Transforming Telecom Services With UX UI Design

Digitization has introduced us to constant innovation in the way we communicate with each other. On the other hand, the telecom industry has seen a concerning drop in calls and SMS traffic. As innovation won’t slow down, the only real solution left is for the industry to accept the challenge and transform its services through UI UX design. 
A good user experience backed by a strong business strategy can yield results that could transform your business. Just like how Airbnb now credits their UX for taking them from a failing startup to a billion-dollar business. Before we get into how UX design for telecom could help them, let’s take a look at what they famously get wrong in the first place.

Where Telecom Services Lack Good UX UI Design

The visual of a product is a huge factor in how users perceive it. But when you’re providing a service, the user experience cannot be overlooked. A good user experience is involved in everything, from how your problems are solved to how quickly you can achieve what you set out to. When your core service behaves like a likable and genuine entity that gets the job done, customers will not hesitate to use it.

Unfortunately, the telecom industry at times has failed to provide constant network facilities to its user multiple times. Saying “Let me call you back, I’m not getting a good signal” is still a common occurrence for many. 

Some of the other areas where telecom services have lacked good UI/UX design are as below: 

Cumbersome Customer Support:

Nobody likes being on hold and listen to a computer voice telling them to be online. The constant loop of the voice leaves you hoping and praying that a human will be able to assist you soon, while you grow frustrated with every passing minute.

Providing impeccable customer support is of utmost importance if you want your user experience to be top-notch. A user who feels neglected will not come back.

Overwhelming Consumers with CTAs:

While trying to report a problem with their current plan, telecom providers bombard customers with unnecessary information on new plans. Even on the websites or applications of telecom service providers, the constant distracting “Try this plan now” or “Click here to know more” can lead you to lose focus on why you went there in the first place. This ends up complicating the user journey, which makes them grow annoyed with your UI UX.

How UX UI Design Can Transform Telecom Services

Judging telecom services on the basis of network connectivity and cost is not the only criteria anymore. Simplifying the user journey, empathizing with the end-user are all just as important. In the age of digitization, telecom services must use every tactic available to keep up with the changing times. 

Simplifying the user journey:

The main objectives of telecom services are to increase connectivity between users and provide an easy-to-use platform where they can manage their plans and activities. Through a great user experience and clean UI design, telecom companies can provide an overall intuitive feel to the platform.

Take for example Divami’s redesign of Airtel’s app for their customers in Bangladesh. Introducing new features like digital payments, ticketing, social connections without overwhelming the consumer was the main goal.

As you can see, the Airtel UI design was given a much smoother feel, to increase customer retention. The UI doesn’t immediately overwhelm the consumer and navigation appears simple.

To increase glanceability and improve the customer journey, data visualization was simplified. This made sure customers didn’t feel like they needed to dig deeper until they finally understood what’s happening. At a glance, you can tell what your plan comprises and how much you’ve used.

Implementing chatbots for customer service:

As we mentioned above, customer service has long been a major complaint by users of telecom services. It’s not even just the amount of time it takes, but the method adopted itself that causes annoyance. A report by IBM claims that as much as 72% of millennials would pick live chat over a phone call to solve their customer service issues. 

Implementing an optimized chatbot would enhance customer service to a whole new level, making sure that customers don’t have to spend 20 minutes just to be able to connect with an agent. 

Salesforce research tells us that 89% of consumers are likely to make more purchases after a positive customer service experience.

Putting user data to use:

Telecom industries often reside over a pile of user data that isn’t put to effective use. There’s a plethora of data available through apps for health, finance, and fitness. Socio-demographic data is disclosed by consumers when they subscribe to your services. This basically makes sure the user persona can be mapped out in detail. This is necessary for the telecom service businesses to provide better services.

Any UX designer understands the importance of user data. Take Divami for example. Whilst trying to understand the user needs of Airtel’s customers in Bangladesh, we even traveled to the country to be able to form a better user persona.

User data when used correctly can be monetized all while providing excellent services to your customers. 

Third-party business integrations to add value:

To set yourself apart from your competitors, your interface should have the capability to provide a better experience for your users through third-party integrations.

The plans in partnership with Netflix and Amazon Prime that Airtel provides can be a good example of this. Through user data, a telecom service provider can figure out the beneficial partnerships and provide their users better opportunities, making it all happen digitally.

While the idea is neat, the execution has to be near perfect. The customer must know that it is your company providing these partnership deals. And, the journey to avail of these deals digitally must not confuse or discourage the user from availing them.

Attractive UI interactions:

According to a study by smallbizgenius, users form 75% of their judgment of a website’s credibility based solely on how it looks. While making an exhaustive app for taking care of all user needs is a must; no compromise on attractive UI interactions. Without the same, your app/website would look unorganized, prompting users to form an unfavorable opinion.

A Forrester study claims that a good UI can increase conversion by up to 200%. Fast loading times, interactive designs, and usability will always deliver better customer satisfaction. 

Security measures to increase trust:

As the user grows more aware of security measures and privacy policies, it’s important you leave nothing to chance to give users even a doubt of a security breach.

If the user experience of payments on your platform is slow, requires constant refreshes, or just makes the user anxious, security concerns will naturally be raised in the user’s mind.

A seamless experience during payments or even video calls/managing user data will leave no room for security concerns or doubts.

Final Thoughts

With the growth in digitization, telecom industries have seen multiple users shifting to alternative ways to connect to each other. To keep up with the new times, a change in UX design for telecom could just be the boost needed.

As you saw with the example of the Airtel Bangladesh app designed by Divami, providing an easy-to-use interface without sacrificing aesthetics is just the winning concoction you need.