty as a resident ecosystem. By connecting rewards, partner offers and everyday services into a single mobile experience, we created a scalable platform that keeps customers engaged long after the purchase and strengthens their relationship with the developer.
INDUSTRY CONTEXT
For developers, the apartment sale is not the end of the customer relationship - it is the beginning of a longer ownership journey. BI Club was designed to create value between rare property transactions.
PRODUCT DISCOVERY
Building BI Club meant defining not only the interface, but the product itself. While the client's marketing team conducted customer research, our role was to translate those insights into a product strategy and validate which concepts deserved to become part of the experience.
Working closely with the Product Manager, I explored multiple product directions through user flows and interactive prototypes before committing to development. Every major decision was reviewed with stakeholders, allowing us to validate assumptions, align on priorities and refine the product vision.
One of the biggest changes was abandoning a complex multi-level gamification system in favor of a simpler loyalty model based on repeat property purchases. By removing unnecessary mechanics and focusing on everyday value, we created a product that was easier to understand, more scalable and better aligned with both user expectations and business goals.
Instead of introducing multiple reward tiers and gamified progression, we focused on a transparent loyalty model based on repeat property purchases. The simplified mechanics reduced cognitive load while preserving long-term motivation.
ENGAGEMENT MODEL
The product was designed around a simple behavioral loop: encourage users to return regularly, complete meaningful activities and immediately realize the value of earned rewards.
The home screen surfaced the next relevant action instead of acting as a dashboard. Users could immediately see available tasks, rewards and partner offers, reducing the time to first interaction.
Tasks became the primary engagement mechanic. Their structure prioritized clarity, making it easy to understand the required action, expected reward and completion status.
Surveys were designed to minimize cognitive load through short flows and clear progress indicators, increasing completion without adding unnecessary interaction.
Rewards were delivered immediately after task completion, creating a direct connection between effort and outcome while reinforcing the habit loop.
Instead of treating points as an abstract balance, the product immediately directed users toward relevant partner offers, helping them convert rewards into tangible everyday value.
DESIGNING WITHIN CONSTRAINTS
Creating a new product from scratch wasn't an option. BI Club had to fit into the existing BI ecosystem, preserving established business logic while delivering a significantly more modern user experience.
One of the main challenges was working within the client's existing design system. Rather than replacing it, we evolved the visual language through carefully selected improvements, making the product feel lighter and more contemporary while remaining consistent with the rest of the ecosystem.
The business also relied on an existing loyalty model based on repeat property purchases. Instead of redesigning the mechanics entirely, we preserved the original progression system and built new engagement layers around it, allowing everyday interactions to complement-not replace-the core loyalty program.
From a technical perspective, the application was embedded inside the existing BI super app. This required extending shared navigation and container components, closely collaborating with backend engineers and defining technical requirements for platform improvements throughout the project.
SCALING THE PRODUCT
Once the core loyalty experience was established, the product evolved with additional engagement mechanics designed to increase return frequency and long-term retention. Instead of introducing isolated features, every new mechanic extended the same behavioral loop and reinforced everyday interaction with the product.
A daily spin mechanic introduced a recurring entry point on the home screen. Users received one free attempt each day, with additional spins available through the in-app currency, encouraging regular visits without interrupting the core experience.
Seasonal prize campaigns were integrated into the existing reward system, giving users another meaningful way to participate while increasing engagement during promotional periods.
The referral program extended acquisition beyond paid channels by rewarding existing residents for inviting new users, turning loyal customers into advocates while keeping the experience consistent with the overall loyalty ecosystem.
IMPACT
The strongest loyalty mechanics were not the most complex ones. The product worked better when rewards, tasks and services were tied to everyday resident value.
A reusable engagement loop gave the team a clearer way to scale new mechanics without turning the product into a collection of disconnected features.
The project required constant alignment between business, marketing, product, design and engineering. Weekly reviews helped protect decision quality and keep stakeholders moving in the same direction.
Working inside an existing ecosystem was less about replacing legacy logic and more about extending it carefully, so the new experience could feel modern without breaking business continuity.
For me, the key takeaway was that senior product design impact comes from shaping the system around the interface: product logic, team alignment, implementation constraints and long-term scalability.
Feel free to contact me if having any questions.
I'm available for new projects or just for chatting.
Herman Lewandowsky, 2026
