UPS Customer Experience
Client: UPS
Agency: T3
Timeline: 2015-2018
Role: Associate Director, Product Design
Project Description
The UPS Customer Experience Project marked a significant era of digital transformation and innovation in UPS's approach to customer service. This case study details the project's challenges, strategies, and outcomes.
Challenges
Frequent Brand Redesigns: UPS's brand identity suffered due to multiple redesigns, leading to a lack of cohesive brand presentation.
Disparate Digital Ecosystem: The disjointed nature of UPS's digital landscape resulted in inconsistent customer experiences and operational inefficiencies.
Strategic Initiatives
Development of a Unified Digital Design System: Led a comprehensive UI audit, laying the groundwork for consistent design across digital platforms.
Mobile Innovation Strategy and Execution: Pioneered UPS's mobile innovation strategy, including the design and prototyping of groundbreaking concepts, positioning UPS at the forefront of the logistics industry's digital transformation.
Strategic Product Roadmap Implementation: Led the development and implementation of a strategic product roadmap with key innovative features.
UPS Tracking Redesign
The digital team at UPS opened up an opportunity for our agency to present concepts for a redesigned package tracking experience along with their internal team and one other design agency. Each concept was then submitted to several rounds of user testing and our concept emerged the clear user favorite.
After iterating on several other features, we launched an all new customer experience that makes status updates clear across all customer touch-points, with logical next-best-step actions, like rescheduling and rerouting.
Tracking Details view with support for delivery options, shipment progress, notifications, and multi-package shipments
Mobile versions prioritized on-the-go content and actions to help assuage delivery anxiety and help users get on with their day.
UPS Mobile Redesign
We redesigned their native iOS and Android apps to include features that took advantage of users’ smartphone capabilities and capitalize on mobile moments that matter.
UPS Mobile Shipping
Creating a shipment while on the go was nearly impossible until our team incorporated a mobile shipping feature into the UPS app.
This option allowed users to:
Quickly create a new shipment with stored profile information and contacts
Drop off their package at the nearest UPS Store or UPS Access Point with a quick scan of the barcode
And that’s it! UPS Store staff take it from there, packaging any loose items, printing & affixing a label to the package for a smooth, no-hassle process
Quick Quote Concept
Getting an accurate quote is not easy when you don't know the dimensions of your packaging. But what if you could use your phone's camera to measure it? We designed an experience that measures the dimensions of your packaging using you're phone's camera, then generates a quote. Next, we created a tappable, experience prototype help shape the idea and UX.
Finally, we created a working prototype that also measures irregular-shaped items to determine optimum packaging options. This prototype was eventually incorporated into the UPS mobile app for widespread use.
UPS Voice & Chat Bots
Smart home devices opened up a new level of convenience for customers awaiting important deliveries. We created the industry’s first chatbot and voice skill to fit our users’ busy lives. In addition to natural language processing, we also included buttons and menu cards; followed by actionable prompts to anticipate their needs and help guide them through the process.
Our approach to the voice enabled assistant was to keep interactions and quick, concise and friendly as possible; framing questions in way that allow the customer to respond with short responses and sending more complex information to the companion app. UPS customers can check on incoming packages with a simple question. They can even perform more complex actions, like release a shipment, reschedule a delivery, and provide driver instructions.
According to Business Insider Intelligence’s 2018 Delivery Trust survey, US consumers say that UPS has the best package tracking features, topping rivals FedEx and USPS. One of the biggest contributing factors, cited in the study, in an industry with relative parity between offerings was the availability of multiple chatbots and voice enabled assistants.
“One of the more noticeable ways UPS differentiates its offerings from those of FedEx and USPS is by giving consumers access to tracking features on a number of different platforms and devices. By adding more ways to track packages, UPS is increasing the chances that a consumer can use a preferred device or platform, in turn, improving the customer experience.”
Marketing Automation
Our team initially joined UPS to assist with the development of their Marketo marketing automation and CRM platform, which had been stalled for months prior to our involvement. During a project development meeting in Atlanta, we realized we could offer more substantial help. After brainstorming with developers over dinner, we created a working prototype over breakfast the next morning, demonstrating the platform's capabilities and providing a sample template. This proactive approach not only resolved UPS's challenges swiftly but also earned us the design business, leading to the delivery of eight customizable templates within weeks.
“Wow, this is amazing! I feel like we just jumped WAY ahead!”
Results and Impact
Enhanced Digital Customer Experience: The project led to a more intuitive and integrated customer experience across UPS's digital platforms.
Significant Revenue Growth: The guided shipping redesign played a pivotal role in realizing a $157MM annual increase in UPS's shipping revenue.
Innovation in Customer Service Tools: The successful implementation of chatbots and voice skills marked significant advancements in customer service technology.
Industry Recognition: UPS received top carrier honors from Business Insider for providing more features across touchpoints than its competitors, a testament to the project's success and market impact.
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