Led UX of Airtel Thanks 2.0—a complex rewards and tier program simplified into an intuitive super app. Navigated competing priorities across services and content, established a dedicated growth design function, and delivered a 6% MAU engagement lift across 100M+ active users post-launch.
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Introduction
The Airtel Thanks Program, launched in July 2019, evolved from its earlier loyalty program, "My Airtel." It aimed to enhance customer loyalty and retention in the highly competitive Indian telecom industry. Facing fierce competition, Airtel sought to differentiate itself by offering compelling rewards and a superior customer experience. This later went on to lay the foundation for a unique super app.
Brief
The Construct
Telecom loyalty programs in India are mostly theater. You sign up, forget you signed up, and three months later you realize you had free Netflix the whole time. That was Airtel Thanks before 2.0.
The program had real value - Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Apollo health membership, insurance. But the app buried it under navigation designed by someone who had never questioned anything. Users couldn't tell what tier they were on, what benefits they had, or how to actually use them. The UX actively worked against the business case.
Meanwhile Jio was coming for everyone. Airtel needed customers to feel the value difference, not just read about it in a FAQ.
User Segmentation:
This tiered structure allowed Airtel to cater to the diverse needs of its customers and provide personalized rewards and privileges based on their usage and loyalty. It also encouraged customers to explore and use more Airtel services, ultimately contributing to customer retention and revenue growth. This program segmented users into three tiers based on their monthly Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) and their tenure with Airtel:
Implementation
Two different problems with one surface, which is always interesting.
The business problem: ARPU was soft, churn was a threat, and Airtel had a genuinely strong content and services bundle that wasn't converting. Cross-selling postpaid, broadband, DTH - none of it was sticking because users weren't even discovering it.
The design problem: the app looked like it was built in phases by teams who never talked to each other. No coherent information hierarchy. The tier system (Silver, Gold, Platinum) was technically documented but not communicated. And nothing worked well on low-end Android devices in patchy connectivity - which is a large percentage of 100M users.
I led UX on the redesign. My job was to make a complex loyalty tier system feel obvious, to build a design language the whole org could ship against, and to not break things for 100 million people on launch day.
Before any design work, the team had to understand what we were actually explaining to users. The program segments customers into three tiers based on monthly ARPU and tenure.
Silver gets Airtel TV and Wynk Music. Entry-level. Prepaid customers on plans under Rs 249.
Gold gets Amazon Prime, ZEE5, HOOQ, Eros Now, ALT Balaji, Airtel TV Premium, Wynk. Prepaid on Rs 299+, all Infinity Postpaid, broadband under Rs 1099.
Platinum gets a year of Amazon Prime, a year of Disney+ Hotstar, Apollo 24/7 Circle Membership, handset damage protection, Wynk, three months of Netflix, and priority customer support. Postpaid on Rs 499+, broadband on Rs 1099+.
The tiers were real and the benefits were genuinely differentiated. The problem was the app communicated none of this clearly. Users didn't know which tier they were on. They didn't know what they had. They didn't know what they were missing.
The team prioritised understanding user pain points and the problem statement as the foundation for the design iteration. The primary goal was to address these pain points effectively. This approach ensures that the design changes align with the actual needs and preferences of Airtel users.
The team has embarked on a journey to create personalised user experiences within the Airtel Thanks app. This involves understanding user context and preferences to offer relevant content and actions. For instance, introducing quick actions tailored to individual users' preferences enhances the app's usability.
An interactive feedback form was integrated into the app, allowing users to provide comments, suggestions, and report issues. This feedback loop was closely monitored by the product team for quick action.
Redesign the Airtel app to seamlessly integrate the Airtel Thanks Program. And deliver a seamless and enjoyable experience for both existing and new program members.
The rollout followed a well-planned phase-by-phase approach. Initially, the program-related features and sections were updated, ensuring minimal disruption to the core app functionalities. Each phase was thoroughly tested before moving to the next.
To create a more user-friendly experience, the team aimed to reduce noise and declutter the interface. This involved streamlining the display of telco vitals and benefits, simplifying information hierarchy, and eliminating unnecessary elements that might confuse users. The result is a cleaner and more intuitive design.
Planning and designing a unified design language system is a strategic move to ensure consistency across all digital assets. This approach aims to deliver a seamless and engaging experience for customers. A consistent design language fosters brand recognition and reinforces Airtel's commitment to delivering a delightful user experience.
The app's navigation was overhauled, with a focus on simplicity and clarity. User testing and feedback informed the placement of program-related links and features for optimal usability.
The team recognised the importance of speaking the current digital language to resonate with contemporary users. This includes adopting design elements and patterns that are in line with current industry standards. However, it's crucial to strike a balance between modernisation and maintaining familiarity for Airtel users who are accustomed to the previous design.
Results
Eight distinct focus areas. Not aspirations - decisions we made and shipped.
Decluttering the interface. The old app had too many things competing for attention. We stripped back the telco vitals display, tightened the information hierarchy, and removed UI elements that weren't earning their space. Simpler isn't always better, but here it was.
Tier visibility. A user should know their tier status within two seconds of opening the app. We made it a primary surface element, not something buried in account settings. If you're Platinum, you should feel Platinum.
Personalized quick actions. We introduced actions tailored to individual usage patterns. If you mostly use the app to recharge, that's what you see first. This required working closely with the data team to define the logic - design doesn't work in isolation from product here.
Unified design language. There was no shared component library before this. Teams were shipping inconsistently across iOS, Android, and web. We built the foundations of a design system: consistent tokens, component patterns, spacing rules. The parts nobody notices when they're working and everyone notices when they're missing.
Simplified navigation. We restructured the nav based on user testing. Where program-related features were placed turned out to matter a lot - discoverability of benefits was directly tied to navigation depth.
Low-end device optimization. The app had to work on Rs 8,000 Android phones with 2G connections. That shapes decisions at every level: image weight, animation, progressive loading. We designed for the median user, not the aspirational user.
Phased rollout. Program features shipped first, then navigation, then the new design language, then personalization. Each phase tested before the next started. It's slower. It's the right call at this scale.
Feedback loop. We shipped an interactive feedback form inside the app. The product team monitored it directly. Fast signal, faster iteration.
The program witnessed a remarkable ~75% increase in daily engaged customers who activated one or more Thanks offers in May compared to the Mar-Apr average. This indicates a substantial boost in customer engagement with the program.
The program contributed close to +8% increase in customer retention rates quarterly, as customers were more inclined to stay with Airtel to enjoy the program's benefits. There was +10.5% quarterly gain in MAUs
Enhanced user engagement and cross-selling of Airtel's services have resulted in revenue growth for the company.
The program has provided Airtel with valuable data insights into customer behaviour and preferences. This data is instrumental in shaping future product offerings and marketing strategies.
The program's value propositions and rewards have resonated well with customers, leading to increased program engagement and adoption.
Customers responded positively to the program's offerings, including insurance benefits, Amazon Prime membership, and other exclusive rewards.
The implementation of a unified design language system ensured a consistent and engaging experience across all of Airtel's digital assets, creating a strong brand identity and making it easier for users to navigate.
The app redesign focused on decluttering and simplifying the user interface. This approach led to a more intuitive and user-centric design, improving the overall user experience and making it more accessible for both iOS and Android users.
The program has contributed to revenue growth for Airtel, not only through increased 13% Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) but also through the acquisition of new customers (24%) attracted by the program's offerings.
70% Online penetration of recharge during lockdown (up from 35% before the lockdown)
The program has allowed Airtel to effectively segment its customer base based on usage and loyalty, enabling more targeted marketing and service delivery.
The program's focus on providing premium content has led to increased data consumption among program members. This data monetisation strategy has generated additional revenue for Airtel.
Learnings
There was no reference for this. India hadn't seen a telecom loyalty program done well before. Amazon had something in e-commerce. Paytm and Google Pay had spin-the-wheel, quizzes, gamification. Nothing in the same category, at this scale, with this level of benefit complexity.
No reference is both liberating and dangerous. You're not anchored to what existed. You also have nothing to sanity-check your decisions against.
Airtel had an in-house research facility. Real users, called in, moderated sessions, behind a one-way mirror. Before any design work started, we watched people use the old app. The question wasn't "what do you think of the design?" The question was: can you find your tier? Can you redeem a reward? Do you know what you have?
Most couldn't. That data was the brief.
The process that followed had design reviews, prototype rounds, usability sessions, and A/B tests. Not the most rigorous by industry standards, but the signal was real. Most decisions moved forward between design reviews and prototype rounds. The quarterly reviews with leadership were where course corrections happened. Reactionary in some ways. The cadence kept us honest.
Progressive rollout was not optional. Test environment first. Then 2% of users. Then 10%. Then production. Each phase monitored before the next opened. This was 100 million people. You don't flip a switch.
The landing page was the hardest political problem in the project. Every team at Airtel wanted pixels on the first fold. Rewards. Recharge. Content. UPI. Broadband. Everyone had a business case for being there. Deciding what went where, and defending it in rooms where everyone disagreed, was a significant portion of the actual design work.
There's a lesson that came out of a decision made before this project. The Airtel Wallet payment icon was moved from top navigation to the second fold. Reasonable hierarchy logic. It cost the business hard. The icon had to go back. Users had built muscle memory around where it lived. Changing it broke a habit that existed across millions of people. That incident shaped how carefully we thought about placement decisions on Thanks.
Screen size was the other constant. The app had to work on phones that cost eight thousand rupees. That determines what can live on the first fold, how dense information can get, what can be animated and what can't.
The starting point was one-size-fits-all with a light personalisation layer built on tier. The personalization that shipped was more sophisticated than that. But the architecture came from that early position.
These came from the post-launch period.
Zero critical incidents at launch across both iOS and Android. For a product at this scale, that's not a given. It reflects the phased approach and the engineering partnership.
MAUs grew 4% in the first month post-launch, 8% by month two, and hit 11% by the end of Q1. That kind of ramp is the clearest signal that the revamp changed retention behaviour, not just first impressions. Users weren't coming back because of a campaign. They were coming back because the product was better.
Conclusion
Three things.
First: competing priorities. Every service team at Airtel had opinions about what should be surfaced. Content, services, recharge, broadband - everyone wanted prime real estate. The design had to hold a hierarchy against a lot of internal pressure. That required being very clear about what the user needed vs. what the business wanted to push.
Second: device diversity. Designing for 100M users means designing for a huge range of hardware and connectivity. The choices that look conservative on a flagship phone are necessary on the phones most of India actually uses.
Third: consistency at scale. A unified design language sounds like an obvious win. Getting it adopted across teams is a different project. I spent real time on that - working with engineers, writing documentation, doing reviews. The system only works if people use it.
The personalization we shipped was solid for v1. It was still fairly blunt: based on observable behavior patterns, not intent. I'd want to push further on understanding why users were doing what they were doing, not just what they were doing. The data was there; we didn't have time to use it well.
The onboarding for the tier system also needed more work. Users who understood their tier were significantly more engaged. We made the tier more visible in the app, but we didn't do enough to help new members understand the value of upgrading. That was a missed conversion.
The program vs. propositions confusion was real and it hurt us. Users couldn't clearly tell whether they were experiencing "Airtel Thanks" as a program or whether they were just seeing a bundle of individual offers. The discoverability of what you actually had was still lower than it should have been. The FAQ language wasn't helping either: technically correct, practically useless for someone who just wanted to know what they had and how to use it.
Instrumentation should have been a priority from day one, not from day ninety. We were reactive on measurement. Data availability was treated as a post-launch concern. That's wrong at this scale. You need to know whether a feature is being used before the next quarterly review.
Scope crept before launch. It's a predictable problem and we still didn't prevent it. Better dependency mapping across teams, clearer communication about what changed when, and socializing interim fixes in advance would have saved real confusion downstream. Duplication of work happened because the right hand didn't always know what the left was doing.
One more: the field teams. Retailers and on-ground circles sold Airtel. They didn't have hands-on experience with the new propositions before launch. Giving them demo access and training before it went live would have helped them explain the program to customers. That handshake between product and distribution is easy to underweight when you're focused on the app.
