THE TELEGRAPH

The Telegraph My Account & defining the Subscription visual language

User Research, Workshops, Product Design, Strategy, Design System

As I've joined The Telegraph in spring 2022 - the business was looking inot launching two new products (Puzzle and Wine) and light subscription. I've been leading the projects regarding my Account where we wanted to offer the users the possibility to explore, convert and manage their own subscriptions in one place.

This case study is focusing on My Account and how I also delivered the visual language of the whole subscription team which defines all The Telegraph customer journeys.

THE CHALLENGE

With the launch of two new products the business wanted to integrate those subscriptions managment into My Account. In our design discovery we found out that my Account was essentially the place where Telegraph readers (registered users and subscribers) were visiting in order to not only manage their subscription, but also convert, explore and also look for help. As I joined, the team was adding components on top of the present clanky structure, but  ‘new’ my account discovery was stagnant in freelance hands with still space to renovate and change.

My Account is the place where Telegraph readers (registered users and subscribers) visit in order to manage their subscription, convert and discover more. With the launch of two new products the business wanted to integrate those subscriptions into My Account. I’ve arrived that the design discovery was stagnant in the hands of a freelance but there was space to renovate and change.

OUR APPROACH 

The subscription team in fact has the aim to help bring the user perspective in front of the stakeholders in the Conversion, Engagement (Subscriber and Registered users), and Retention. Our discovery goals for My Account were focussing on:

1 - Conversion : We want all users to convert from this page that can be linked to any subscription page and we also want to offer any subscribers the possibility to upgrade to Digital Plus or directly subscribe to Puzzle or Wine subscription;

2 - Engagement : We want to offer to our subscribers the feeling of being on part of a journey and therefore we want to measure their level of engagement by asking them if they have downloaded their app, shared their subscription or signed up to newsletters. We want therefore to offer a better navigation for My Account where the users can discover more of Telegraph Extra, the Help section and our newsletters portfolio;

3 - Retention : We want to offer our users great usability of my account, making it really easy for them to manage their own subscription but also where to find all their answers to their questions on the help section.

DESIGN DISCOVERY

After analysing first what users' needs and goals were - when visiting My Account pages - we started quickly a competitor analysis where we looked into businesses that owned more than one subscriptions, with different offers and ultimately also products. 

TESTING ITERATIVE SOLUTIONS
 

We’ve looked into different user testing on how the user was better navigating My Account, challenging the content design and actionable functions of every feature. We’ve ended with a side navigation and went on more testing. We worked in small cyclic iteration testing different design solutions and challenging the results.

We've used and tested the Async Critique which I developed together with Juliana Wang and Vicky Mills back at The Economist. This time at The Telegraph I've tested again the async critique with the team - which is a way for designers to get quick feedback without waiting for weekly ceremonies. We tested first on user zoom and then refined the outcomes with the crit format, always working together with Ahmad Hussain who was the freelance designer working also on My Account. This way of working was not only facilitating us during the two weeks of challenging My Account UX discovery but it was also an opportunity for younger designers to learn and grow.

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR CONVERSION

We came to the conclusion that even if we were concentrating on delivering a better way for the user to manage their subscriptions - like the business initially wanted us to  - the users that visited My Account were also keen to look for the answers to their questions, and to discover about their own subscription, looking for an actual value for their money. There was an opportunity for us to convert more users - and to engage them more. 

WE CHALLENGED THE ARCHITECTURE

We organised a workshop presenting all our findings and possible design solutions ideas in order to collect more ideas - and we also looked into an exercise to estimate together with the product manager, the architects and the tech team the different stages for My Account.

The output was to divide My Account delivery in three stages where we could deliver different features and integrate different other TMG pages like the help section, the newsletters sign up pages, saved articles and Telegraph extra all under My Account.

DEFINING OUR LANGUAGE

We had the Doric News font coming into play - a new typeface for the Telegraph. The event was a great opportunity for us to test the new design system and create a new one for the customer journey/subscription team. At the stage we wanted to test different components' looks and the interactions of them into my Account.

OUTCOME

The Telegraph My Account is now ready to welcome a highly engagement piece for any new products that the business will like to launch. Our aim was not only to facilitate a very utilitarian piece where the user finds everything needed quickly and ready to use, but also to create a highly engaging page where he can find the true value of what a Telegraph subscription can offer. We have defined a series of components and a ductile design system really easy to use and to adapt any features in the present and for the future.

The subscription team is now looking into how My Account delivery could work and we will deliver one feature at the time within our three phases as agreed with the team.

THE SUBSCRIPTION DESIGN SYSTEM

We took the opportunity to implement the subscription design language on more discoveries like on the engagement piece of a tool-tip that offers users to download the app or on all the transactional email - the direct communication from business to readers.

The elements wanted to evoke a strong contrast between the heavy typography of the editorial headline and the tall hairline fonts with the small use of the new sans-serif acquisition for the body copy. The new doric font was commissioned and tested within our team also with the help of the creative director.

The result is a ductile design system that is capable of growing and changing within time while still respecting the rules and specificity of the subscription language.

WHAT I'VE WORKED ON

✦ Unmoderated and moderated user research 

✦ Competitors analysis and market research

✦ Insights synthesis and opportunity analysis

✦ Product vision definition with senior stakeholders

✦ Catalyst for collaboration within different teams

✦ Design soltutions and prioritisation of our roadmap

✦ Testing outcomes with UX sketches

WHO I WORKED WITH

✦ Jason Sheppard Subscription Product Manager

✦ Andra and Cristian Business Analysts at 3PGI 

✦ Ahmad Hussain and Francisca Sottomayor Product Design 

✦ Retention team and other senior stakeholders

✦ Lucy Pendlebury Head of Design