GCI Ecommerce
Time for a GCI to join the world of ecommerce.
THE PROBLEM
GCI (mobile carrier for Alaska) was falling behind because their customers were unable to buy plans and products on their website as well as having to pay their bills in store or over the phone. GCI's technology systems were all disperate and confusing.
We needed to understand the current state of the digital experience (website) and technology (systems and platforms); along with opportunities that define an experience for an MVP release of the ecommerce application.
HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE
Discovery phase - 3 months
MAKE OF THE TEAM
Senior UX and Research Lead (me)
Business Anyalist
Stratagist
Project Manager
Tech Lead
KEY GOAL
Understand GCI's tech stack and the best path to an ecommerce MVP. Also - define what GCI's MVP would look like.
MY ROLE
Senior UX and Research Lead
I was tasked with - combing through existing research - stakeholder interviews - user interviews - onsite store and user interviews - final MVP UX recommendations (applied to the tech roadmap).
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
GCI was new to chatting with it's users so I created a couple different frameworks and methodologies so that they could understand how this would work. The double triangle is often used in human centered design.
For this discovery project I did a series of 1:1 interviews, focus groups as well as surveys. I spoke to over 100 GCI consumers (Native Alaskans, Born and raised and transplants to Alaska. They were both male and female all ethinicities and early 20's to 70's in age.
Some themes that I pulled out of the different user interviews were - Alaska Nuances, Rural Perceptions/Mindsets, Perceptions of GCI, Technology Usage, Online & Ecommerce and GCI.com experience needs.
Connecting the Research to MVP and Beyond
We were able to connect the user research to the business objectives that GCI's stakeholders spoke to us about.
Consumer research further validated the need for GCI to enter the ecommerce space as soon as possible.
Stakeholder research indicated that the GCI team wants to create a simple, easy-to-use experience that reduces friction for customers. Consumers validated that this aligns with their expectations.
We recommend GCI enter the ecommerce space with a foundational experience that enables residential/personal customers to complete transactions online. From there, we recommend taking an iterative approach to eventually arrive at a “leap frogged” experience, ahead of your competitors.
“Fast follows” or parallel paths with MVP should include the elements most important to consumers, including marketing differentiation on the “Alaska” factor, leveraging loyalty, merging the GCI and MyGCI experiences, and providing price transparency.
Usability Opportunities
At every touchpoint on the website, from entrance to exit, put offerings in front of the consumer. Start with the homepage above the fold (e.g. hero placement), then add offerings as users are selecting a plan, and as they checkout. Highlight deals, bundles and up-sell opportunities. Set this up as part of the user flow.
Don’t make the user second-guess whether they have the right location selected. Implement a modal that pops up that asks the user: “It looks like you are in Bethel. Is that correct?” At checkout, ask: “Hey Brenda from Bethel, we are excited to get started with you! Not from Bethel? [Link to change location.]”
Create a logged in state for the user. When users are in myGCI.com, it should be personalized to them. Personalize the entire consumer experience.
Work on uncomplicating the GCI bill; make the billing experience the easiest in the industry - simpler than Verizon or AT&T. Create a bill that could be read by a 5th grader.
Speed up the site. Making your site mobile-friendly should be your top priority. The user will not wait. They will move on. Do performance and load tests to continually test load times.
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
MVP & Beyond
Recommendations
In short, we’ve heard that success means that customers interact with GCI via the modern ecommerce experience they are accustomed to on other sites:
•Online purchases
•Online upsells (especially wireless in urban markets)
•Increased customer support efficiency
Business drivers:
-Internet is GCI’s highest volume of revenue (including 98% margin)
-Next level business driving opportunity is cross-selling mobile (~26% statewide penetration)
Our starting line of business requirements for MVP:
•Sell internet to net-new customers
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•Sell internet to existing customers (who don’t currently have an internet plan)
•Assumes leveraging existing MyGCI upgrade functionality
•Sell post-paid wireless plans to existing GCI customers
•Includes ability to upgrade device and plan
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Bonus low-hanging fruit opportunity:
- Improve the current state of wayfinding for topping up pre-paid wireless
