Hopper – Growth & Fintech


When I joined Hopper, I was a bit unsure of what my role would entail. But I really liked their approach to product testing and had a hunch that the growth team was working on something really significant. For the next 18 months, I had the pleasure of collaborating with a team of incredibly talented individuals to lay the groundwork for what is now the cornerstone of every transaction on Hopper: the Wallet, Carrot Credits, and Cash Back.

Role

Product Design Lead

Year

Jan 2020 → Aug 2021

Team size

10+ engineers, 2 pm

Special thanks

Sarah Sheu, Dakota Smith, Derek Salvucci. And all the growth engineering, product, support team.

First things first

We knew that customers care a lot about the cost of hotel stays, so we started by giving a $10 discount. We created a Wallet for users to see and use their offer, and built a lot of systems to help us move fast without getting stuck later.

Starting the growth flywheel

Adding cash back rewards for future purchases helped us keep customers and get more transactions. We used these rewards at important times during the purchase journey, and made sure everything related to transactions looked consistent and easy to understand.

Trials and Errors

The team I worked with grew a lot even though we faced many challenges due to the pandemic. We tried many experiments and it was quite overwhelming at times. As the design lead, I had to make sense of all the experiments and create a clear user experience.

Paving the Way

Before leaving Hopper for Practice, with Sarah and Derek's help, I came up with ideas based on data to make the Wallet the center of Hopper. I also wrote down a system to make sure customers have the best experience possible.