How might we overcome the negative feelings towards giving a gratuity?

Overview

This project shows how I can think creatively to design a memorable, enjoyable experience. Conventions have their place, but not if you want to stand out.

Business problem

The objective

Design a tipping experience for the customer-facing display of the POS terminal that overcomes the negative feelings people have towards giving a gratuity.

Collaboration

The team

Research

What we learned

• Jimmy John's has had a lot of success with a physical tip jar, in some cases raising hourly wages from $12/hr to $17/hr. Their tip jar looks amateurish and definitely not part of the corporate brand, and that's its charm.

Decisions

Key design decisions

1. 01

   Whole-dollar tipping — explored

   It makes the math easier for the customer, but it's still math.

2. 02

   Round up — rejected

   The whole dollars were too much and reversion was the immediate response from our testers.

3. 03

   Conventional percentages — questioned

   Users are used to it, but that lack of pause can work against us. Hitting “No thanks” could be a learned reaction.

4. 04

   A digital tip jar — chosen

   I don't mention the word tip. It's not about paying more, it's about showing care to someone who just performed a service for you. Passive rejection: the button has a countdown timer so the customer doesn't have to actively say “no.”

Outcome

Where it landed

Unfortunately, this project never launched; newer, shinier projects were chased instead. If we had the chance, I would have A/B tested my concept against a more traditional percentage-based method. I want to know if my approach would yield more engagement and money.