BWS: take two

What we learned

Motivation and ability were failing. While the frontline team was already doing the prompting. Five insights shaped the recommendation.

The current journey showed where the data was leaking

Mapping the in-store journey across three stages: sign-up, checkout and loyalty about half of transactions used the POS button, roughly a quarter used Guest mode and only around one in eight were linked to Everyday Rewards (EDR).

Customers got the discount, and the business got no customer data. Fewer than a third of app users had linked EDR and over 90% of new-to-app customers did not register after a POS button redemption.

Customers were being asked to do too much, too late

Sign-up asked for 5+ steps (download, sign up, find the right barcode, scan, link EDR), and by Hick's Law every extra step loses about 20% of users. Customers at the counter are already preparing to leave.

Poor reception, slow load times of several seconds, older phones and logged-out apps compounded it. Older customers often had no smartphone or refused another app.

Store teams were improvising without support

Team members were good at prompting customers, but had no scripts or training beyond a launch cheat sheet, so each store invented its own spiel.

Targets conflicted with queue pressure and customer goodwill, so staff reached for the POS button, especially during Friday and Saturday peaks. POS prompts were also sometimes wrong, which eroded staff confidence and customer trust.

The “why” was missing

One store manager summed it up: customers whip out the barcode to get the deal and see the app as an unnecessary thing. The app also confused customers about its link to Everyday Rewards, with many assuming their EDR card should already give app pricing.

The discount was the "what", but nothing told customers the “why”, which is that BWS can recognise them and make offers relevant to them.

Sign-up was losing customers before they linked

Inside the app, more than half of customers who started registering dropped off before reaching the link Everyday Rewards button.

The funnel lost people at every step: account creation, optional account details (the biggest single drop) and the handover to Everyday Rewards. Roughly one in seven people who started registering never finished at all.

Two problems sat around the funnel. The app showed several barcodes with unclear roles (Appy Deals, a wallet card and a physical card), so customers did not know which to scan.

Poor in-store connectivity also stopped customers onboarding or linking in store, and the offline fallback was a generic barcode that captured no customer data.

Nearly half of baskets and revenue came through the POS button, even though customers with a linked Everyday Rewards account spent more per order and ordered more often than guests.

Future state

Hypothesis: If we can collect a single piece of contact data at the POS, we can follow up with motivated customers, lift registered monthly active users and grow a database that powers personalisation.

The ideal experience is customers choosing Appy Deals over Everyday Rewards as their default for best value, finding it convenient, fast and simple, and loving it enough to come back.

Four principles guided the recommendations:

Start with the customer's reality, not our ideal state: meet people where they are, using physical cards, digital wallet integration, two-way linking with Everyday Rewards, and registering or redeeming outside the app.

Make it simpler, with more ways to join: fewer steps, plus options such as adding an Appy Deals card to a phone wallet and scanning it like a rewards card.

Give customers a reason to return: personalisation and exclusive value beyond price. Industry research found roughly a third of Australians want exclusive access and almost a quarter want personalised recommendations.

Empower the people who deliver the experience: clarity, tools and agency for store teams, with support that enables rather than targets that feel punitive.

We framed these as how-might-we questions for the business, such as how might we make Appy Deals accessible to more users, and how might we show customers we know them and are more than just a number.

Onboarding concepts and in-store opportunities

We took the sign-up and linking journey into concept design, focusing on the user experience rather than the interface so stakeholders could react to the flow.

The research also pointed to three opportunities beyond the app.

First, onboarding and linking before the store visit, through timely nudges such as push notifications.

Second, a digital wallet card, which gives access without costly reception upgrades and fits how many younger customers prefer to redeem.

Third, the option to sign up, link and redeem at the POS, a model customers already know from other retailers. All of these need further analysis, stakeholder input and user testing before release.

Outcomes

We gave the business five priorities and a way to measure them. Increasing registered monthly active users is not only about adding features, because success depends on an ecosystem that needs constant attention.

1. Fix the fundamentals: app speed and reliability, and accurate POS prompts.

2. Add clarity: benefits beyond price, a clear reason for the mechanic and clear partnership definitions with Everyday Rewards.

3. Empower the frontline: consistent training, updated scripts and tech that works.

4. Broaden inclusion: access for customers who do not use the app, including a physical or digital wallet card and an offline barcode.

5. Give reasons to return: personalisation and exclusive value beyond price.

Success metrics: more registered and EDR-linked monthly active users, more new registrations, fewer Guest mode and repeat POS button transactions, a larger database, a higher Appy Deals share of promotional sales, and better voice of customer and NPS scores. FY26 targets included reducing the Guest mode share and lifting the share of EDR-linked Appy Deals transactions.

Sizing the business case

We sized the opportunity so the business could weigh it, using FY25 app data. Roughly one in seven people who start registering do not complete it, which is tens of thousands of customers a year.

If all of them converted from guest to member, the upside could reach low double-digit millions in annual revenue. Our modelled scenarios assume small gains in completion and estimate low-to-mid single-digit millions from fixing registration, plus hundreds of thousands to about two million dollars from easier Everyday Rewards linking. These are estimates that testing needs to validate.

Next steps and scaling

We tied each finding to the three FY26 focus areas so the work could slot into existing plans.

1. Grow customers: run an Appy Deals plus EDR points multiplier, expand product breadth and improve the onboarding experience for older segments.

2. Understand customers: integrate the EDR linking journey into app sign-up, automate the data feed and clarify privacy messaging.

3. Engage customers: add a digital wallet barcode, speed up the app, and build a unified training toolkit and a Connected Community support model for store teams.

The frontline feedback loops (voice of customer and Appy Deals tracking) stay in place so each change can be tested against the metrics above.

Delivery sat across four groups. The squad brought designs and features to life in the app, the CRO team made sure decisions were driven by data and testing, marketing brought the BWS brand to life in the new experience, and eCommerce owned the business outcome.

The plan ran from the playback through research, wireframing and user feedback, build and delivery, with an onboarding and linking campaign planned for February (to be confirmed).