Logistics App · Case Study
The app had every feature drivers needed. So why wasn't anyone using it?
How listening to truck drivers — and a bit of gamification — took daily app usage from 30% to 90% for a UK cement manufacturer.
Logistics App · Case Study
How listening to truck drivers — and a bit of gamification — took daily app usage from 30% to 90% for a UK cement manufacturer.
Overview
A leading UK cement manufacturer's trucking app had every feature the business had asked for, built exactly to spec. There was just one problem: drivers weren't using it.
After launch, app usage jumped from 30% to 90%. The business got the adoption it needed, drivers got an experience that actually motivated them — without a single new feature added.
Problem
The obvious move was to keep adding features to close the adoption gap. We didn't. Instead, we went to find out why a fully-featured app was sitting unused in the first place.
Research
We connected with truck drivers over Microsoft Teams and just listened — to their frustrations, their routines, the reality of their workday. What we found wasn't a usability issue.
The problem wasn't functionality. It was motivation. The app worked fine — drivers simply had no reason to open it.
Ideation
Instead of expanding the feature set, we explored ways to make the existing tasks feel worth doing — points, recognition, and rewards tied directly to the actions drivers were already completing every day.
Designs
We introduced Star Miles — points drivers earned for completing tasks, redeemable for products on shopping sites — and added a leaderboard that turned routine deliveries into friendly competition.
The Driver Rewards screen — task progress, Star Miles balance, and a live leaderboard.
Lessons
The biggest lesson from this project: when adoption is low, the instinct is to build more. Often, the real fix isn't a new feature — it's giving people a reason to care about the ones you already built.
