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Why telecom companies must take note of Cricket’s refreshing website design

SAN FRANCISCO – That VerizonWireless.com emerged as the overall winner of our latest study measuring the US market for Sim Only plans came as no surprise. What was surprising though was that an outsider telecom company ranked higher than all the major American telecom companies in our study for a number of key categories related to mobile website design. 

That company was CricketWireless.com, and the respondents in our study raved about the website’s appearance, structure, and ordering process. In this article, we’re going to take a look at what CricketWireless.com is doing to impress customers within the US market for Sim Only or Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) plans.

Customers have no problem understanding what Cricket has to offer

Sim only plans are a new alternative to the traditional phone plus contract bundle packages typically offered to consumers by America’s biggest carriers. For that reason, relaying information about Sim only plans to consumers in a clear-cut matter is pivotal. From our data we can see that CricketWireless.com excels in this, scoring highest in the entire study for the category “Language is clear” with a score of 93. Users browsing through Cricket’s website never run into fine print and lengthy explanations. What they do come across is neat descriptions of what each plan has to offer along, which are often accompanied with icons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The language used in the images above is not only clear, but also requires relatively few clicks to find, which is something our respondents appreciated. And while this may seem like an obvious practice that telecom companies should utilize in their web design, some haven’t gotten the message. Commenting on their experience on Sprint’s website, one respondent explained that finding relevant information required “too many steps” while another wrote “I think they need to show their offers up front. Get right to the point.” Meanwhile, CricketWireless.com does get right to the point, which is why they scored higher than any other telecom company for the category “most important information found in few steps.”

Why would you possibly complicate the purchasing process?

Imagine you’re the customer and you’ve found a Sim Only plan that suits your needs. Now all you need to do is punch in some personal information and vuolá, the Sim card is yours. Or at least, that’s what you would think. But with some carriers, the actual process of purchasing a Sim card becomes somewhat of a thorny maze.

In the first stage of the checkout on Sprint.com, the carrier requires customers to provide their social security number, something that respondents found too personal. On T-Mobile.com, respondents were critical about how T-Mobile tries to lure the customer into buying other, more expensive plans during the checkout process. One respondent wrote: “Once I added the starter kit to my cart and proceeded to checkout, all these other plans popped up and fees were added.” Another respondent lamented T-Mobile for “trying to get you to go another route and upsell.” On CricketWireless.com, this is far from the case.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What you see in the images above is the entire ordering process of CricketWireless.com. Just three steps in a seamless downward scroll, and the process is completed. There are no hidden fees, no pop-ups, and no attempts at up-selling. This no-nonsense approach was applauded by the respondents in this study as CricketWireless.com received by far the highest score of any carrier for the subject “ordering process” with a score of 89. This score was a full three points higher than VerizonWireless.com and T-Mobile.com. The gap between Cricket and Sprint was even greater, with the latter receiving a score of 81. The combination of clear language and an easy purchasing process also explains why CricketWireless.com was ranked best in the entire study for the subject “Expect no hidden surprises.”

WUA’s Digital Sales Scan

These groundbreaking insights into the Sim Only market didn’t appear out of the blue. They came about through our proven Digital Sales Scan, which allows us to uncover the elements of a website that work best to attract customers. This article provides a peek into the superb insights we have on the Sim Only market, but the rest of our data paints a more complete picture.

If you want to become a leader in digital sales, our digital experts can help your company become that by creating a custom tailor-made report based on data to improve the customer journey step-by-step. Each Digital Sales Scan report includes market best practices both inside and outside your industry, recommendations and customer feedback on each step of the customer journey, and screenshot analysis to help your team create a better website and drive conversion. If you want to know more about the digital sales scan, take a look here.

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