Case Study

British Airways

Accounts & Loyalty Insight Stream

Continuous discovery research programme exploring customer understanding of loyalty, self-service, account management and personalisation opportunities.

Role
Lead Researcher

Duration
12 Weeks

Methods
Discovery Interviews
Continuous Discovery
Insight Synthesis

Skills
Service Design | Customer Insight | Loyalty Experience | Stakeholder Management

Overview

British Airways was evolving its My Account experience and wanted to better understand how Executive Club members engaged with loyalty features, account management, personalisation and future travel planning.

Over a 12-week continuous discovery programme, the research explored customer expectations, behaviours and unmet needs across the wider loyalty ecosystem, helping stakeholders identify future opportunities to improve engagement, understanding and long-term customer value.

The Challenge

The British Airways loyalty proposition is complex. Customers are expected to understand concepts such as Avios, Tier Points, reward flights, companion vouchers and loyalty benefits, while also managing upcoming trips and account information.

The challenge was not simply to identify usability issues, but to understand how customers perceived the overall proposition, what they valued most, where confusion existed and what a future-state My Account experience could look like.

My Role

I led qualitative discovery activities across the programme, including moderated customer interviews, insight synthesis and stakeholder reporting.

The research combined:

Discovery interviews with Executive Club members across multiple membership tiers
Exploration of accessibility needs and varying levels of digital confidence
AI moderated research streams to broaden participant coverage
Opportunity identification and future-state ideation

Approach

The research moved beyond transactional tasks to explore broader customer behaviours, expectations and mental models.

Areas explored included:

Understanding of Avios and Tier Points
Loyalty programme engagement
Travel planning and inspiration
Personalisation expectations
Help and support experiences
Upcoming trip management
Customer motivations and decision-making behaviours

The study focused on understanding not only what customers were doing, but why they behaved in particular ways and what prevented deeper engagement with the wider proposition.

Key Themes

Several recurring themes emerged:

Customers viewed My Account primarily as a transactional tool rather than a destination for travel inspiration or loyalty engagement.
Many customers understood the basics of Avios but struggled to fully understand Tier Points, loyalty progression and how to maximise value from the programme.
Personalisation was often perceived as generic marketing rather than genuinely relevant recommendations.
Customers wanted greater transparency, clearer guidance and more visible pathways to achieving loyalty goals.
Travel planning, inspiration and upcoming trips represented significant opportunities for increased engagement and customer value.

Outcome

The programme provided British Airways stakeholders with a richer understanding of how customers perceived and interacted with the wider loyalty ecosystem.

By combining discovery research with future opportunity exploration, the work helped identify ways to improve customer understanding, increase engagement and better align the My Account experience with customer expectations.

Most importantly, the research ensured future decisions could be informed by real customer behaviours, motivations and unmet needs rather than organisational assumptions.

Methods

Discovery Research
Qualitative Interviews
Continuous Discovery
AI Moderated Research
Insight Synthesis
Opportunity Identification
Stakeholder Reporting
Customer Journey Analysis

Skills Demonstrated

Customer Insight
Discovery Research
Service Design
Behavioural Research
Loyalty & Retention
Personalisation
Journey Mapping
Stakeholder Engagement
Strategic Thinking