The Xfinity App
It started as a simple app. Then it grew, and it grew, and it…
How I helped take a small internet app and make it the flagship customer experience for the Xfinity brand.
Responsibilities and impact
Co-creative director of core team
Facilitate cross-team collaboration and communication
Key research partner and observer
Stakeholder management
Sole lead of new experience patterns
| Assessing the challenge ahead
So many apps…with so very little in common.
It was clear Xfinity’s app strategy had gone a bit off the rails. Single purpose apps — a total of 11 — each with their own IA, UX and UI approach, had caused confusion for customers.
We had a (fairly obvious) hunch consolidation was needed, but we let market insights and user research guide the way.
It was clear there was value to the business and customer alike to consolidate most of our apps into one. This would present a challenge like nothing the company had faced before.
Collectively, we mobilized the entire organization by showing how business and product goals dovetailed with customers’ needs.
Business & product goals
Grow brand love / customer trust
Shift to converged products
Grow CLV
Increase engagement in product features
Improve pNPS
Reducing call-in rates
Customer needs
Find value in every area of the app
Ensure discoverability of important and helpful features
Build trust through contextual experiences which put them in control
Eliminate pain points and reduce complexity
Awareness of an ecosystem beyond than what they currently have
| Research
Over half a year, the team of dedicated UX researchers, content strategists, designers and myself poured ourselves into solving the challenge of how to build the IA of the new Xfinity app.
We worked closely with several product teams and leaders to ensure we captured the most critical user needs for their respective areas of the product.
Step 1
Quantitative card sort to understand how people organize their needs
Step 2
Natural language survey to understand value proposition comprehension
Step 3
Multiple tree-jack studies to validate mental models against navigation
Step 4
Usability testing with high fidelity prototype
| The vision and the path to get there
Over the course of several months, Xfinity’s new brand language had evolved in parallel.
Now, we could finally marry well-researched IA/UX and a matured visual direction to establish a vision.
A clearly articulated design roadmap would keep us on track.
I worked closely with my peers and team to help break down a design- and experience-centric roadmap of how we could phase the evolution. This provided us with more tangible milestones and accountability along the way.
| Fortifying with new experience patterns
As the experience grew, so must the frameworks which support the expanded product needs.
I led the team consulting and crafting several new experiences which helped onboard customers to the brand, orient them for success after initial Gateway installation and discover and engage with new, valuable content as they used the app.
🆕 The Value Tour
A feature which allows the brand to make a proper and impactful first impression.
🆕 Overview Cards v2
Building out a more robust set of templates, allowing the brand to shine when necessary, and employing tighter content strategy for clearer communication with customers.
🆕 The Product Announcement
Serves as a critical communication method to alert customers of significant change throughout the evolution of the app.
| Results & takeaways
In September 2020, the Xfinity app launched.
To date, we’ve begun to steer a very large ship in a new direction. While the journey is far from complete, the impact from the evolution has been felt for the business and customers alike.
Over the last two years, the Xfinity app continued to drive more users and more value to the business.
325%
App-user increase
+1.5%
Leased Gateway subscribers
New and impactful programs, like Xfinity Rewards, have taken off quickly thanks to key experience pattern additions and app convergence strategy.
60.5%
of Digital traffic to My Account Rewards landing page
of total Xfinity Rewards traffic
42%
card engagement from Overview
7.73% CTR
The app’s Overview tab has delivered on its promise to deliver timely, relevant and targeted content to Xfinity customers.
