Optimising BT TV & Broadband

UX, UI, Prototyping, Design Sprint, Figma

Role

Senior Product Designer
Middleweight Visual Designer

Timeline

2018 – 2023

Responsibilities

Lead experience design launch
Design sprint facilitation
Experience optimisation
Stakeholder management
Partner management
Accessibility

Impact TLDR

One year after its launch, BT TV digital sales weren’t performing as expected due to an unclear UX and positioning.

I took the leadership of owning and creating a cross-departmental workshop that solved many of the issues the proposition had.

Just before the changes were to be implemented, the business shifted priorities towards EE consumer products. Leaving my team focusing on BAU and less strategic work.

A few months after, a window of opportunity opened to reintroduce the workshop quick wins and optimisations, and those were implemented in two months.

As result, conversion rate for TV and Broadband packages on the digital experience grew 80% YoY, 58% more visitors were entering the sales funnel, and 75% of eligible customers chose a Full Fibre product.

Background

In 2020, we launched a new TV portfolio and digital experience. BT had partnered with Sky to aggregate Sky content within the BT TV packages. Offering, existing and new customers, a wider range of content to enjoy.

We were in 2021, the experience had been live already for a year, and research insights were showing we had some problems to solve.

Problem statement

BT was still a fairly new option for users who wanted to buy a TV package.
The product offer was interesting for customers when explained by advisors, but it was hard to understand when searching and comparing in bt.com.

What the data was saying

Users didn’t understand what the actual product included.

Users didn’t realise BT broadband was required in order to get BT TV.

The way the proposition was marketed, it relayed very heavily on the TV message, leaving broadband at the background. In addition, you could get TV by itself with Sky and other competitors, so users thought it was the same process.

The digital experience was built with a configurator approach, where Broadband was step 2 of the journey (after selecting TV). This (and some vague mentions of broadband) caused confusion and frustration.

Broadband is a key factor for users, why not mention it earlier?

Users didn’t know what TV portfolio was included in each package.

Most users couldn’t understand what was the full content and channels included in each package offered.

It was hard to compare directly from the product cards. They weren’t always interested in opening links and search for more details.

The user journey was too long.

There were simply too many steps that caused frustration. Many users were dropping the journey to call an advisor, or directly going to a competitor.

89% of users surveyed preferred to buy TV & Broadband online.

They said it was easier, quicker, convenient, and their main method for purchasing things.
We had to step up our game in creating a better digital experience, as that was the central hub where users where looking to buy this product.

Design Sprint

With all the problem statements and data, I started looking at options on how to involve the team to optimise the experience. Looking to hear different ideas to implement design solutions. But how to do that when everyone is working remotely? – We were in the middle of the Covid lockdown.

Time to plan.

I found the Design Sprint and a way to do it online. This was a new way of approaching problem solving for the business.

It was the first time I was facilitating a workshop of this scale. So I spent a long time researching through books, articles, videos and l also had long conversations with colleagues who had prior experience with it.

I attended as a watcher some similar sessions; to get ideas on how to make a remote workshop engaging and valuable for all parties involved.

Getting the right people in.

With the help of the Product Owner we got the right experts and contributors.

We needed to get everyone on board, not only the designers, we needed to get other parts of the business to see the value on it, as the outcome of the sprint was set to benefit common goals and targets.

We contacted Research, Marketing, Proposition and Commercial teams and aligned calendars.

Setting up a 5 days plan.

3 days of workshop, followed up by a day prototyping, and a day testing the prototype.

I adapted a Mural board with the whole workshop plan in it. Sent the invites with the agenda and onboarding documentation on what to expect.

Communication was key, as it was all a virtual setting and a few days of workshop. I wanted to make sure people knew what to expect. I set up a preliminary catch up, to go over the rules, agenda and tools needed. That helped everyone, even the experts presenting. Who later joined as spectators on some parts of the session and the final customer interviews.

The design sprint kicked off. With the challenge we had in hand, we went to set up a goal, mapping and targeting what was the part of the experience we would optimise on the sprint.

After all the mapping, decision and a full day prototyping, I got to test the work with users.

The outcome was full of positive answers that confirmed we solved some of the main problems we wanted to tackle. The insights we got in such a quick turnaround were invaluable.

Applying the learnings

The learnings were just a starting point, I had to apply them.

After reflecting on the prototype and test results, I identified quick & longer term wins and build a plan with the team.

To build the full prototype solution would take a longer time. But we could start adding elements of it to the existing site.

Quick wins

Amend the hierarchy of content. After involving the Propositions and Commercial teams, we all agreed to a different presentation of the product online.

We addressed one of the main pain points: Broadband was part of the product offered. BT was selling TV bundled with Broadband, and Broadband needed to be mentioned at the same moment.

We worked on content changes and visual reinforcement. Rearranging and moving the hidden information up higher, so the users won’t be mislead.

Longer term optimisations

Bring the prototype solution to life.

This was the hardest part, as we had some technology constrains with the way the experience was built. Some of it being hosted on very dated CMS system.

I had to align with other teams and implementations happening in other areas of the site. As I wanted to make sure the user experience through bt.com was coherent for the user.

The green light from technology came. A couple of developers joined the squad and I got hands on with the designs.

Optimisations started and were deployed by order of priority and risk.

The main acquisition journey required big development work due to its complexity. After a couple of months of work. All design and most of the development work was completed.

Suddenly, the business priorities shifted.

Business shift

A few weeks of going live with the optimised experience, a new business proposition was announced. All design and development resources were redirected to work on building the new EE portfolio. New teams were set up, planning to replace the whole existing service experience.

All optimisations that hadn’t been yet published were put on hold. We’ve managed to publish some elements of work, but the main buy experience optimisation was stopped.

The squad work changed focus to only deal with BAU, trading and minor impact optimisations. All of our effort on the project seemed wasted.

I handed over all the learnings, insights, and optimisation work to the new team dealing with the new proposition on EE. As the information was valuable, and will be really helpful for anyone working on anything TV and Broadband related.

After a month or so, I went on maternity leave and the team continued work, but optimisations weren’t part of it.

But all was not lost…

I returned from maternity leave, and while I was being onboarded back to work, new opportunities to pick the original work where I left it arise:

The new digital proposition, was facing some delay.

The business realised the existing user experience would have to support the new one to ensure a smooth transitioning on its launch.

Optimisations where back in the table for us. I quickly got hands on the work, reviewed the data, the designs we had, and adapted the elements that required reviewing.

Implementation.

After 2 weeks, the design work was again with the developers. With some back and forwards, reviews and accessibility considerations, two months in, we finally migrated and optimised the main buy TV & Broadband experience.

Impact

The journey migration and optimisation goals were:

To increase sale funnel entry and reduce steps to purchase.
To have more control over our pages so we can drive more tests and optimisations.
To have access to all the tools needed to transition to the new proposition.

With just a few weeks after the journey launched, the numbers backed up our original suppositions. Compared to 22/23 sales periods on the old experience:

Conversion rate for TV & Broadband Packages had increased by ~80%.
The proportion of customers who visit the page entering the sales funnel increased by ~58%.
Higher attachment on products that before weren’t available to all users. In the last sale period, for Full Fibre eligible postcodes, of customers who ordered a package, ~75% took a Full Fibre product.

This numbers shown we finally helped users to buy easily online the TV & Broadband product that they want.

The numbers of users who understand and buy the product has increased, reducing the number of calls received by advisors in call centres.

If I could do it all again?

Divide the work into smaller parts.

The complexity of the main optimisation was so big, that almost didn’t see the light. I would push for smaller releases that could be rapidly implemented. I aim for perfection, but that isn’t always what’s needed.

A digital product doesn’t have to be fully finished for the user to start using it. That can help you create an experience that adapts better to change.

Spread the word.

I presented the work to the design team, and all relevant people on TV & Sport. But It would have been good to also involve other key stakeholders on other areas of the business, as the insights gained were also applicable to them.

Push harder for the work to launch.

I would not be scared to speak to the right people and push for the work to launch.

Looking back, it seems the decision makers didn’t know how much work was already completed. The optimised experience could have been live and running during a long time, allowing better user experience and sales conversions.

Why am I proud of this project?

I’m proud of this project because it has been one of the largest I had worked on, a part of the BAU work. It has also been a project where I have been able to do many things. Take ownership and lead the way on how things should be done with the user at centre.

Leading and learning on the job.

At the beginning, I had to lead, learn and implement a new way of working in a short period of time.

Making the most of it.

Although I couldn’t see all the original work done by me and the team go live in 2021, the findings and effort were being used on the new proposition. And in the end, we got to launch it (adapted to new business needs).

That meant we were on the right track originally.

Team effort.

Everyone involved was fully embedded and pushed for it to happen.

Strengthen relations across departments.

The design Sprint helped to strengthen relationships with Marketing and Propositions. They could see how our ways of thinking and working were improving the numbers.

All interactions between our teams were more honest and productive from that initial moment.

Contributors

Eva Vañó Seguí – Senior Product Designer
Josh Stevenson – Product Designer
Dave Ford – Product Designer
Liam Clarke – Content Designer
Laura Carroll – Senior Product Owner
Lois Crawford – Junior Product Owner
Jasmir Nijhar – User Researcher
Sowmya Ramachandra – Developer
Monomoy Das – Developer
Sunil Belamgi – Developer