THE FULL CASE STUDY

TL;DR Designing a cashback app that users actually come back to

How a trust-first UX strategy, a friction-free cashback flow, and a conversion-focused onboarding reduced drop-off and drove 9 million downloads for P&G's La Cuponera.

Industry:

Brand-owned shopper marketing tool; FinTech

Scope:

Product design; Mobile-iOS & Android

Client:

Procter&Gamble

THE IMPACT

From concept to live product

4.6★

App Store rating

Out of 5, a direct signal of user satisfaction and trust in the experience.

26%

Sign up rate

Of users who browsed offers completed signup

16%

Uplift in sales

Less friction, more purchases. A direct connection from UX to revenue.

CONTEXT

A problem worth solving.

Procter & Gamble needed a mobile cashback application for their Spanish and Portuguese market. One that would stand out in a category already crowded with apps users had learned not to trust.

The brief wasn't just build a cashback app. It was: build one that people actually use more than once.

I joined as an independent Product Designer from day one, working from concept through to launched product. That meant owning the full process: research, information architecture, UX writing, visual design, and close collaboration with developers through build.

*All screens in this case study have been translated to English from the original Spanish.

THE CHALLENGE

The real problem wasn't the cashback, it was the trust

P&G came with a clear brief: build a cashback app that differentiates itself from existing solutions. But the deeper challenge revealed itself quickly, user retention had always been the achilles heel of cashback apps as a category.

Users download them, hit one confusing moment, and leave.

The primary goal was retention. Secondary goals were acquisition, loyalty, and sales uplift. All three are downstream of trust, so trust became the design foundation.

P&G's must-haves

Receipt scanning to earn cashback on P&G products

Browse offers without creating an account

Cashback flow as simple as possible

Secure bank account linking for automatic cashback

Withdrawal available once user reaches €10

DISCOVERY & RESEARCH

30 interviews, four recurring themes

User interviews were conducted with 30 existing P&G customers, (who use cashback apps) structured across four segments: warm-up, current behaviour and challenges, pain points, and closing.

The goal was to understand what cashback app users actually experience, not what we assumed they did.

Research goals

Understand behaviours and pain points around cashback and coupons

Identify gaps in existing market solutions

Build personas that reflect real, diverse shopping habits

Surface the trust signals that would differentiate this app

Complex redemption processes

Existing apps were hard to navigate, especially when it came to actually claiming cashback. Users gave up before completing the flow.

Lack of transparency

Unclear terms around when cashback would arrive, or what conditions applied, created anxiety and distrust. Users didn't know if it was working.

Overwhelming, irrelevant offers

Users felt bombarded with deals that had nothing to do with their shopping habits. Noise eroded engagement over time.

Low trust in payouts & privacy

Concerns about whether cashback would actually arrive and whether their data was safe, deterred continued use.

What users actually want?

Savings that feel real

Especially on frequent, high-volume categories like groceries. The value needs to feel tangible.

Minimum friction

Automatic where possible. Manual steps need to feel fast and obvious, not like a process to learn.

Total transparency

Clear, upfront information about how cashback works builds the trust that turns a first-time user into a repeat user.

PERSONAS DEFINITION

Three personas, one shared frustration

Based on interview findings, I created three personas to guide design decisions.

Each represented a different relationship with savings, technology, and trust, but all shared the same core frustration: existing apps made them work too hard for too little.

Based on interview findings, I created three personas to guide design decisions.

Each represented a different relationship with savings, technology, and trust, but all shared the same core frustration: existing apps made them work too hard for too little.

Persona 1 Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

Persona 2, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

Persona 3, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

DESIGN PROCESS

Building the foundation

Wireframes

I started with sketches to determine direction, infrastructure, and core functions. From there I moved into low-fidelity wireframes, breaking the problem into manageable steps: information architecture first, then interaction patterns, then edge cases. All findings were presented and discussed with stakeholders before moving forward.

Visual system

The styleguide was built to keep the UI clear and modern. The visual language needed to feel trustworthy and approachable, not flashy. Colour, typography, and component decisions were all made with the cautious adopter persona in mind: nothing should feel slick at the expense of clarity.

Wireframes, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

Styleguide, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

Cashback flow

To earn cashback, users follow a simple flow: tap the plus button on any product to add it to My Promotions, then after offline purchase, tag the products they bought and scan their receipt. The receipt is reviewed, and once approved, cashback is added to the wallet.

FEATURE DESIGN . Onboarding

Onboarding: sell the benefit before asking for anything

The design decision

Most cashback apps front-load the registration wall. Users hit a signup form before they've understood why the app is worth their time. We flipped the order: show the value first, ask for the account second.

This onboarding is benefits-oriented. Three simple steps that answer the question "what's in this for me?" before asking "who are you?"

Design objectives

Communicate value before requesting registration

Three steps maximum - no cognitive overload

Reusable for returning users and feature updates

Build trust signals into the first impression

Onboarding, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

Benefits-first onboarding: value before sign up, 3 steps, reusable for feature launches

FEATURE DESIGN . Registration & Preferences

Removing every unnecessary step to the account

The problem

Registration forms are where acquisition dies. Every extra field, every moment of confusion, every missed autofocus is a drop-off risk.

For users who've already been through the onboarding, the account creation step needs to feel like a natural continuation, not a new obstacle.

Registration forms are where acquisition dies. Every extra field, every moment of confusion, every missed autofocus is a drop-off risk.

For users who've already been through the onboarding, the account creation step needs to feel like a natural continuation, not a new obstacle.

CRO decisions

One-click social registration as the primary path

Autofocus on the first form field, removes one tap and signals where to start

Easy switching between Sign Up and Log In to catch wrong-path users

Preferences opt-in framed as personalisation benefit, not a consent form

FEATURE DESIGN . Engagement

Every screen moves the user one step closer to cashback

Homepage

The homepage surfaces the most relevant P&G cashback offers, personalised based on opt-in preferences. A category menu, hottest products section, and clear navigation keep orientation simple.

Users who opted into marketing preferences see a personalised offer feed. Users who didn't still see a useful default selection.

Product page

The product page handles an edge case most apps ignore: What happens when a product's cashback limit has been reached? A clear, non-frustrating state communicates availability.

From the product page, users can add products to My Promotions.

The product page handles an edge case most apps ignore: What happens when a product's cashback limit has been reached? A clear, non-frustrating state communicates availability.

From the product page, users can add products to My Promotions.

Homepage, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

Product page, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

FEATURE DESIGN . Receipt to Payout

The moment that makes or breaks retention

My Promotions

This is where the core conversion happens. Users accumulate products they plan to buy, then after purchase, select what they bought and scan the receipt.

A running cashback total is always visible, giving users a tangible sense of what they're working toward before the receipt is scanned.

This is where the core conversion happens. Users accumulate products they plan to buy, then after purchase, select what they bought and scan the receipt.

A running cashback total is always visible, giving users a tangible sense of what they're working toward before the receipt is scanned.

My promotions flow, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

My Promotions: running cashback total, select purchases, upload receipt

My Receipts

Every scanned receipt lives here. The key design challenge: users needed to understand the status of each receipt without anxiety. Ambiguity at this point "is it processing or did something go wrong?" is a primary cause of support tickets and churn in cashback apps.

Four clearly differentiated statuses, each with a distinct visual treatment and plain-language explanation, eliminated that ambiguity entirely.

My receipts, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

My Receipts: status tracking with four clearly differentiated states

FEATURE DESIGN . Retention

Wallet & notifications: keeping users coming back

Wallet

The wallet shows total cashback, withdrawal options (bank transfer, Bizum, PayPal), and a progress indicator toward the €10 minimum. Before reaching the threshold, users receive notifications showing exactly how close they are, a progress mechanic that drives return visits.

A referral cashback overview is also surfaced here, giving users an additional engagement loop: earn more by sharing.

Wallet, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

Notifications

Both push and in-app notifications were designed as part of the engagement strategy. Push notifications drive re-engagement with new offers, product restocks, and cashback milestones. In-app notifications contextualise actions without interrupting flow.

Every notification touchpoint was designed with the opt-in preferences from registration in mind, relevance, not volume.

Notifications, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

VALIDATION

9+ million downloads and a 4.6★ rating don't lie

App Store/Google Play reviews are one of the clearest signals of whether a product's UX is working. A 4.6★ average across millions of downloads suggests the trust-first design strategy landed, users found the experience clear enough, reliable enough, and valuable enough to come back and tell others.

4.6 star review from App store, Mobile app design for Proctor&Gamble

App Store reviews: 4.6★ across the Spanish and Portuguese market

Key takeaways from designing a consumer cashback product

Remove registration friction before asking for it

Letting users browse before signing up wasn't a compromise, it was a conversion strategy. Showing value first drove a 38% increase in acquisition.

Forget the brief. Talk to the users.

When 30 users describe the same frustration in different words, that's not a data point, that's your design brief

Ambiguity is a churn trigger - clarity is a retention tool

Every unclear status label is a micro drop-off waiting to happen. Designing four distinct, plain-language receipt states wasn't a visual decision, it was a retention decision."

A progress bar toward €10 is not a UI element, it's a reason to come back

Every percentage point toward the withdrawal threshold is a reason to scan one more receipt. Visibility of progress didn't just inform users, it also motivated them.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER

Thoughtful UX got La Cuponera 9M downloads. What could it do for your product or website?

I find where users drop off and design the fix. No guesswork, just results.

Book UX & CRO audit

LET'S WORK TOGETHER

Thoughtful UX got La Cuponera 9M downloads. What could it do for you product or website?

I find where users drop off and design the fix. No guesswork, just results.

Book UX & CRO audit

LET'S WORK TOGETHER

Thoughtful UX got La Cuponera 9M downloads. What could it do for your product or website?

I find where users drop off and design the fix. No guesswork, just results.

Book UX & CRO audit