Helping SMARTY become legally compliant in the UK by taking regulatory requirements and turning them into user-friendly product experience.

Brief

In response to new Ofcom guidelines, SMARTY had to allow customers to port their numbers before making a payment.

Business Impact

This required reviewing and updating our checkout and SIM activation processes, significantly affecting our main product. We needed to build, test, and deliver the feature on time to avoid penalties, rethinking the onboarding and activation process for customers transferring their numbers during checkout.

Success Criteria:

• Enhance order and SIM activation journeys with number porting functionality.

• Improve the user-friendliness of the number port journey.

• Ensure legal compliance with new regulations.

Design Challenge:

As the sole Product Designer, I led the improvement of the checkout journey. Collaborating with the engineering team, I focused on interaction design patterns, visual design, and a human-centred approach, ensuring user evaluations were conducted before building APIs and back-end infrastructure.

Process

1. UX Audit: Reviewed the current journey and presented findings to key stakeholders for feedback.

2. Usability Tests: Identified usability issues and understood the "why" behind customer queries, averaging 4,000 requests per month about number porting.

3. Collaboration: Shared insights with relevant teams, worked with legal teams for compliance, and iterated designs based on testing feedback.

Quantitative Insights

• 80% of customers choose to port their number within the first 3 months of joining SMARTY.

• 4,000 monthly queries about porting, indicating high customer interest and need for clarity.

• 56% of customers who port wanted updates on their port status after confirmation.

Qualitative Insights

• Assurance Issues: Lack of assurance during checkout led to customer drop-offs.

• Backend API Implementation: Prevented the use of expired switching codes, reducing complaints and refund requests.

• User Education: Designed interfaces to educate and reassure users, encouraging SIM activation and preventing port failures.

My Role and Impact:

As the sole Product Designer, I played a crucial role in redesigning SMARTY's number porting process. I collaborated with the engineering team to create new components and revamped the checkout and activation journey. Through iterative testing, I ensured the usability and effectiveness of our designs at every phase, from initial wireframes to final UI design.

By prioritising the needs of the customer and advocating for human-centred design, I navigated the challenges of collaborating with various stakeholders, each with different goals. I balanced legal compliance with user needs, working closely with the legal team to integrate necessary text and content into our design system.

To address technical and backend constraints, I developed a cost-effective solution that met both customer-centric and legal requirements. This approach not only improved the user experience but also reduced project costs and delays.

Key Achievements:

• Enhanced Conversion Rates: By creating a seamless and reassuring porting experience, I significantly improved conversion rates over a period of next 6 months

• Reduced Drop-off Rates: Clear communication and real-time port number validity checks reduced customer drop-offs during checkout.

• Customer Satisfaction: The redesigned process ensured customers were informed at every step, reducing confusion and customer care inquiries.

As a result, SMARTY became the only UK telco provider offering real-time port number validity checks and detailed feedback messages, setting a new standard in customer experience. The project's success is evident in the increased conversion rates and reduced drop-off rates, demonstrating the value of a well-designed, user-centric approach.