Driving 20% membership growth by replacing manual verification with a 1-tap NFC ecosystem.
CHALLENGE
OPPORTUNITY
Why NFC?
We evaluated three methods to solve the queue crisis.
QR Codes: Cheap, but required app downloads (High Friction).
Manual Lists: Free, but unscalable for 2,000 students (Slow).
NFC Cards: Higher cost, but instant 'tap-and-go' experience (Zero Friction).
Designing for Durability & Desire
The card had to be more than a key; it had to be a status symbol. I iterated on matte vs. gloss finishes to ensure the NFC coil was protected while maintaining a premium feel that students would keep in their wallets.
The 3 initial concepts for the cards
Low Friction Onboarding
Aside from being a novelty, it was a portal. The tap immediately launched a mobile-optimized webpage showing the student their membership status and upcoming events, without requiring a single login. This created a seamless link between the physical and digital club experience.
Gamified Campus Discovery
Engagement: Turned the "First Year Guide" into an interactive map, increasing dwell time.
Monetisation: We turned the digital guide into a revenue asset. By integrating our Diamond Sponsors (Jane Street, ANZ) as interactive buildings on the campus map, we provided direct value back to sponsors and created a new funding stream for the club.
Mobile Optimization: Implemented horizontal scroll cards to handle information density on mobile devices.
Campus Map of University & Sponsored Buildings
Refining the "First Tap" Experience
The initial hypothesis was that students would figure it out instantly. However, testing showed users were confused about "what" happened after the tap. I added a clear success state animation and a push notification to provide immediate system feedback.
The notification was created to show they successfully tapped the NFC at the right location.
Impact by Numbers
The statistics of the NFC Membership card usage in the first two weeks of University
What I'd Do Differently
Due to the constraints of the timeline, the first batch didn't come with the best cyber security. This meant that the NFC website redirection could have been altered to another URL if the users wished to do so. This would have affected the trust of our members if there was any misconduct of our product.
In hindsight, I would have gotten a batch to test with a small user group, rather than mass launching it towards all members.
