O2 Extras
“we ultimately ended up with a high quality product that was a clear build for the development team and ultimately experienced no delays in shipping“
Helping O2 give more
I’ve joined O2 for the 4th time to help them with UX design. They were already giving a lot of extras to their customers, but they wanted to give even more.
They decided to give some extra gifts with every device purchase or tariff upgrade. The plan was to offer free subscriptions for services people love, such as Amazon Prime, Audible, Disney+. etc. The research team reported that customers really liked the idea, so we got the green light to design the system.
Problems
We had to solve several problems to make sure the user experience was great:
– We had to display options to choose from based on the selected tariff. At the same time, we had to display options that the user could have by going for different tariffs
– We had to come up with a clean interface which clearly communicates this very complex system
– We had to make sure that this new system was integrated into the checkout process, but had minimal impact on it
Collaboration
I worked closely and collaboratively with other teams around us. We organised workshops and design sessions with key stake holders, business analysts, researchers, developers and UI designers to make sure that the system we designed was deliverable.
We sketched on paper and whiteboards to mock up the initial ideas. Then I created wireframes and user journey maps to explain those ideas in more detail. I also created clickable prototypes to present and test solutions.
Test results and findings
We tested all the solutions with users, so the design went through several iterations. We discovered that the UX design worked very well. However, using certain words and phrases had a negative or positive effect on the experience. Therefore, we worked closely with the copy and the legal teams to make sure that the copy was helping the users.
Final stage
Then we worked together with the UI team, ensuring that the designs were all in brand, looking great, but still functional and easy to use. Full UX documentation was also provided, including well annotated wire frames and user journeys.
At the last stage we worked together with the developers, giving them as much support as possible until the system was released.
The final product was received well by the users. O2 managed to offer great gifts and deals to their customers.
Tools
I’ve used several different tools at O2. Beyond the usual paper and white board, we used online white boarding, Sketch app for wireframes, user journeys and documentation, InVision for sharing files and clickable prototypes, and remote usability testing tools such as userzoom. We also used Jira+Agile Methodology.
Feedback from O2:
Online Product Owner, Self Service (My O2) at O2 (Telefónica UK)
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with Robert as our Lead UXer on multiple My O2 product enhancements over the last few years. The stand-out piece of work, which really show-cased all of Robert’s skills, talents and effective ways of working, was Project Opal – one of O2 ‘Big Bets’ for ’20 and beyond; a massive project delivery aimed at diversifying the company’s business model.
Robert played a hugely consultative role with key business partners and stakeholders, ensuring that the necessary people were taken on a journey through every step of the UX development; never being wedded or attached to his own ideas but instead being pragmatic in understanding and finding the delicate balance between the needs of the business and intricacies & nuances of the Product platform this new initiative was being created on. Robert totally ‘gets’ Agile methodologies, and his understanding of such software development frameworks definitely attributed to the success of this project. Because of Robert’s willingness to be vulnerable and put his ideas through multiple rounds of internal feedback before we got to development, we ultimately ended up with a high quality product that was a clear build for my development team and ultimately experienced no delays in shipping.
Rob is extremely easy to work with. He’s a smart guy that challenges the norm, assumptions and current ways of working to deliver experiences that customers love.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with Rob and was very sad to learn we were losing a real UX gem. I wish Robert all the best for whatever lies ahead and I have every faith he’ll be a massive asset to the organisation that is fortunate enough to use his services.