Vodafone Trade-In Checkout Journey
How might we raise awareness of the trade-in capability and reduce the volume of trade-ins requiring customer care?
Role
As the Lead UX Designer for this initiative, I was responsible for the end-to-end design from discovery and research, through to user testing, hi-fi design and developer handover.
Background
Vodafone offers a device trade-in program through a partnership with Asurion, allowing customers to exchange old tablets and phones for bill credits. The process involves:
- Customers assess their device condition
- Send their device to Asurion
- Receive a credit on their Vodafone bill
The existing solution presents two disconnected user journeys – the trade-in journey, and the purchase journey.
Key Issues:
- High Staff Involvement: Data indicates that a significant number of trade-ins require staff assistance, either for in-store processing or informing customers about the program.
- Limited Visibility: Few touchpoints exist within the checkout process to inform customers about the trade-in option, leaving discovery primarily to the customer.
- Lack of Follow-up: After completing a purchase with the intention to trade in their current device, customers often forget about the trade-in option. This is due to the absence of prompts or reminders in post-purchase communications.
- Disjointed User Experience: The separation between the device purchase and trade-in journeys creates a fragmented user experience, potentially leading to missed opportunities and customer confusion.
Business Opportunity
By improving the visibility of the trade-in initiative to customers, Vodafone could encourage customers to go ahead with their purchase and reduce uncertainty, by surfacing a credit amount for their old devices to make the purchase more cost-effective.
Improvement Opportunities
There were two main opportunities to improve:
- Simplify the online trade-in process to reduce reliance on costly assisted channels and free up staff resources.
- Integrate trade-in information throughout the checkout journey to highlight potential savings and encourage more purchases and trade-ins.
Discovery and Wireframing
Data analysis revealed significant interest in device trade-ins, but poor discoverability within the purchase journey. To address this, I conducted a competitive analysis of other telcos and Apple’s trade-in solution, identifying best practices for integrating trade-in options into the checkout process.
I concentrated on two main personas:
- Ethan (The Technophile):
- Upgrades his phone almost every year
- Motivated by access to the latest technology
- Likely to trade in for discounts on new devices
- Emma (The Budget-Conscious Student):
- Prioritizes finding the best deals
- Highly aware of costs and potential savings
By working with the tech lead and product owner for Trade-In, I gained an understanding of the existing Trade-In page and its technical limitations. Our proposed solution sought to streamline the trade-in process by integrating it directly into the device and checkout pages, leveraging some of the functionalities from the existing Trade-In journey.
On the product page, customers can select their old device to view an estimated trade-in credit. This estimate then carries over to the Cart page, serving as a reminder of the credit they’ll earn upon completing the trade-in. Following the purchase, we’ve added two additional touchpoints to remind customers about the trade-in process: in the confirmation email and the delivery email.
User Research
The key objectives for the user testing were:
- Do customers notice and understand the trade-in components throughout the journey?
- Do they know how to complete the trade-in?
- Do they understand how the credit will be applied to their account?
The user testing was largely successful, with some room for improvements and additional considerations. I also measured the time it took the participants to complete the tasks and find particular items on the page.
5/5 participants understood the trade-in value and how it would affect their purchase.
3/5 participants commented on the “cart chin” on the Cart page reminding them how much they can save when trading in their old device.
5/5 participants clicked the link in the confirmation email to view steps on how to complete the trade-in.
4/5 participants said they would consider using the trade-in service from Vodafone.
Key Outcomes and Learnings
The introduction of the new Trade-In components has significantly boosted Vodafone Australia’s sales, resulting in an approximate annual revenue increase of $320K from mobile sales where customers engaged with the new trade-in features or completed a trade-in. We have also observed a decline in trade-ins through assisted channels, such as Customer Care and in-store staff, while the overall number of trade-ins has steadily grown.
Initially, the design had a single dropdown for device selection, but with over 400 devices listed, this approach led to performance and UI issues. To address this, we separated the dropdown into brand-specific and device-specific lists.
Future Opportunities
Ideally, the cart price would directly reflect the trade-in credit, reducing the customer’s repayment amount, similar to Apple’s checkout process where the trade-in value is incorporated into the order total. However, because the credit is applied as a discount spread over the life of the contract and depends on the condition of the trade-in device, this approach raised legal concerns. As a result, we decided to simply suggest a credit amount to the customer.
Looking ahead, a new initiative called Trade-In Guarantee could make this integration feasible. This initiative will lock in a trade-in price once the customer has assessed their device’s condition, enabling a more seamless connection between the cart and repayment amount. Additionally, there is potential to enhance this further by reminding customers to complete their trade-in after their new device has arrived, particularly if they’ve used the trade-in estimation tool but haven’t yet finalised the trade-in.