CASE STUDY

One Touch Switch: implementing a new regulatory requirement from Ofcom

The brief

Ofcom introduced a new requirement for broadband providers called One Touch Switch. This was designed to make it easier for customers to switch their broadband provider by automatically cancelling their existing broadband contract when they take out a new one.

Deliverables

Digital and app screens, letters, emails, SMS, error messages, API responses.

Content examples from this project

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The challenges

In order to meet the development timelines, we had to start work on the content before the regulation was fully developed and signed off by Ofcom.

The One Touch Switch process was also new and quite clunky – which meant that the content had to guide users through and help them understand what was happening at each step.

The process

As the requirement was coming from the regulators, the first step was to understand from our legal and regulatory team what was required.

As part of an agile team with journey designers, developers, UX/UI designers, and legal, we worked iteratively to define the user experience for One Touch Switch.

As the journey is complex and users were unlikely to be familiar with the process, it was important to explain what would happen without adding huge chunks of text that would put users off.

Testing found that users were still getting overwhelmed and bouncing off the journey. With support from the legal team, we revisited the regulations and looked at where we could rationalise information to streamline the journey.

A lot of work went into the information hierarchy, ensuring key messages were presented prominently, while less important information was given lower priority. Working through this with the UX team and developers meant that I could surface relevant information at the correct point in the journey. This ensured that users were kept informed, and we met our regulatory requirements, without overloading them with information.

The outcome

Three was one of the first broadband providers to be fully compliant with the One Touch Switch regulations. The journey has continued to test well with users, with home broadband continuing to beat sales targets.