Building for Military Customers

Overview

During a leadership roundtable, I raised the idea of offering a military discount. Leadership had understandable concerns — likely around giving away margin on already competitive prices. Months later, I was unexpectedly pulled into a design sprint for exactly that initiative, and couldn’t help but think my earlier push had planted a seed.

The sprint brought together designers and product managers to explore what we could build for this program, benchmarking against competitors, especially Lowe’s, whose 10% savings had become a strong draw for military shoppers. While Home Depot already had a little-known, in-store-only version that required showing ID on every visit, we saw an opportunity to make it clear, digital, and effortless.

I helped shape the vision and user experience for the full end-to-end program, from research and concept through final flows. Partnering closely with internal teams and SheerID, we delivered a trusted, user-friendly verification process and seamless shopping journey — online, in-store, and in the app — designed to attract new customers and build lasting loyalty.

Problem Statement

Before this project, Home Depot lacked a unified, digital military discount — creating unnecessary friction for a key customer segment.

Key challenges included:

• Low awareness and lost customers: Many military shoppers chose Lowe’s instead, unaware that Home Depot offered an in-store discount — one that required showing ID on every visit

• No digital verification process: Military status could only be validated in-store, with no streamlined way to confirm eligibility online

• Need for a frictionless omnichannel experience: Create a simple, digital flow to verify military status once, link it to a customer’s account, and enable effortless redemption online, in-store, and in the app

• Third-party integration and consistency: Design around technical constraints from SheerID while maintaining a consistent experience across all channels

Approach and Process

Research & Opportunity Framing

• Advocated directly with senior leadership for a digital military discount, framing it as an opportunity to win back loyalty from military customers

• Joined early design sprints with fellow designers and PMs to explore concepts, benchmark against competitors (primarily Lowe’s), and define success criteria

• Participated in user research with active duty military members to understand pain points with existing discount programs

• Recommended SheerID as the ideal verification partner, aligning their capabilities with Home Depot’s UX goals

UX and Interaction Design

• Collaborated with a team of designers to create the full end-to-end experience — from a benefit-focused landing page, to SheerID-powered verification, through to the account view with a scannable QR code for in-store use

• Took primary responsibility for shaping core flows, ensuring they were optimized for web, mobile, and app, with consistent and accessible interactions across channels

• Helped select human-centered photography and respectful visual elements, which earned leadership praise for elevating the program beyond a transactional offer

• Iterated designs in partnership with stakeholders, incorporating usability testing insights and addressing technical feasibility constraints with SheerID

• Contributed to a scalable design framework, enabling future program enhancements without sacrificing clarity or ease of use

Collaboration & Implementation

• Partnered closely with SheerID to match design intent with technical capabilities

• Worked with product, engineering, marketing, and legal teams to meet compliance and brand standards without sacrificing ease of use

• Balanced cross-functional constraints to deliver a clear, frictionless, omnichannel customer journey

Solution

We delivered a seamless, secure online Military Discount program that:

• Verified military status digitally through SheerID and linked it to Home Depot accounts

• Enabled one-step redemption across all channels with a scannable QR code

• Replaced a repetitive, in-store-only ID check with a one-time digital verification — removing a major barrier for military shoppers and strengthening Home Depot’s competitive position

• Earned positive feedback from leadership for the human-centered design and seamless UX

Key Takeaways

• Balancing consistency, usability, and feasibility is critical when designing for multiple platforms

• Third-party partnerships require close collaboration to ensure technical and UX alignment

• Authentic visuals and respectful storytelling can deepen brand trust and emotional connection