Content Design · Hilton Honors · 2024
Tier Promotion Messaging
Encourage Honors members to achieve higher tiers by providing personalized progress messaging in the booking experience.
My Role
Content Designer
Team
Product Designer · PM · Data Scientists · Developers
Timeline
5 months
01
Project
To explore and test tier promotion messaging within the booking experience to motivate Hilton Honors members to achieve higher tiers, enhancing customer engagement, and driving conversion and revenue per visitor. This project focuses on designing and testing tier messaging variations for logged-in Honors members to assess the impact on click-through rates and overall user motivation.
02
Problem
Early 2024 identified as a key period for tier promotion experimentation
Hilton Honors occupancy goals
Revenue per visitor growth
Goals
Encourage members to book more nights with personalized tier progression messaging highlighting their path to the next loyalty tier.
Increase click-through rates and conversions by motivating members with actionable and aspirational messaging.
Support business objectives by driving revenue per visitor and enhancing Hilton Honors occupancy in early 2024.
03
Discovery
Understanding Member Motivation
Members are highly motivated by tier progression but lack visibility into how close they are to their next milestone. Drop-off observed when tier progress is unclear.
Members respond to concrete milestones — "just X nights away."
Engagement drops when tier progress is invisible to the member.
Accessibility Audit
Reviewed the current booking flow for barriers impacting users with disabilities. All messaging ensured to adhere to WCAG guidelines.
Color contrast and screen reader compatibility ensured across all variants.
Progress indicators designed to be clear regardless of device or ability.
Competitive Analysis
Benchmarked Marriott Bonvoy and Hyatt World of Rewards. Identified Hilton's gap: no visible tier progression cues or motivational language in the booking flow.
Marriott: progress bars and gamified incentives in booking.
Hyatt: personalized dashboards showing proximity to next reward.
04
Variants
One element, three variations — each testing a different approach to motivating members toward their next tier.
Variant 1
Control
No tier promotion messaging. Members do not see tier-related messaging on the Rooms page. Baseline for measuring the impact of the other variants.
Variant 2
Unique Copy
Greeting: "Hi, [Member Name]"
Tier-specific encouragement — Blue: "You're soaring towards Silver status!" · Silver: "You're so close to reaching Gold!" · Gold: "Diamond is almost yours!" · Diamond: "Lifetime Diamond is in reach!"
Variant 3
Nights Next
Greeting: "Hi, [Member Name]" (bold)
Uniform for all tiers: "You're [X] nights to [Tier]! Just [X] more nights to go this year." Concrete actionable milestone over tier-specific aspiration.
05
Results
Personalized tier messaging drove conversion — without hurting revenue
Variant 3
+11.7%
Lift in conversion for members 1–2 nights from next tier (4.34-point increase)
Variant 2
+7.5%
Lift in conversion driving a 2.62-point increase
Variant 1
+6.8%
Lift achieving a 2.35-point increase
Key segment
3–4
Nights remaining had highest conversion lifts across both variants
The most significant impact was observed in Variant 3, where users with just 1–2 nights remaining to reach their next tier saw an 11.7% lift in conversion. These findings highlight the effectiveness of tailored messaging in motivating guests particularly close to tier progression milestones.
06
Key Takeaway
Proximity to a goal is the most powerful motivator
Variant 3's "Nights Next" approach outperformed unique aspirational copy because it gave members a concrete, specific milestone. "Just 2 more nights" is more actionable than "Diamond is almost yours."
These findings reinforce that content design in loyalty contexts is most effective when it meets users at their exact position in the journey — personalized, precise, and progress-oriented.