home move
home move
home move
home move
home move
home move
broadband television mobile
broadband television mobile
broadband television mobile
broadband television mobile
broadband television mobile
broadband television mobile
A digital solution to take the stress out of moving home.
Moving home is one of life’s most stressful moments — and for Sky, it’s also a critical churn risk. Each year, around 175,000 Sky customers move home in the UK, and 1 in 5 cancel or downgrade their subscriptions in the process. As Lead Product Designer, I helped transform Sky’s home move process from a 45-minute call centre journey into a 6-minute digital self-serve experience — improving efficiency, retention, and customer satisfaction.
Sky is Europe’s leading direct-to-consumer media and entertainment company. Sky’s customer service is renowned as the best in the pay-TV industry according to Ofcom.
My role
As Lead Product Designer, I defined the project scope, planned workflows, and led research and design efforts across discovery, UX, and delivery phases. I ensured a user-centred approach while aligning design decisions with business goals and technical constraints.
The product
Summary
Sky serves over 23 million customer relationships, with 9,000 customers moving home every week. Historically, this journey was heavily dependent on call centres, each call costing the business around £7 and often creating frustration for customers already under stress. The opportunity was clear: digitise the process to reduce costs, improve retention, and make life easier for movers.
Success criteria
A streamlined, intuitive digital journey that allowed customers to move their Sky services in minutes, reducing call demand by over 50% and driving higher upgrade and home insurance conversion rates than the traditional voice channel.
The challenge
Moving home is chaotic. Customers juggle logistics, contracts, and personal commitments, while needing lifeline services like broadband to work without disruption. The old call centre process often added more stress, lacked transparency, and created high churn risk.
Business risks
- Around 30,000 customers lost annually during home moves.
- High operational costs from call volumes.
- Complex internal systems and inconsistent information delivery.
Customer needs
- Ease: Same-day activation, simple packages, no repeat calls.
- Care: Clear point of reference, empathetic support, bespoke to needs.
- Clarity: Transparent pricing, timely communication, accurate set-up expectations.
Key goal
Deliver a digital-first, self-serve journey that reduces effort, protects retention, and builds trust.
Turning one of life’s most stressful events into a seamless experience — keeping customers connected, every step of the way.
Process & design decisions
Discovery
- Conducted customer interviews to map pain points across moving journeys.
- Created detailed user personas to represent different customer types and circumstances.
- Established a user testing cycle to continuously test, learn, and refine the experience, ensuring a best-in-class user journey.
- Aligned with call centre stakeholders to understand process complexity.
- Analysed drop-off and churn data to identify opportunities for intervention.
Experience principles
- Simplicity: Present only essential information at the right time.
- Trust: Provide clear timelines, promises, and proactive communication.
- Control: Allow customers to choose dates, confirm services, and understand costs upfront.
User personas
To ensure the digital home move journey met the needs of different customer types, I created personas based on research and interviews. These personas captured varying goals, pain points, and behaviours, helping guide design decisions and keep the experience grounded in real customer needs.
“Just let me get it done quickly online — I don’t want to waste my time on calls or be pushed to buy extras I don’t need.”
Demographics
- 38, HR Manager, married with two children
- Moderate tech confidence, prefers mobile apps
Goals
- Move her existing Sky package quickly and stress-free
- Ensure no disruption to broadband/TV for family life
Pain Points
- Hates calling customer service and waiting in queues
- Feels pressured by sales offers during moves
- Unsure if online requests have been processed correctly
Needs
- Simple, end-to-end digital process
- Clear confirmation and updates on dates/engineer visits
- Control without unnecessary upgrade prompts
“Show me the options clearly, in plain English, so I can decide whether it’s worth upgrading — but don’t leave me in the dark.”
Demographics
- 52, IT consultant, lives with partner
- High tech confidence, works from home
Goals
- Move services smoothly with no downtime
- Review packages and broadband speeds during the move
Pain Points
- Finds jargon about speeds confusing
- Frustrated by unclear engineer requirements
- Dislikes hidden or unclear package comparisons
Needs
- Clear, jargon-free explanations
- Transparency on steps and timelines
- Ability to choose dates and compare upgrade options easily
Designing the journey to make moving simple
Insights from continuous testing cycles shaped the layout, copy, and functionality choices at every step. User personas directly informed the design priorities, ensuring that the journey catered for a wide range of customer needs — from highly tech-savvy movers to vulnerable customers less confident with digital services.
Start with just a postcode
Begin the journey with only a postcode and move-in date, reducing friction at the very start. Customers don’t need to hunt for account details or service numbers, making the process quick and approachable. This feature also sets expectations early by checking service availability right from the outset.
Broadband made simple
Provide instant clarity on available speeds and packages at the new address, with simple, jargon-free explanations. Customers can compare different speed options in plain language, helping them feel confident in their choices. This feature reduces the risk of confusion and removes the need for a call to explain technical details.
Broadband wherever you move
Manage tricky scenarios digitally — upgrading or downgrading customers based on what’s possible at the new address, including inheriting contracts seamlessly. Instead of leaving customers uncertain, the system automatically adapts to what’s available in the area. This ensures transparency and avoids disappointment or unexpected costs.
Smart upsell suggestions, not distractions
Present relevant upsells, such as Sky Protect insurance or premium packages, within the natural flow of the journey. These suggestions are contextual, not intrusive, and are presented when the customer is most likely to consider them. This approach balances commercial opportunity with a user-centred experience.
Home move scheduling made simple
Engineer scheduling, switch-off and switch-on dates can often feel overwhelming for customers during the chaos of a home move. To remove this friction, I designed an automated, single-flow journey anchored around the customer’s moving date. This approach provided efficiency and reassurance in equal measure — ensuring continuity of service without unnecessary downtime. At the same time, the scheduling tool remained flexible, giving customers the control to adjust dates to fit their lifestyle.
Sky package tailored for your new home
Give customers the flexibility to review, pivot, and curate their Sky package to suit their new home lifestyle. For example, movers might choose to add faster broadband or remove extras they no longer need. This turns a stressful transition into an opportunity to optimise their services for the next chapter.
Your move confirmed for peace of mind
Provide reassurance with a clear confirmation page that summarises what’s been booked, giving customers confidence and peace of mind. The confirmation is designed to be shareable and easy to revisit later. It’s the digital equivalent of a “receipt” for peace of mind — a small but critical detail in a stressful process.
Stay informed at every step
Deliver proactive updates and preparation tips so customers know what to expect ahead of any engineer visit. Notifications and guidance ensure movers are prepared with everything they need, reducing missed appointments. This builds trust and ensures customers feel supported even after booking.
Ongoing support in your new home
Provide digital guides and priority support to help customers get everything running smoothly in their new home, rewarding those who chose digital-first service. This includes troubleshooting advice and “plug and play” guidance to reduce reliance on calls. It reinforces that Sky has their back long after the move is completed.
Responsive design
Move anywhere, manage everywhere
Ensure the journey works seamlessly across mobile, tablet, and desktop, supporting customers wherever they are. Whether booking during a lunch break on a phone or checking engineer details on a laptop, the experience is consistent. This accessibility and convenience is key in high-stress situations like moving home.
Outcome
Efficiency
Average completion time dropped to 6m 49s, compared to 48m 42s for call centre calls.
Digital adoption
46% of customers successfully completed the journey end-to-end.
Upsell growth
Upgrade rate of 8.3%, up from 1% in the call centre
Cost savings
Call volumes dropped by over 53% overall and by 59.5% for home move calls specifically.
Customer satisfaction
68% digital vs 59% voice
Customer ease
72% digital vs 60% voice
This project underscored how critical it is to design for customers in vulnerable, high-stress moments. By shifting from a call-heavy process to a digital-first journey, the project met and exceeded its success criteria:
- Improved efficiency: Reduced contact demand and delivered cost savings.
- Digital adoption: Nearly half of home movers completed the journey digitally.
- Enhanced experience: Customers valued the flexibility and transparency.
- Revenue growth: Home move became the highest-performing sales journey on sky.com.
Next steps:
- Further optimise the digital journey for accessibility, especially for vulnerable customers.
- Introduce personalised offers based on household profiles.
- Expand proactive communication features to anticipate and solve issues before they arise.
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