Defining a product vision for Jersey Mike's next generation of guests.

MY ROLE

UX Strategist & Designer

CLIENT

Jersey Mike's Subs

SCOPE

Native Mobile App

METHODS

UX Assessment, Experience Principles

TL;DR

The Jersey Mike's app works, but as the brand pushes to become more digital-native and reach a younger, Gen Z audience, it needs to feel less like a functional ordering tool and more like an extension of the in-store brand. Through research and UX assessment analysis, the team delivered prioritized recommendations, defined a set of brand-rooted experience pillars, and designed select screens and a golden thread narrative to give the product team a tangible vision for what those recommendations could look like in practice.

Golden thread narrative, turning research into a tangible, target-state mobile journey for Jersey Mike's

✺ CONTEXT

Jersey Mike's wants to grow its digital reach, and reach a younger audience along the way.

The in-store experience at Jersey Mike's is built on quality, fresh-sliced ingredients, and a genuine sense of community. As the brand invests further in digital ordering to expand its customer base, drive more frequent orders, and grow its digital mix, the app needed to be evaluated against that same bar.

⋆˙⟡ Watch to see pain points called out as they appear.

01 Home page looks the same for every guest, and misses easy merchandising opportunities

02 Menu is gated behind a "Start a New Order" commitment

03 Customization is inconsistent and takes too many clicks

04 In-store customizations, like halves and doubles, don't exist in the app

05 Upsells and pop-ups are generic, and engagement shows it

✺ THE PROCESS

We aimed to understand critical areas of friction to recommend how Jersey Mike's can increase digitial transactions and loyalty.

Over five weeks, our team ran a rapid research study and UX assessment program across the app's core flows. I led the UX assessment portion. The findings defined future state experience pillars and a directional proof of concept.

Internal working view, annotated call-outs were then synthesized into patterns via affinity mapping

✺ WHAT THE RESEARCH REVEALED

After the inital assessment and research was concluded and synthesized, the patterns revealed six systemic pain points recurring throughout the entire app.

These findings are validated across user research, the UX assessment, and competitive analysis, and cross-referenced against real data like click-through and engagement rates.

Placement and communication feel unintentional

Account creation, upsells, and menu prompts show up at the wrong moments, adding friction instead of value.

Examples

Account creation offers no clear reason to sign up
Loyalty and account capture are missing entirely from catering
Upsells clash with what the customer is actually trying to do
Merchandising opportunities go largely unused

Personalization and customization fall short where they matter most

There's no infrastructure remembering who the customer is or what they want.

Examples

No personalization infrastructure exists across the app
Dietary and allergen info is missing from catering entirely
Active orders offer no real-time transparency
Upsells are generic, with no personalization layer

Small details compound into real friction

Inconsistent patterns and unnecessary steps add up across the experience.

Examples

No design system creates inconsistency across the app
"Make a Combo" takes too many clicks
Menu numbering and structure lack clear logic
Active orders are buried behind order history
Reorder hides the ability to customize, defaulting to a blind repeat

Key features lack the basics

Core functionality, edge cases, and permissions aren't fully thought through.

Examples

Navigating back to home is sometimes impossible
Payment method management is unclear and inconsistent
Group order permissions leave no one in control once the order is live
Content doesn't adapt to the customer's location

Loyalty and rewards lack visibility

Customers can't easily see what they've earned or what it's worth.

Examples

Point balances and redemption options are hard to understand
Rewards feel limited for how engaged customers are
No tiered benefits exist for frequent customers
Promotions can expire before customers notice them

Customization and ordering don't match the in-store experience

What's possible in-store isn't always possible, or clear, in the app.

Examples

Limited control over ingredient quantities (light, extra, on the side)
In-app customization doesn't match what's available in-store
Modification upcharges aren't clearly communicated
Combo options and add-ons are sometimes hidden in the flow

Click on a card to read examples.

✺ THE OPPORTUNITY

To make the recommendations tangible, I built a persona and a golden thread narrative, designing key screens to bring specific moments to life.

Ten moments from Maya's journey, from the first notification to her next order, each screen and component designed to visualize a specific recommendation in context.

Action 01 · Awareness

A notification pulls Maya in

Action 02 · Opening the App

Location and a toast banner set the context immediately

Action 03 · Browsing Menu

Browsing the menu without commitment

Action 04 · Selecting an Item

Nutritional info surfaces without leaving the flow

Action 05 · Item Customization

Just as it works in-storee

Action 06 · One Last Add

A contextual upsell, not a generic one

Action 07 · Order Confirmation

Loyalty tier progress, shown the moment it's earned

Action 08 · Order Tracking

Real-time visibility into the order

Action 09 · Next Tier

A milestone worth celebrating

Action 10 · Future Re-Order

A notification invites Maya back

Action 01 · Awareness

A notification pulls Maya in

Action 02 · Opening the App

Location and a toast banner set the context immediately

Action 03 · Browsing Menu

Browsing the menu without commitment

Action 04 · Selecting an Item

Nutritional info surfaces without leaving the flow

Action 05 · Item Customization

Just as it works in-store

Action 06 · One Last Add

A contextual upsell, not a generic one

Action 07 · Order Confirmation

Loyalty tier progress, shown the moment it's earned

Action 08 · Order Tracking

Real-time visibility into the order

Action 09 · Next Tier

A milestone worth celebrating

Action 10 · Future Re-Order

A notification invites Maya back

✺ GROUNDING RECCOMENDATIONS IN THE BRAND

We defined experience pillars rooted in Jersey Mike's own brand, mission, and values, guardrails for how any new digital experience should show up.

Key themes include personalization, customization, loyalty, trasparency, and community.

Pillar 01

A Sub Above Quality

Made With Care

Every experience should reflect craftsmanship, freshness, and pride in the details.

Bringing It to Life →

Bringing It to Life

Reflect fresh, premium ingredient standards through photography, close-ups, and copy at key decision points
Ordering should feel like participating in craft, easy customization of meat, toppings, and slicing
Deliver simple, seamless, consistent, and intuitive experiences throughout
Order accuracy and pickup/delivery-moment quality are non-negotiable

Pillar 02

Know Me Like a Regular

Make Every Guest Feel Known

Feel welcoming, personal, helpful, and connected to the community.

Bringing It to Life →

Bringing It to Life

Personalized recommendations and store-level personalization
Fast reorder functionality
Recognition of loyalty and frequency
Warm, friendly conversational tone for content and notifications

Pillar 03

The Juice

Something Special About This Place

Deliver moments of extra value, delight, and surprise beyond utility.

Bringing It to Life →

Bringing It to Life

Surprise rewards or offers
Gamified loyalty experiences
Generosity made visible through cause-based promotions and local partnerships
Delightful interactions and animations, used sparingly

Pillar 04

Rooted Authenticity

The Brand Knows Who It Is

Feel reliable, transparent, familiar, and authentic across every interaction.

Bringing It to Life →

Bringing It to Life

Protect signature rituals as the brand modernizes and scales
Maintain classic product standards and respect for brand heritage
Decisions guided by transparency to build long-term trust
Simplicity done exceptionally well

Every recommendation that followed was weighed against these four pillars, a way of making sure the push toward digital-native, Gen Z-friendly experiences never drifted from what makes the brand recognizable in the first place.

Recommendations Example ⟢

Expanding Customization Controls

Bringing mobile customization closer to the flexibility of the in-store experience.

Experience Pillars in Play

Know Me Like a Regular A Sub Above Quality The Juice

Expand Customization Controls

Customers expect the app to support the same level of flexibility available when ordering in person.

"Just save my preferences, if I always say 'no onions' Mike's Way, just remember that."

What's Working

Basic customization already exists, but needs to evolve to meet expectations

What's Not

Limited controls for ingredient quantities or "on the side" options
Inconsistent toppings list from sub to sub
Hard to find allergen, dietary, or nutritional info
Unclear upcharges for extras and customizations

7.6%

Current drop-off, product page to cart

↓3%

Target reduction, add to cart to checkout

Bring mobile customization closer to the flexibility of the in-store experience.

"I want to know exactly what's going on my sandwich."

Achievable Now

Add granular ingredient controls, light, regular, extra
Allow toppings and condiments "on the side"
Provide all topping options to all subs, just like in-store
Make allergen, dietary, and nutritional info easy to find

Enhanced Maturity

Remember and surface repeated modifications
Support split or half-and-half customizations
Expand analytics across the customization journey
Use customization data to refine customer profiles

Annotated phone screenshot showing customization pain points

Annotated phone screenshot
(current-state pain points)

Redesigned customization screen with improved ingredient controls

Redesigned customization screen
(opportunity state)

✺ OUTCOMES & NEXT STEPS

The engagement gave Jersey Mike's a shared, brand-grounded roadmap, not a finished redesign, but a clear, prioritized point of view on where the app needs to go next.

Recommendations were split into achievable-now UI fixes (consistent topping order, visual cart confirmation, clearer empty states) and longer-term capability investments (a true personalization layer, a loyalty and rewards engine, real-time content delivery), giving the team a way to sequence what could ship soon versus what needed a longer runway.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

sarahyduenas01@gmail.com
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