Vipnet, nowadays A1 Telco is the second-largest telecom in Croatia, a part of Telekom Austria Group and a long-lasting client of ours.
Our job is to make sure they get the best online results by continuously improving their user experience in order to drive leads and increase online revenue. They recently went through a full rebranding and we’ve helped with that too.
Always focused on the results along the way, here are a few stories of how we built up to a 235% rise in the volume of leads for A1 Croatia.
Telecom offers are complex and A1 is not an exception. A project this big means a lot of teams and departments need to be included, which steered us into using the agile approach. We worked in sprints, organized workshops and tested hypotheses on focus groups.
The results always showed that the simpler the interface, the better the experience. Which leads to humans using it more.
Perfection is achieved not when there’s nothing more to add, but when there’s nothing left to take away.— Antoine de Saint Exupery
Our main strategic thought was to simplify it all. The general information architecture, messages being sent across the website, offers, visuals, everything. Show only what’s important and make it as understandable as humanly possible.
When we started working with Vipnet, we decided to revise every bit and piece of their existing websites. Dozens of templates, special e-mail offers, customer support, sales funnels - everything.
We got rid of the decorative elements. Everything that had no purpose and does not help the user was considered redundant. By making a clean and functional restart we ensured that all visual elements adhere to the same strategy: simplify it all.
The tone of voice also didn’t go untouched - we polished all the messages along the site. No more words-puzzles. No more buying things you barely understand.
Vipnet has had a and continues to have a broad audience. This is especially challenging considering behavior patterns and expectations that differ from person to person. We had to build a language understandable to all Croatian internet users. Young, old, those that like to talk to sales agents, and those who don’t.
We decided to speak very directly to the users, using simple phrases and offer help on every corner of their journey.
Remember there’s a human behind the glass screen. That’s our mantra.
Once during a sprint, we were challenged to optimize the sales process for private customers. We’d love it if the users’ decision-making journey was as easy 1-2-3. Unfortunately, it isn’t.
When choosing a data plan and a mobile phone, and even more additional services people tend to take a while because it’s a hard task. There’s no easy way to speed things up - we had to jump through all the hoops to increase revenue.
Our strategy? An omnichannel approach. We decided to move a few things around and allow the user to start or end their consumer journey wherever they want.
If the user decided on a device they want, but the data options were too complex, we offered them to continue the conversation at a retail store.
If the user just needed some help, a sales representative would phone-in and continue in the middle of the funnel.
And to make it even easier we’ve created a data plan configurator. Through simple day-to-day questions and examples, we provided users an easier way of defining their digital needs. Whether you scroll endlessly text the night away, our configurator had you covered. And if the user got lost they could always print the code and continue at the store. Or by phone. Or through e-mail.
By unifying offline and online goals into a single goal - making users lives easier, we’ve successfully rebuilt the hardest part of a telecom’s website - the checkout funnel.
And when you solve such a problem, telecom’s online sales increased by 89%, and you get an award for it. That’s what we did.
In 2018 we were handed an interesting task. At the time, Vipnet.hr was the most visited telecom website in Croatia and produced great results. They announced they will be rebranding into A1 by the end of Q3 2018.
Although to the naked eye the switch from Vipnet to A1 was done in a night, we started working on the switch half a year earlier. Everything needed to be changed and aligned with the new global A1 identity.
The clock was ticking and we needed to adopt the new brand book to our digital environment. We started from the bottom, defining elements such as hyperlink colors, hover states, loading spinners and everything that makes a website.
Building from that point on, we created larger building blocks combining the basic elements to create forms, promotional media blocks, 360º phone viewers and other complex elements. A large video player? Done. A small play button? Done. A whole checkout funnel? Done, done, done.
Along the way, we managed to squeeze in a whole other teaser&reveal web platform announcing the new brand.
And finally, last but not least...
Every time we worked on a project for A1 there was a hidden layer of user experience in focus. The story behind it is complex, and it’s only visible to the naked eye if done wrong. You’ve guessed it right, we’re talking about website loading speed.
When working on websites that are focused on driving sales, every additional second of loading time has a direct impact on sales. That’s why A1’s website is optimized to the fullest. Images are loaded only when needed, segments of website rendered only when viewed, each kilobyte counted and made sure it gives the most value to the end product.
Remember there’s a human beings behind the glass screen. Some of them at home browsing on a laptop, others in traffic, on a mobile device, with a slow 3G trying to find their next data provider. Don’t keep them waiting. Don’t overheat their phones. Remember there’s a human behind the glass screen. That’s our mantra.
Rebuilding the new A1 website bottom-up was another great episode of ours. And the results? Vipnet, now A1, continued to grow in size with a 235% rise in the volume of leads and a 75% rise in online revenue. The switch done in a night, the switch done right.
These were just a few stories we had with A1 throughout the years. There are others too. Today, A1 continues to be one of the leading Croatian telco’s and our goal continues to be helping them achieve more in the digital landscape.
Do you have a challenging project or simply found our story interesting?