Digital Transformation

A company-wide commitment to making impactful digital customer experiences.

Problem

An outdated and frustrating digital bill pay experience for both web and app drove unusually high calls to customer support centers and damaged brand perception.

Opportunity

Empower customers with simple and transparent digital services they understand and trust. Lead the client in taking an agile, design-led approach to designing, validating and delivering digital experiences.

Outcome

An entirely new brand experience for all 60 million Sprint wireless carrier subscribers. Simplified and transparent billing and payment tools that significantly drove down calls to customer support.

case study video

This video produced by VML tells the story of the Digital Transformation at Sprint.

creative direction

The creative direction for every customer touchpoint boiled down to three core promises made to the customer.

personal

Be proactive. Be relevant. Be loyal.

Dependable

Be consistent. Be transparent. Be responsive.

simple

Simplify the layout. Simplify the interaction. Simplify the information.

Team Autonomy

Design sessions with every stakeholder present allowed our cross-functional teams to make decisions and move rapidly.

EIGHTY - TWENTY

To move rapidly, we agreed on what to solve first. We zeroed-in on the core experience that 80% of subscribers would go through, and left outlier experiences and one-offs to be defined later. This kept us out of the weeds and solving the biggest problems first.

DRAWING INSPIRATION

Per billing & payment feature, we drew up user flows that aligned with the Customer Promises (mentioned above) and alleviated pressure from the call center. We considered how competitors solved the same problems and how unrelated digital experiences might inspire us as well.

Mobile First

We found it much easier to design for a mobile canvas and move to a larger one than the other way around. The smaller canvas challenged us to think about what's crucial to the experience and to leave out what isn't.

USability testing

Sprint was used to very formal and time consuming usability testing methodology. We helped introduce them to lean research tactics so they could be more impactful to the design effort.

Sketch + InVision

With Sketch and InVision, we were able to quickly and easily update the content in our prototypes and explore multiple options. We then gave participants small tasks and recorded their reactions using Quicktime screen recordings.

iterative design

I made a ton of prototypes to walk the team through the latest ideas.

Paper Prototyping

This was a cheap and effective storytelling method that allowed everyone to see the step-by-step, but also zoom out and see the bigger picture. The low-fidelity nature of them also communicated that nothing is finalized and ideas are welcome. Often times the act of narrating the experience brought better ideas to light.

Transformation success

Although we completed a lot of fantastic digital work, the transformation effort wasn’t just about that. It was about empowering Sprint to be successful in the future, and creating a framework they could build upon.

We succeeded by helping educate Sprint on a better design process; one where visual design and experience design teams tackle problems together and product owners are more accountable.