Unlockable Challenges
Engaging couriers with a succession of rewards
My Role
Led the product design implementation, including Competitive Analysis, Prototyping, UI/UX Design, and Usability Testing.
Timeline
Jan - Mar 2025
Project Type
Feature in the courier mobile app, designed for iOS. Used the PIE design system
Outcomes
Our goal is to improve courier engagement during delivery: shifts worked, shifts completed, and orders accepted
Overview: Revamping our existing Challenges infrastructure
Couriers on our platform are often given “Challenges”, which are tasks that reward them for completing a certain number of deliveries (ex: complete 10 deliveries for $25).
However, long challenges can feel intimidating and difficult to complete, which reduces courier motivation and participation.
To address this, I designed Unlockable Challenges, a new incentive structure that breaks large challenges into smaller milestone rewards for increased courier engagement. My role involved adapting the existing UI in production for Unlockable Challenges.
Goal: Increase courier engagement on the network with Unlockable Challenges
Primary KPIs
Shifts joined
Shifts completed
Offers accepted
Problem
Existing delivery challenges don’t cater well to our different courier cohorts.
For part-time couriers, they find Challenges where a large number of deliveries is required for the reward intimidating.
For full-time couriers, once they complete a Challenge and receive the reward, they lack the motivation to keep going.
This leads to lower engagement with the Challenges system and fewer completed deliveries and shifts.
Problem Statement:
How might we redesign courier Challenges so that long-term goals feel more achievable and motivating during a shift?
Competitive analysis
To understand how other products sustain motivation over time, I explored gamification systems that use progressive rewards and milestone-based incentives.
One notable example was Duolingo’s quest system, which provides:
Clear progress tracking
Milestone rewards
Frequent feedback loops
I also explored how our competitors with sequential Challenges structured their milestone rewards.
Exploration areas
Progress bar structures
Reward visibility
Challenge breakdown formats
Challenge conditions and timing
Key design principles:
Based on research and product goals, I defined three design principles for the feature.
Establish clear conditions
Ensure the copy and structure of the Challenge is easy to understand
Clear visual progress
Encourage couriers by showing their progress during their shift
Create early wins
Smaller milestone rewards help reinforce engagement early in the challenge.
Challenges Survey
I conducted a Challenges survey to understand what factors would make unlockable Challenges most motivating.
Participants:
11 couriers for a Challenges survey
Method
Unmoderated user test on usertesting.com
Key findings:
Achievability is paramount. When network conditions are poor, couriers want Challenges with fewer orders so that they can complete them quicker
Couriers like Challenges with constant rewards or bigger rewards.
Visible progress increases motivation
Design changes implemented:
Break Challenges into progressive milestones with constant or increasing rewards
Highlight Challenges dynamically with a progress bar at key points:
when the courier is near completion, while they are waiting for offers
when they complete a Challenge to create a sense of joy and accomplishment
💡 Future roadmap item: Earnings Challenges
Earnings Challenges reward couriers for earning a certain amount of money
example: "Receive a $50 reward for earning $250"
Earnings Challenges motivate couriers to take longer, higher paying deliveries and reject shorter deliveries so that they can make more progress towards their reward. Depending on our network needs, we can use earnings Challenges to motivate couriers to accept more high-paying orders, and use delivery Challenges to motivate couriers to accept shorter deliveries.
Design Exploration
I explored different ways to structure milestone rewards.
Design alternatives explored
Consecutive donut progress bars
Straight progress bars
Scrollable progress bars
Key tradeoffs
Given the limited space on the dashboard, I decided to go with a scrollable horizontal progress bar over circles.
Usability Testing to validate our new designs
I then conducted user testing with the following research questions:
Challenge Hub
Do Couriers understand unlockable Challenges as it is shown to them?
Do they find the unlockable Challenges motivating?
Overall, designs were found to be very easy to use, and highly motivating.
Final Design
The final design includes:
Challenge Hub
Displays active and past Challenges
Abbreviates what's needed to achieve the next reward
Challenge Details
Shows the entire scrollable progress bar for all unlockable rewards, along with all details and conditions
Progress Tracking
While couriers are on shift, they have a visual progress indicator on what their next milestone is
Key Features
Milestone-based rewards
Large challenges are divided into smaller checkpoints that unlock sequentially.
Example progression:
Deliver 3 orders → Reward unlocked
Deliver 6 orders → Next reward
Deliver 10 orders → Final reward
Progress visualization
A visual progress indicator helps couriers quickly understand:
Current progress
Upcoming milestone
Remaining deliveries
Motivational feedback
Each milestone acts as a small success moment, reinforcing continued engagement during the shift.
Expected Impact
Since couriers are automatically enrolled in the Challenge system, this feature aims to improve courier engagement with our network.
Primary KPIs
Increase shifts joined
Increase shifts completed
Increase delivery offers accepted
Constraints
This project considered several constraints.
Marketplace conditions
Order volume may vary by region
Courier availability fluctuates
Development scope
The feature was designed and handed off but not developed during the project timeline.
Key Learnings
Couriers are largely driven by accomplishment, involving consistent offers, bonuses, and competence. Unlockable Challenges create this system by giving couriers a sense of progress, with a visual progress bar, and rewards as they continue to deliver.