A referral program built from zero across 4 countries, where the hardest design work wasn't the screens: it was the system around them.
Fiserv measures client satisfaction continuously. Working close to the quality team, which owns NPS, CSAT and LTR (Likelihood to Recommend), I spotted the pattern: a high volume of promoter clients. People already saying they would recommend us.
Promoters just need a path. And we had none:
| Role | Product Designer (Specialist) Culture and Innovation Pillar |
|---|---|
| Focus | Program Design, Service Design, Multi-country Stakeholder Alignment |
| Collaborators | Commercial, Marketing, HR, Pricing, Quality, Technology (Salesforce, Global Dashboard) across Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico |
| Timeline | Ongoing 2026 · designed, launched and iterating |
Promoters ready, competitors with referral programs, pressure for acquisition. The obvious move was to activate those promoters immediately.
If someone refers a client and the experience fails, you lose two clients: the referred and the referrer.
Activating promoters without a working process isn't an acquisition strategy. It's a detractor factory. The real design problem wasn't a referral screen.
It was the entire system behind it: integrations, commercial journey, rules, training, sustaining rhythm. In 4 countries.
Instead of launching to clients, I proposed running the program as an MVP with the company itself:
A forgiving audience, easy to iterate with. And the timing helped: I was already working with HR on the #FiservProud pillar, so the program plugged into an engagement effort already in motion.
While the MVP runs with associates, research with end clients keeps moving. When the program opens to clients, it will launch informed, not guessed.
Salesforce integrations, Global Dashboard, commercial journey, franchisee priority rules. All of it gets proven inside the company, before a single client depends on it.
A program, not a screen
from the data opportunity to the program proposal
referrer, referred, and commercial team journeys
what counts as a referral, who gets credit, franchisee priority
technology, marketing, commercial, HR and pricing in 4 countries
how to qualify and follow up referrals
how to talk about Fiserv without sounding like a forced sale
digital and physical, for the program and the company
activation and reactivation rhythm
how the program stays alive after launch
All results from the MVP phase:
The interest form doesn't capture that origin. It's not a hidden flaw, it's the next problem on the roadmap.
And the bigger milestone ahead: taking the program from MVP to the promoter clients who inspired it, with the processes and tools already proven inside the company.
to plan the next ones and keep the company engaged, activation by activation
based on what each cycle reveals
preparing the ground for the next phase
Aligning pricing, HR, commercial, marketing and technology in 4 countries, with no reporting line over any of them, means building the right argument for each room.
Knowing where referral programs fail is why this one started with associates, not clients.
The communication cadence and the sustaining plan matter as much as the flows.