Two retail ecosystems. One customer.

Customers could use their Beauty Insider rewards when buying Sephora products in a JCPenney store, but the online journey did not offer the same continuity. Interviewed customers described the inconsistency and a reason to complete their shopping elsewhere.

The integration had to connect two account systems, respect both brands, and let customers select samples and use their rewards without losing their place in the purchase journey.

I led the integration experience, from customer interviews and use cases through prototypes, testing, and design handoff. I worked with the JCPenney testing team, both product managers, and Sephora’s product owner and designer.

I owned the interaction design and negotiated how the experience would fit JCPenney’s existing patterns while meeting Sephora’s rewards and account requirements.

In-store customer interviews established the gap between expected rewards access and the online experience. We then compared different ways to expose free samples and Beauty Insider account access.

Flow A separated sample selection from account access through the cart. Flow B placed both in the same module after a Sephora item was added. The recorded interaction rates favored making the relationship between samples and rewards more visible.

The work moved from separate entry points to a combined module and then to a checkout-based flow. A subsequent live pilot reached 5% of eligible checkout customers.

The pilot revealed further work: help customers locate their membership number, make the three samples easier to see, and reduce the sense of being overwhelmed by account choices. Those observations gave the next iteration a specific focus.

These are interaction rates from the compared designs. They informed the grouping and placement of the rewards experience. Separate mobile rewards work reported 11% greater enrollment and 15.84% greater account linking; those measures describe different initiatives.