Mix & Match

12% lift in multi-line sales + 9% fewer abandoned carts

Role
Lead product designer
Client
AT&T
Timeline
2019 to 2020
Team
2 product designers, 1 researcher, 8 engineers
Platform
Web, retail and care
Scope
System Design · Acquisition Flow · UX · Web

The problem

AT&T was about to let every line on a family account pick its own plan, and nobody shopping for wireless had seen that before. The checkout assumed one plan for everyone, so both the idea and the flow needed rebuilding.

The result

We shipped a flow that let every line pick its own plan, and it became AT&T’s default way to sell family accounts.

Outcomes

Opportunity

Become the first wireless carrier whose acquisition flow lets a family choose the right plan for each line, meeting the needs of their family and monthly budget.

Research & Discovery

I kicked off with a comprehensive audit — our acquisition experience against Verizon’s, the only competitor with mix-and-match already in-market. The audit defined seven specific needs the new experience had to address:

  • Lack of familiarity led to confusion in the learn stage
  • Plan names were confusing (multiple "Unlimited" plans)
  • Discounts were confusing (save more with more lines)
  • Price changes throughout the experience reduced trust
  • Mixing different features into different plans made decisions slow
  • Missing details and confusing layout in the "add a line" review page
  • Lengthy and confusing journey to obtain mix-and-match information

Users seek context, guidance, and control.

Solution

I framed the problem around three user types: net-new customers switching providers, existing customers changing to the new construct, and existing customers adding a line with the option to migrate the rest. Two entry points compounded it — start with a device, or start with a plan. The framework had to handle all six combinations cleanly.

Learn Stage

For the Wireless Plans landing page, we focused on educating users through multiple applications to enhance familiarity with the change and reduce hesitation later in the journey. Research showed users did not understand the term "Mix and Match," so we abstained from marketing buzzwords and used direct language like "You can now add different data options to each line." Real testimonials helped users see benefits through real-life situations, a sample bill reduced surprises, and a rich video reinforced how the new construct delivered value to multi-line accounts.

Simplified Pricing

We made a few strategic shifts to simplify decision making, each tied directly to a customer pain point from research:

  • Simplified the offering to a single Unlimited plan instead of multiple "unlimited" tiers
  • Moved multi-line discounts onto the bill, not the plan, so per-plan pricing stopped shifting
  • Bundled a small set of features into every plan
  • Offered the rest of our features à la carte so users only paid for what they wanted

Pricingyoucanreasonabout

Data tier selection with a single Unlimited plan above two lighter data tiers

One Unlimited plan, two tiers

Plan features offered à la carte so a line only pays for what it uses

Features à la carte

Multi-line savings and billing discounts applied on the bill, not the plan

Discounts on the bill

Buy Flow

The strategic shift I pushed for was inverting the parent grouping: organize by line, not by decision type. Most flows ask you to pick all plans first, then all devices, then all add-ons. Ours started with “Who’s line is this for?” — humanizing the decision before any product showed up. It also gave the account side a cleaner billing breakdown and made it easier to split financial responsibility across family members. A guided linear flow reduced cognitive load, contextual modals answered common questions in place, and a sticky progress element kept the running total visible so every choice connected back to the cost.

Thebuyflow,linebyline

Wireless plans index with the highlighted Unlimited plan card
  1. 01Start from the Wireless plans index.
  2. 02Select your wireless plan and number of lines.
  3. 03Choose a device to configure the line.
  4. 04Add device protection, or continue without it.
  5. 05Review the full order, then proceed to checkout.

Thesameflow,fulldesktopwidth

Wireless plan → line configuration → checkout → confirmation, in the 1440w desktop track.

att.com/wirelessDesktop wireless plans index with plan slider and feature comparison
Wireless plans index
att.com/wireless/unlimitedDesktop Unlimited plan detail page
Unlimited plan detail
att.com/buy/configDesktop line configuration — plan and line-count picker
Configure a line
att.com/buy/checkoutDesktop checkout entry — sign in or continue as guest
Checkout
att.com/buy/confirmationDesktop order confirmation page
Confirmation

Awireframe-stagespec,notavisualone

Acquisition flow map

Acquisitionflowmap

  1. 1. Wireless Plan
  2. 2. Device Setup
  3. 3. Device Extras
  4. Review
  5. 1. Number
  6. 2. Delivery
  7. 3. Payment
  8. 4. Review
  9. 5. Confirmation

User Testing

By and large, our vision tested well. The most surprising revelation was that although users said they wanted à la carte features, they were initially put off by the offering and assumed it was an upsell — they expected most items to be included. That signal helped us calibrate the threshold between what should ship inside a plan and what should sit alongside it.

New knowledge or insights gained

A new model has to be taught before it can be sold.

Mix and Match asked families to unlearn the shared plan. The learn stage carried that weight, so the buy flow never had to explain and sell in the same breath. I now put a teaching stage ahead of any flow that sells a new model.

Plain language is a pricing feature.

Three plans called Unlimited stopped people at the first choice. Once plain names held up in testing, customers stopped asking what Mix and Match meant and started asking which plan suited their kid’s line. I now test names before layouts on any pricing surface.

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