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Background
During my 12-week internship at Verizon, I worked with the Digital Unity team, which specializes in organizing design strategy and scaffolding . Our team was focused on refining information architecture.
What did I do?
The majority of this internship involved working on an open-ended, exploratory project with other interns, where we focused on creating strategies to boost Verizon's market share in the home internet sector.
I also assisted with a significant brand update that Verizon underwent during my internship. One of my key projects involved conducting Visual Quality Assurance for the My Verizon App. This role included evaluating visual elements to ensure they met the design standards set for the app's user interface.
Note: while I participated in a range of projects across the team, I am only able to share work related to publicly announced designs due to confidentiality agreements.
Projects & Tasks
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Collaborated with three other interns to explore digital strategies for simplifying customer interactions and expanding Verizon's market share in the home internet sector
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Performed thorough testing of the My Verizon App and documented 11 defects
Other projects I worked on but cannot show at this time include:
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Designed internal Verizon websites for different teams, ensuring adherence to the updated branding standards
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Conducted spot tests of various Figma library components, making necessary updates to align with the new branding guidelines
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Updated documentation for the new branding update, ensuring that all designers had access to consistent and accurate information
Project #1: Verizon Home Internet Project
What did we do?
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Discovered how Verizon could best utilize digital methods to simplify customer interactions
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Designed ways to reduce prospect and customer fallout
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Created an implementation strategy to increase Home Internet market share
What problem
did we solve?
We found several issues with the current process of purchasing home internet
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Address requirements
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Entering an address to view what plans you qualify for can be perceived as the start of a long and potentially frustrating process
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Browsing mentality
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Users leave the website and find other deals that are cheaper and worse quality to be more attractive because they are looking for the most cost-efficient deal
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My Contributions
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Performed a thorough heuristic evaluation of the current flow of buying home internet through Verizon
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Conducted a competitive analysis of Verizon's competition
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Designed detailed wireframes and prototypes
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Conducted research to determine the business impact of solutions and created tree lifts
Where do customers currently fall out?
To understand how to reduce fallout, we had to understand where the users are currently falling out. Below, you can see what the current numbers are for each step in the process of purchasing home internet.
Visit
10.7M
LQA
1.7M
LQS
700K
Cart
220K
Order
74K
-84.4%
-58.4%
-68.9%
-66.9%
Total Wireless Data (Fios + FWA) From June 24
Different Directions
LQA stands for Loop Qualification, and this is where the user attempts to see what home internet they qualify for. LQS stands for Loop Qualification Success and is where the user has a home internet that they qualify for.
We focused on areas that we are able to change. The fallout from LQA to LQS is simply based on the infrastructure of Verizon's home internet, which can not be changed.
There are only 3 areas that we could improve upon
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Visit -> LQA
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Users put in their home addresses to see what they qualify for
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LQS -> Cart
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Users add services to their cart
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Cart -> Order
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Users complete to purchase
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We conducted a heuristic evaluation to pinpoint where the major pain points were, allowing us to identify areas where our solutions could have the most significant impact. This process involved conducting a heuristic evaluation, analyzing user interactions, and identifying where users faced the most difficulties.
As a result, we decided to concentrate our efforts on the steps involving visits to LQA and LQS in the cart process. These specific steps were identified as having the highest number of issues, and as such, we focused our attention on addressing these critical areas. The detailed challenges and solutions we developed for these steps are outlined below.
Solution #1 - Auto Qualification
This solution is aiming to reduce the fallout seen below. This is where the user puts in their home address to see what plans they qualify for.
Visit
10.7M
LQA
1.7M
-84.4%
Why is there fallout?
As you can see, nearly 85% of people are falling out at this stage, with only 15% of people even checking to see what home internet they qualify for.
This likely means that users were finding it inconvenient to enter their home address to see what they qualify for; we believe it is because there were too many steps in the process.
Current Flow
You can see below how someone would put in their address to see what home internet they qualify for.
For the flow, you can
1. Click "Use my location"
2. Click "Allow"
3. Click started
This is already 3 steps. Or, you can manually type in your address which is time-consuming and tedious.
We know from one of the most fundamental design principles, The Law of Least Effort, that fewer steps for the user are better. One of the most common design principles is that fewer steps for the user are better. We know that this current model is losing 84.4% of people.
What is the users frustration?
Imagine for a moment that you just finished a long day of work in a new location, and you look on Google for the nearest Chipotle near you.
Before you can even see the different options, Google is going to have a pop-up, asking for your location. Why is this?
If you decline this pop-up, you’ll see Chipotle locations that are nowhere near you and that you cannot choose.
We designed our solution on the same principle: the user should not be browsing options they are unable to purchase.
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What is our solution?
We proposed a similar “see results closer to you” pop-up that Google Maps has. This would allow Verizon to automatically qualify users and prevent them from browsing Home Internet options that are unavailable to them.
This would be paired with the Main Landing Page
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All home shopping traffic would land on a “hub like” page
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Hub MLP features Loop Qual (LQA) as the primary action & refresh based on eligibility
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Browsing capabilities for customers NOT ready to purchase
This would make it easier to implement the pop-up, as it would only have to be present on this page.
This would pop-up right when you open the page. This will encourage users to enter the LQA process right away, and allowing them to browse options that are available to them
%20(1)%20(1)%20(2)%20(2).png)
What would the buisness impact be?
Again, this solution reduces the fallout from users visiting the website, and putting in their home address to view what plans they qualify for.
Primary: 0.95% lift in Visit to LQA rate
Originally, the fallout was 84.4%. Meaning, that if this solution is implemented, the fallout will then be 83.45%.
Originally, there were 1.7 million people entering in their home address, with this solution, there would be 1.8 million people.
Secondary: Increase Order Rate, Decrease Abandonment
Estimated Opportunity
With this solution, there would be an increase of ~4.4K orders a month, meaning there would be an increase of $3.6M in revenue a month.
Visit
10.7M
LQA
1.8M
+5.62%
Solution #2 - Federal Communications Commission
This solution is aiming to reduce the fallout seen below. (This solutions is for fiber home internet only). This is where the user adds a plan to their cart.
LQS
700K
Cart
220K
-68.9%
Why is there fallout?
Browsing Mentality is the attitude of exploring online products or services without a firm intent to buy right away.
We found that 94% of customers research competition and 54% of people go to 4+ websites before buying a product
Competitive Marketing on Pick Your Plan page
Our solution is to provide competitive marketing on the PYP page (pick your plan page). We proposed to provide comparison of eligible or non-eligible internet products.
53% of users would no longer shop elsewhere if Verizon has competitive eligibility within the sales flow
%20(1)%20(1)%20(2)%20(3).png)
Our solution would simply tell the user that they do not qualify for other home internet options. This will encourage the user to stay on the website, knowing that other options will not have what they are looking for.
Where do we get the data?
The FCC is a database that shows updated information on the infrastructure of Fiber internet. There is not an analogous data source for other internet options which is why this solution only applies to the fiber internet market.
Potential problems and their solutions
Accurate Data
Since the data is from an external source that is updated every 6 months, there must be a disclaimer that says that it is only accurate up to the time it has been updated.
What if there are other competitors?
Verizon is minimally contested in the areas that they serve for Fiber, which is why this solution is primarily focused on fiber-specific plans.
For next steps, we would have focused on creating designs for other internet options. Our initial thoughts would be to show the price as well as the speed for different options since Verizon will always be the best with speed.
What would the buisness impact be?
Again, this solution is to reduce fallout from users viewing the different plans they are eligible for, and adding them to cart.
Test KPIs
Primary: 0.5% lift in LQS to Cart rate.
Originally, the fallout was 68.9%. Meaning, that if the solution is implemented, the fallout will then be 68.4%.
Originally, there were 220K people who added a plan to their cart, with this solution, there would be 129K.
Secondary: Increase Order Rate, Decrease Abandonment
Estimated Opportunity
With this solution, there would be an increase of ~1800 add-to carts a month, meaning there would be an increase of $740K in revenue a month.
LQS
360K
Cart
129K
+1.4%
Project #1: Overall Business Impact
How will these 2 solutions increase market share?
Below is the anticipated business impact of both the solutions presented. Tree tests were done to achieve the projected numbers as well as research.
The percentages shown are the increase of users hitting the next stage compared to the current process.
Visit
LQA
+.95%
LQS
Cart
+.5%
Order
Current
74K
Improved
81K
We will see an increase of $6.2M & ~7.6K GA’s/mo if these simple changes are implemented
Our solutions were developed through a heuristic evaluation and an analysis of the user pain points. Initially, Verizon's approach deviated from established design principles, leading to a user experience that did not align with best practices. This misalignment not only created significant user frustration but also resulted in substantial losses, as evidenced by the high user drop-off rate.
Our findings underscore the critical importance of following design principles such as minimizing user effort and maintaining consistency. By straying from these guidelines, Verizon inadvertently compromised both user satisfaction and business performance. This experience highlights the necessity of always prioritizing the user experience and following proven design practices to prevent costly errors and enhance overall success.
Project #2: My Verizon App Testing
Visual Quality Assurance involves a design review of the My Verizon App. All defects and bugs are documented to ensure they can be addressed and resolved.
What did I do?
I spot tested the My Verizon App before the new brand release to ensure there were no bugs and everything was up to standard.
Why is this important?
Given that over 100 million people use the My Verizon App daily, even minor defects can significantly impact users.
These issues can lead to problems such as
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Accidental purchases
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Difficulties navigating the app
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User Confusion
I uncovered a total of 11 bugs related to navigation bars, of which I am permitted to share the below 8
Bug #1: Extraneous Line
When these screens were loading, there was a little black line that should not have been there.
Bug #4: Incorrect Navigation Bar
Even though you are on the MyAccess tab, it showed that the user was on the shop tab.
Bug #5: Old Logo
Old logo and branding showed up when page was loading.
Bugs #6: Missing Title
Page title was missing, and the left image also was not supposed to have the hamburger menu or the message bubble.
Bug #7: Extraneous Black Line
Thin black line appeared above the footer that shouldn't have been there.
Project #2: Business Impact
The My Verizon App is utilized by over 100 million users, making it a vital component of Verizon's customer engagement and satisfaction strategy. Even minor defects in the app can lead to significant financial and reputational consequences. Issues such as user frustration and confusion can increase support calls and potentially drive up customer churn, impacting the company’s bottom line.
Our goal was to enhance the app's design and usability, thereby reducing the likelihood of user errors and minimizing the need for support interventions.
By improving the app’s performance and reliability, our team’s efforts contributed to maintaining high user satisfaction and supporting Verizon’s commitment to innovative, user-centric design. This initiative not only helped in managing immediate challenges but also positioned the company favorably in a competitive market, showcasing Verizon's dedication to technological excellence and customer care.
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