A leading U.S. telecom company serving over 30 million customers needed to align its public-facing website with a recently launched mobile app. While the mobile app catered to existing customers, the website, reaching a broader audience, lagged behind in both design and functionality. The mission of our small cross-functional task force was to strategize improvements to the website’s UX to better serve potential customers and create consistency with the mobile experience — all within a tight timeline of just a few months.

Challenges

The website was outdated, inconsistent with the new mobile app, and plagued by usability and content issues
Website governance was fragmented across multiple teams, leading to inefficiencies and conflicting decisions

Project Goals

Identify key content, branding, and usability issues on the website
Prioritize updates based on impact and effort required to implement changes
Provide a clear path forward for teams responsible for the website’s management

My Role: Lead UX Strategist

Results

List of 35 high-impact UX and process recommendations for the website
Document creating shared understanding of root causes and clear paths forward for addressing these improvements

Process

Site Audit & Research Review

We initiated the project by gathering existing research, user testing data, and analytics across various teams. Given our limited budget, we relied on a thorough meta-analysis of internal data, supplemented with my own best-practices review. I worked closely with a junior UX strategist/researcher to identify and distill the most critical insights from these sources.

Competitor Benchmarking

With an initial list of problem areas, I conducted a competitor audit of several industry-leading websites. This helped us pinpoint where the telecom company lagged and where competitors excelled, highlighting best-in-class features and identifying missed opportunities.

*Comparing "deals" link placements in competitor header menus against Telecom Company's site*

Cross-Team Collaboration

Understanding that the website was influenced by multiple departments (sales, content, technical, design, etc.), I helped facilitate stakeholder interviews with several team leads and subject matter experts. These conversations revealed significant bottlenecks:

Understaffed technical teams hindered the implementation of large and much-needed improvements
Frequent overlaps in initiatives led by different teams resulted in duplicated efforts, conflicting site updates, and inconsistent experiences for users

*Header navigation exploration for stakeholder discussions*

Strategizing for Design System & Component Library

As part of the alignment with the new mobile app, I worked closely with our design director to analyze the site’s design system and content component library. We proposed enhancements that would allow the design system to better support content needs and provide flexibility for future updates.

*Example content component recommendation*

Prioritizing & Developing a UX Roadmap

We consolidated our findings into a comprehensive strategy document. This roadmap ranked the most critical UX issues by impact and ease of implementation, helping the company prioritize fixes amidst internal constraints and organizational changes.

*Sample usability recommendations from the "North Star" deck*

Outcome

Delivered a comprehensive "North Star" document outlining 35 key recommendations for improving the website’s information architecture, usability, and overall alignment with business objectives.
Provided actionable steps for teams to implement user-centered design and site architecture improvements within existing technical limitations.
Established a shared understanding among key stakeholders about the root causes of current site challenges, setting the stage for cohesive, long-term site improvements post-reorganization.
Through this project, I was able to not only address immediate usability concerns but also lay a strategic foundation for the company to continue iterating and evolving its digital presence in alignment with customer expectations and business goals.

Website UX Strategy for a Major U.S. Telecom Company