Colin Dyke

Sky Sports & SkY MOvies upgrades

I worked with the Upgrades team to create a fast track upgrade process for mobile, tablet and desktop devices which removed friction from the sales process and provided a more personalised experience for customers.

I identified repetitive steps, and consolidating multiple screens into a simpler process to help customers to focus exclusively on upgrading during their journey.

Research identified common confusion around price points - particularly as there are frequent offers and promotions, plus customers who already have Sports or Movies will get a discounted price too. To provide clarity, an up-front sign in was tested and we found customers valued the bespoke pricing so understood exactly how much they'd be expected to pay from the outset.

By simplifying the journey I was able to reduce an existing 7 step process down to 3 key steps which led to an increase in conversion and a reduced bounce rate during the journey. 

I worked closely with visual design and the development team to ensure the experience could work within a responsive framework. This was interesting as there were several rules around how imagery could be used (it turns out, many famous actors don't like sales messaging splashed across their face), which meant we had to be particularly aware of how pictures would scale and become positioned as a browser window was adjusted and the layout changed. 

The fundamental idea behind the project - that a unique sales journey could exist for a subset of products - was proved successful, and the business is now looking at extending the capability to provide a similar fast-track experiences for other propositions which are upgradeable by existing customers.

UX skills: Wireframes, Prototypes, User journeys, User testing.

Visit: Sky.com/upgrades

Sky.com homepage redesign

The Sky homepage was the first significant area across the business to 'go responsive'. I was involved from the early concept phase through to build, helping define and implement a new framework which could be reused by other areas of the business.

As this was our first foray into responsive, my team investigated approaches to responsive design including fluid layouts and adjusting the screen to match specific device types. Analytics were used to determine key decisions on break points and which, if any, specific resolutions/devices to design for.

A broader redesign for the homepage was also happening in parallel to the responsive implementation. This provided us with the ability to adopt a 'mobile first' approach to the responsive design process, which I found was especially helpful for steering conversation with stakeholders who wished to increase their presence on the homepage. Focusing on the 'small screen' first enabled me to make a compelling case for keeping the experience free from bloat and place more emphasis on the 'building blocks' that could be used to create an experience across devices and resolutions.

I encouraged a shift in approach for visual design that was less about the page itself and more about the tools and individual components that might exist on a page to accommodate each customer scenario. The elements created could be used to construct any page - and by making the elements responsive, the content would inherently work across multiple devices.   

I also sought to address known problems uncovered from existing research. Along with my team, I helped devise the concept of 'flipping' tiles, which are used to provide reassurance and extra detail prior to handing off to a specific area on sky.com. These were introduced following research that suggested customers would hesitate when clicking through to new sections, as if they got it wrong they'd find themselves in a different area of the site which wasn't always very easy to come back from. Using the flip format, a customer can quickly arrive at enough detail to understand whether continuing forward will progress with their desired activity or if they need to consider a different route. It also gives customers more confidence to explore content without having to fully commit each time.  

Research showing existing customer behaviour suggested the homepage was typically used as a springboard for users, enabling them to reach their desired destination based on why they were visiting the site. I pointed to evidence showing increasing numbers were bypassing the homepage altogether as a result of landing directly on deeper pages across the site via search results. This lessened the importance of 'time on page' metrics and led to a shift in thinking which was orientated around helping customers get to where they wanted to be: task completion.

Throughout the project a combination of analytics, competitor analysis and user testing was used to help answer questions such as:

• Should the content be identical across devices?
• How should content re-format on smaller devices - e.g. stack? swipe through?
• What specific devices/resolutions should we design for, if any?

I worked with visual designers to shape, define and test suitable interaction patterns, ensuring they worked sufficiently across devices. By doing so, we started to develop a component library which would go on to form the foundation for a toolkit, designed to encourage consistency and collaboration throughout the teams working across Sky.com.

During build, I remained involved to iterate, refine and launch new functionality such as personalised feeds, remote record and series link, localised weather and embedded social media feeds to provide enhancements to the customer experience. 

UX skills: Wireframes, Personas, Analytics, Prototypes, User testing, Competitor analysis. 

Visit: www.sky.com

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