Straight Talk - Optimizing the Home Internet Purchase Journey
Role: Sr. UX/UI Designer
Problem statement: Straight Talk launched a nationwide Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) home internet service through Walmart to compete with traditional cable providers. Shortly after launch, weekly hardware return rates peaked at 42.2% as customers frequently purchased routers without verifying service availability at their home address. The fragmented purchase journey created unnecessary returns, abandoned purchases, and increased operational costs.
Timeframe:
Phase 1 - Initial Rollout & Stabilization (Oct. 2022 - Dec. 2023). Iterative point of sale countermeasures were implemented to drive peak weekly return rates down from 42.2% to 20%.
Phase 2 - Falcon Router Launch and CX Overhaul (Jan. 2024 - Dec. 2024). This phase focused on launching the new, lower cost “Falcon” router and enforcing mandatory address checks prior to purchase to further drop returns to below 10%.
Phase 3 - Digital Integration (July 2025). Completely streamline the digital acquisition flow by allowing prospective customers to check availability and originate their purchase directly from the Service Plan page.
Challenges
Customers purchased devices before confirming service eligibility.
The digital purchase journey contained multiple dead ends and disconnected experiences.
Walmart messaging lacked clear activation instructions.
Retail packaging did not encourage address verification before purchase.
Customers outside the coverage area had no path forward once they were deemed ineligible.
Objectives
Reduce retail return rates.
Improve the end-to-end purchase experience.
Increase successful address qualification.
Launch the new Falcon router.
Support expansion into additional Walmart locations.
Actions
Working with Product, Engineering, Marketing, Retail, and Customer Care teams, I helped redesign key customer touchpoints throughout the purchase journey.
Integrated real-time address qualification directly into the Plan Description Page.
Updated CTAs dynamically after successful qualification to move customers directly into checkout.
Improved retail packaging with QR codes and barcodes that encouraged address verification before purchase.
Designed a waitlist experience for customers outside the coverage area.
Created an automated roaming education campaign to reduce improper device usage.
Home Internet Landing Page With Success and Join Wait List Message
Integrated address qualification into the homepage, allowing customers to verify service availability before purchasing hardware.
Instead of presenting a dead end, we introduced a waitlist that allowed customers to receive availability updates while providing the business with valuable demand insights for future network expansion.
Customers attempting to purchase Home Internet could not proceed because the existing Plan Details Page only supported the Refill journey. The redesigned experience introduced a new purchase path, enabling customers to verify service availability, add a service plan, and then select a compatible router.
Old: Customers reached a dead end because the Plan Details page only supported plan refills.
New: Added a “Are you new to Straight Talk?” option that launches real-time address qualification.
Result: Eligible customers can verify availability and continue directly to router selection without leaving the purchase flow.
Unable to alter Walmart’s core digital infrastructure, we solved for low visibility by repurposing the ‘At a glance’ and ‘About this item’ modules to prompt the address check. We also overhauled the mobile UI to deliver urgent, easy-to -read steps to add the device and plan to the cart.
Launch from Walmart
Verify Address
Confirm Eligibility
Return to Walmart
Design Decisions
Our focus was to reduce friction while preventing costly customer mistakes.
Key UX principles included:
Keep customers within a single purchase flow.
Eliminate unnecessary redirects.
Surface eligibility early.
Provide clear guidance before purchase.
Offer an alternative path when service wasn’t available.
Results
The redesign produced measurable business improvements:
The Straight Talk FWA subscriber base grew from 5,000 to 25,000 users over the course of 2023 (specifically, between December 2022 and December 2023). Return rates stabilized to 20% in 2023. Retail address verification increased from 13% to 21% between December 2022 and December 2023.
Business Impact
The project transformed a high-friction product launch into a scalable customer experience that reduced operational costs while increasing qualified customer acquisition. By improving qualification, education, and purchase guidance, the team significantly reduced avoidable returns and supported long-term growth for Straight Talk’s home internet business.
What I Learned
This project demonstrated how strategic UX decisions can benefit both customers and the business. By moving address qualification earlier in the purchase journey and simplifying the experience, we prevented ineligible purchases, reduced unnecessary hardware returns, and created a clearer path to checkout.