Vodafone Trade-In

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.

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

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 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 TESTING

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.

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.