AT&T Wireless partnered with Critical Mass in the summer of 2003 to redesign their website and customer service portal. In just 91 days, Critical Mass completed the redesign and launched the new site, and AT&T Wireless is now converting 10 times more customers online. We continue to work with AT&T Wireless on site enhancements, new product launches, learning content, and ongoing site optimizations to improve the customer experience and business results.
The wireless industry has been in a major competitive battle, with high churn, declining prices, and the impending threat of number portability. AT&T Wireless wanted to dramatically shift their customers to the online channel to drive up acquisition, shift customers from their traditional high-cost retail and partner channels, and migrate customers to self-service channels for account management and bill payment. The company had used a number of firms on their Web sites and had created a patchwork quilt of interfaces, experiences and sites. Further, their customer service portal was not being heavily used due to both technical and design considerations. Their online presence was not cross-selling products and services, nor was it offering more than a limited selection of products. AT&T Wireless wanted to create their “biggest store” online and had to improve the experience in order to more effectively convey their product selection, service, and price advantages.
Critical Mass was up against a very aggressive deadline, due to the holiday shopping period. We worked with AT&T Wireless to redefine their purchase path with several key objectives in mind. First, we wanted to showcase the broadest array of products available, so we provided simple search and filtering tools that helped customers find the right product.
To support family plans, we revised the purchase process in which multiple products are purchased at one time. We also separated the business experience from the consumer experience, to better convey the procedure, benefits, and offerings to each audience. Finally, within the purchase process, we encouraged customers to sign up for online account administration as a part of the purchase process, encouraging them to use the site for all AT&T Wireless interactions.
On the customer service side, we took advantage of customer profiles to serve up specific product information for customers' phones. Based on those profiles, we targeted messaging according to account status, upgrade eligibility, and customer interests.
Site traffic is up, and AT&T Wireless has driven dramatic improvement in online sales since the redesign of ATTWS.com. They've had to bring on supplemental back-office staff to help with the approval and provisioning process, given the dramatic shifts in online sales. Their goal is 30% of revenues online, up from only 3% when we began the project. We're well on our way to hitting and exceeding those targets.
