DISH Web Simplification
Role:
Lead UX Designer
Context:
Today, new DISH customers shop and purchase on dish.com, then use my.dish.com for account management. The separate sites have inconsistencies and create confusion on where to find account information. Moreover, the current dish.com site is confusing and untrustworthy for potential new customers.
This project was the start of normalizing the design library, standardizing the UX/UI arsenal, and realizing significant cost and operational savings across the enterprise.
OKRs:
Reduce contact volume through self-service
Increase DISH.com conversion
Increase cross-brand purchases
Increase DISH.com up and cross sells
Tools Used:
Figma, Figjam, Quantum Metric, UserZoom
The Team:
DISH Network teams partnered with Slalom on this project.
UX Manager: John Bruschi
UX Designers: Steve Cramer (acquisition lead), Carolanne Gay, Kamden Hafke (retention lead), Michael Bodell
Product Managers: Israel Romero (acquisition lead), Eric Oliver (retention lead), Karin Anderson, April Buell, Channing Childs
UX Research Manager: Kim Mosberger
UX Researcher: Kim Kollsmith
Product Analytics: Jason Faller
Dev Leads: Mike Baustian (acquisition), Sathya Vadayar (retention)
The Approach
Define key metrics for improvement in the form of OKRS with alignment and buy in form key stakeholders across the org.
From research and stakeholder interviews select key flows we believe will positively impact those metrics.
Work with UX research, Product and Design to define, design and test, creating high fidelity designs and requirements with strong quantitative and qualitative data to back up our decisions to fill the IT backlog.
Pre-Design Research Findings
Key highlights based on existing Dish research and net new conducted.
Abandonment & Time in Cart
Web has an over 90% abandonment rate and the average user takes 17+ minutes to checkout.
Self-Service
While logged into “MyDish”, users were looking for clear easy access to manage their account, not marketing information.
Demographics
While 60% of the DISH audience is 65+, 40% of the audience is under 65—a potential untapped market for self service options on web.
Mobile First
The majority of customers are accessing dish.com and mydish.com via their mobile device.
Current State
Today, the digital CX is spread across a number of sites, across disparate design systems, and via thousands of unique URLs. How customers make plan and hardware choices, how customers perceive their order, how they get support, and how they help themselves are all under review in this product development.
dish.com current state (fall 2023)
my.dish.com current state (fall 2023)
User Needs Validation
The Slalom team created “Proto-Personas” to guide us in creating a more user-centric experience. The entire design and product squads mapped the current customer journey from product and brand recognition through purchase, support, and service changes. We identified customer pain points, gain points, and opportunities for the future state.
Scope Alignment
As a team, we selected four priority workflows that both aligned with OKRs and solved for user needs. Then, the Slalom team led the squads through ideation workshops where we thought through requirements and user experience improvements.
Moving into Design
We created design principles around value, service, and technology to guide our process. For example, avoiding dark patterns, using straightforward language, and breaking up long flows into sub-steps. We met with the global design system team and aligned on using Boost Infinite instance of the Carbon design system as our base.
Design Process
Review research and requirements
Sketch and lo-fi design
Hi-fi design and prototype
Test and iterate
Homepage
Review Research & Requirements
Reviewed existing research, analyzed competitors and best practices, defined requirements
Sketch & Lo-Fi Design
Whiteboard sketched the necessary sections of the homepage, detailed interaction patterns
Hi-Fi Design & Prototype
Explored hero, dark mode, worked to create a feeling of watching entertainment. Created prototype for testing
Test and Iterate
Concept and end-to-end testing of full homepage. Iterated based on SUS scores, usability and overall sentiment
Entertainment Shopping
Review Research & Requirements
Participated in workshops to create requirements for new and improved ways of shopping for TV
Sketch & Lo-Fi Design
Whiteboard sketched two ways of entertainment shopping, by channel or by entertainment quiz
Hi-Fi Design & Prototype
Explored new visuals, dark mode, worked to create a feeling of watching entertainment
View prototype
View design rationale
Test and Iterate
Conducted usability testing to explore channel shopping interactions and quiz expectations
Checkout
Review Research & Requirements
Participated in two days of workshops to create requirements for the future state checkout experience
Sketch & Lo-Fi Design
Whiteboard sketched the sub-steps of the checkout process, detailing the major actions within each sub-step
Hi-Fi Design & Prototype
Explored two different visual treatments, animations to communicate feedback, and interaction patterns to move users through the flow efficiently
Test and Iterate
Conducted three rounds of usability explore things like two different design directions, equipment results treatment, ledger readability and more
Account Dashboard
Review Research & Requirements
Participated in account dashboard prioritization workshop, reviewed and collaborated on product requirements
Sketch & Lo-Fi Design
Whiteboard sketched the sub-steps of the checkout process, detailing the major actions within each sub-step
Hi-Fi Design & Prototype
Created three full page versions of the dashboard, and many state variations per account page card (ex. payments).
Test and Iterate
Tested information hierarchy of dashboard, user sentiment and expectations for two versions (new connect and payment due).
User Testing Approach
Conducted desktop and mobile baseline tests with the current experience to further understand pain points and opportunities.Sketch and lo-fi design
Tested the checkout and home page experiences to get targeted feedback on specific areas of the experience.
Ran users through larger end-to-end flow processes for shopping, purchasing, and account management with look alike and real audiences.
System Usability Scale “SUS” Deep Dive
Our mobile baseline end-to-end (homepage -> checkout-> account) tested below average on the system usability scale.
Our simplified end-to-end mobile flow and redesigned homepage (mobile) both fell in the “excellent” range.