Minipass iOS - Product Design
Minipass is a B2C mobile app connecting consumers with restaurants based on the SaaS restaurant management system at Minitable. We leveraged intelligent tools and technologies like payment, Apple Wallet. Automation ensemble with agile Scrum for design and rapid iterations.
In Aug 2022, Minipass was cold released on the App Store, allowing users to download it through an advertising banner on Minitable webpage. Streamlining the onboarding process with a seamless one-click sign-in or sign-up button, resulted in acquiring over 200 weekly user growth in the initial 2 months. With features like dining trip management and an all-in-one member wallet, Minipass quickly gained traction, eventually leading to $1.8M funding in Dec 2022. This was when I joined the team as the Product Operations Intern: collaborating closely with the Product Manager to facilitate the improvement of Minipass with strategic thinking, while also overseeing Product Specification, Product Marketing, Product Design, and Product Development. Within 10 months from initial release, we achieved 100k+ downloads, 300k+ users, and 3M+ user engagements.
Minipass roadmap from 2022 to 2023, over 18 months
Tools: Figma, Sketch, Miro, Monday, Jira, Trello, Google Analytics
Scope: Minipass iOS mobile App, Related web pages, Minipass admin and CRM system, Merchant-end integration
Timeline: 12/01/2023 - 06/01/2023
Minipass interface design - Login page, Merchant profile, and membership
Introduction
Minitable is a startup specializing in restaurant management systems, providing SaaS services to thousands of North American restaurants. Its offerings include waitlist and reservation systems, contactless ordering, and POS systems. Evaluating the existing B2B product fleets, we noticed a gap in serving the consumer-merchant relationship. Despite Minitable's extensive user base in the US, the company wasn't effectively capitalizing on the data to generate more profits.
Minipass aimed to bridge the gap by offering management tools and marketing platforms. This consumer-oriented product would complement the Minitable ecosystem, featuring loyalty points, trip management, a virtual wallet, and social scenarios. It would become the go-to app for users dining out, while businesses would benefit from strengthened customer loyalty and increased sales of our SaaS products. Minipass seamlessly connects consumers with merchants by leveraging the established B2B product fleet and building new features.
Trip Management - Central and Streamlined Feature of Minipass
Online waitlist & reservations, a core product of the company's existing business, is the initial feature introduced in Minipass. A comprehensive schedule & trip management system was developed to cover the entire user journey, from waiting or reserving a table to the completion of the dining experience. Users can easily access the waitlist or reservation button through the merchant list. Moreover, they can remotely join a waitlist, saving valuable time they would otherwise spend waiting at the restaurant. In terms of UI design, we emphasized essential merchant information and highlighted core functions, balancing both business goals and user needs.
Through continuous optimization, users can now effortlessly complete all trip-related actions on Minipass. Below shows the quick login user flow & trip management interface:
Free and Paid Draw Event
The engaging Minipass Draw feature enables users to effortlessly participate in both free and paid lotteries and win prizes from restaurants. This lottery/draw feature was released in Nov 2022, so when I was first hired, my tasks were to manage & operate the lottery events in the app, allowing users to participate and improving user engagements.
I created manuals for internal use by detailedly explaining the Minipass Draw Feature and how to monitor, both from the admin-end and the relationship with the user front-end. Then, I began to ideate any potential ways to increase event participation and the winner prize redemption rate. Ultimately I delivered a pitch deck to suggest possible changes to the event settings and rules, which were approved and implemented right away.
In a lean start-up environment, I successfully applied the agile approach. After streamlining the operation SOP, we published over 70 draw events. Additionally, we monitored data to optimize the strategy over time, resulting in over 1400 participants in 60 days. To streamline the entire process, we utilized an automated CRM system for seamless event management, including result notifications and prize redemption, resulting in a 50% increase in effectiveness.
At the same time, I started to analyze the overall product performance with data-driven approach, brainstormed product strategies to optimize the app from different aspects (e.g. marketing/advertising strategies, changes/improvements that can be implemented, additional features that may be beneficial for users), delivered periodic pitch decks accordingly, and revised internal manuals to reflect any product updates & ensure they are up-to-date.
What else was I responsible for?
1. Merchant information management from the admin-end
2. Evaluate potential business partnerships
- Researched on the app Anonymous Agent (Web 3.0 marketplace), and conducted a case study to explore future business/marketing opportunities with Minitable
3. Pivot ideas on how to maintain our user base in the short-term and mid/long-term
4. Deliver demos on operating the app features from the admin settings, along with their connection with our B2B services
5. Oversee the launch of new features: Membership pass "MyPass", loyalty program, reward system, etc.
As a team, we brainstormed this feature together, and aligned with the idea of Membership Pass, which consists of Loyalty & Rewards. The all-in-one membership pass allows users to join as a member at multiple restaurants of their choice, while only need to scan a single QR code to earn points & miles. The miles ultimately translate to loyalty tiers with different levels of benefit to enjoy, and the points can be used to redeem available rewards.
After the completion of design and development, I delivered demos to the internal teams and created operation manual in a slide-deck format. At the same time, I monitored on the CRM admin for feature settings and functionality.
