How we helped UNITEL empower its users
Angola's largest telecommunications operator challenged us to change culturally ingrained behaviors by enhancing the website and app user experience.
Customer support calls often highlight issues in user experience, but the context in Angola is different than what we expected.
In Angola, most people view this channel as the preferred way to access information, whether due to limited digital literacy, technological constraints, convenience, security, or a preference for personalized assistance.
The digital acceleration project is underway in Angola, and despite the country's economic and cultural challenges, UNITEL is committed to making a difference. Its investment in enhancing the user experience across digital channels, in partnership with Tangível, proves that commitment.
How we helped UNITEL empower its users
Established in 2001, Unitel is Angola's largest mobile phone company.
Sector
What we did
The same language, a different reality
The first step in developing the value proposition for UNITEL’s app and website was to understand the Angolan reality: Telecom plans have short validity periods (up to 30 days) and low data allowances (200 MB), reflecting local usage habits.
Over 80% of internet access is through older mobile phones with smaller screens than we’re accustomed to.
Not everyone has access to a computer.
Although we speak the same language (Portuguese), Angola still needs to adopt the new orthographic agreement, leading to differences in writing.
Network coverage isn’t always reliable, and few people have unlimited internet at home.
We ensured that UNITEL users can control their plans, expenses, and preferred services in their language without wasting time.
Aware of the Angolan population’s preference for personalized service, we redesigned certain flows—such as the top-up process—to ensure users feel continually guided as if accompanied by an in-store assistant.
- We transformed the app into the easiest, fastest way to handle routine tasks.
- Useful information was carefully selected and prioritized, presented clearly and transparently, empowering users to make informed decisions.
- We provide personalized information to highlight the benefits of UNITEL’s plans and services.
Making it happen
Understanding the user we’re designing for—grasping their expectations, motivations, and concerns—was the starting point for an ambitious to-do list:
- Rethink the app and website, focusing on innovation and expanding services.
- Strengthen the brand's positioning with a modern image and clear, accessible language.
- Conduct a thorough content inventory and audit.
- Ensure alignment between the business’s voice and the users’ needs.
- Refine the information architecture, navigation, usability, and content of the app and website.
- Deliver an app and website capable of integration with other UNITEL systems.
Achieving this required a multidisciplinary team, bringing together UX researchers, UX designers, UX writers, front-end developers, and UI designers, all eager to learn more about Angolan culture.
We kept one guiding principle in mind: 'The better an interface communicates what the user needs to do and know, the less likely they are to seek help through other channels, like customer support.'
Activities and tools
The new app: ease, personalization, and control
To foster the idea of autonomy among users (individual customers), it was imperative to make the app more intuitive and personalized, promoting a clear sense of satisfaction with their needs.
We ensured that UNITEL users control their plans, expenses, and preferred services. In their language. Without wasting time.
Aware of the Angolan population's preference for personalized service, we redesigned certain flows—such as the top-up process—to ensure users feel continually guided as if accompanied by an in-store assistant.
- We transformed the app into the easiest, fastest way to handle routine tasks.
- Useful information was carefully selected and prioritized, presented clearly and transparently, and empowered users to make informed decisions.
- We provide personalized information highlighting the benefits of UNITEL's plans and services.
The new website: aggregative, transparent, and clear
Unlike the app, which is only used by individual customers, UNITEL’s website serves various users – employees, authorized resellers, personal and business customers, potential clients, and even people seeking employment.
Different users mean different needs, so one of our biggest challenges was ensuring that everyone, without exception, can find what they want and access clear, transparent, and complete information. They can perform their tasks, make decisions, obtain answers to their questions, and stay updated with the latest news.
To validate the information architecture we redesigned and to understand whether users could easily find the information they were looking for, we employed methods such as Tree Testing.
Why Tangível?
The partnership with Tangível brought a significant transformation to our website and app. The consistency across different platforms was one of the most notable improvements, providing a uniform experience for our users. The new functionalities implemented, such as the geographic visualization of stores and the activation of services in the app, were crucial in increasing our customers' satisfaction.Rui de BritoHead of Value-Added ServicesUnitel
Testing with real users and iterating
To ensure that the app and website reflect the needs of UNITEL's target audiences and to guarantee impartiality, we partnered with a local agency, recruited users in Angola, and conducted remote usability tests.
To create consensus, we involved the different project teams and stakeholders. We understood their needs and pain points and ensured they aligned with those of the users by sharing the insights we gathered from the tests.
We tested prototypes, interactions, and content to validate the website and app's ease of use, effectiveness in performing tasks, and clarity of content. We also sought to understand users' expectations, concerns, and motivations. We refined the design and tested it again.
Because our work ends when the projects are launched, we assisted UNITEL with the implementation process, launching the beginning of what we hope will be an incredible change in Angola.
The secret to a long-lasting collaboration
Since we collaborated with UNITEL six years ago, our presence has helped unite efforts, ensuring that the Tangível team aligns with the different internal departments and involves the stakeholders.
Conducting ideation and prioritization workshops, which address problems identified during the research phases, has helped consolidate this partnership.
Thanks to this close, increasingly "harmonized" collaboration, we have been able to meet requirements, overcome technical limitations, and do what we do best: improve the user experience for UNITEL's users.
As one team
It was a great team experience, and we are happy with the results. Given the speed and understanding of our requests, we felt like we were working in the same company.Rui de BritoHead of Value-Added ServicesUnitel
