Online sales of subscribtions

Challenge

We want to increase the online sales of subscriptions. The planned modernization of our back-end systems is the perfect opportunity to improve the online sales flow for subscriptions.

While the briefing seems simple, the challenge is layered.

- The business rules and regulations concerning subscriptions are very complex (government branch).

- The back-end modernization still has plenty of limitations, though further improvements were already on the roadmap.

- The project was considered important but not urgent. (= not a top priority to all stakeholders)

1 Mapping the stakeholders

A project concerning the online sales of subscriptions attracts a lot of stakeholders. This well known Power / Interest matrix allows you to map your different stakeholders and dictates how to manage them appropriately. For this project I had mostly high powered or highly interested stakeholders. I leveraged the interested stakeholders for feedback and a vote of confidence along the way. This allowed me to reassure the high powered stakeholders that we are on the right track.

2 Discover the problem field

Other sales flows that are impacted and need to stay supported:

- renewal via email

- renewal via targetted banner (site)

- offers via telephone support

- renewal via customer portal (in development)

The new concept has to support different routes of entry and support intelligent use of available customer details.

3 Review and analysis of current flow

A review of the current sales process was conducted by the service designer. This input is reworked into a checklist for the new concept.

UX review based on expert review and user input. ~ Done by the service designer

4 Data analysis

From the data analysis, it was clear that only 2,9% of the website traffic was visiting our site to purchase or renew their subscription. 75% of all traffic was on mobile, but less than a third of purchases happens on mobile.

The concept had to start from a mobile-first perspective.

Our Data analyst investigated further what problems our visitors were having using surveys. This provided us with the most critical issues from our customers. These issues got mapped and added to the existing checklist.

Data reports created by our data analyst proved the importance of this project.

5 Technical & Business restraints

Discounts
It was clear from the start that supporting the different discounts would be challenging. Some discounts can not be approved automatically. Social tariffs (discounts) can not be communicated in any way or form to buyers for privacy reasons. Some of the discounts are based on the purchase and not on the person getting the subscription. Most free subscriptions are only shared through third party agencies, with no way of identifying these before the purchase.

Technical limitations
Certain combinations of age groups are not possible. You can not mix subscription start dates or durations when buying more than one. Online you can not order a duplicate of your subscription card in case of loss or theft.

Business restraints
Some discounts were not allowed online, only in-store. There is no online support for subscription cards from other companies, only in the stores.

6 Concept

Even though we only need three data points for each subscription, there are a lot of requirements and restraints. Especially if you are combining multiple subscriptions or are eligible for a discount. Unfortunately, that is the main customer base for De Lijn as the flemish public transportation service.

The problem with the current solution

At this point the problem with the current solution became clear. We asked our visitors to enter the data for all the subscriptions at once. Only after submitting we started checking for all the business rules and prompted the buyer with errors. Some errors got triggered at the same time (confusing the buyer). Other errors got only triggered after correcting another error.

The solution

I redesigned the purchase flow to a shopping cart concept. This allowed users to add each subscription step by step. This has the benefit of keeping the customer focused on one thing at a time. And we are able to provide information and support on every step of the process and to offer solutions in the right context (without overwhelming the customer).

7 High-level flow

I created an easy to follow screen-flow (mobile first!) with no exceptions to get buy-in from the different stakeholders.

The simple flow for the new concept. Stripped down to its most basic elements to focus discussions.

As soon as I was confronted with concerns I explained how the overall flow would work. I showed how we would handle exceptions in context, all while keeping the customer focused.

The new flow turned out really simple. I find that this provides the most flexiblity.

8 Mockups

Even though not all stakeholders gave their buy-in at once, I was able to move on to mock-ups to make the flow more concrete. I created simple click-through prototypes (mobile and desktop). This allowed the stakeholders to experience and understand the flow even further.

A benefit of mockups is that you can show the proposal and start collecting feedback from the different stakeholders. In this case, the mockups helped to clarify further limitations and opportunities with the back-end development as they got to see the design as intended.

9 Edge cases

In the background I had started mapping all the exceptions on to the different steps in the flow. The long checklist gathered from research (review & data analysis) really helped to map them all out.

The simplicity of the concept allowed for all the edge cases the get resolved. The to-be-developed flow became a very complex structure of checks and felt like an impossible maze. But once you went through the different exceptions (via prototypes) you noticed how it helped and informed our buyer.