How We Helped UNITEL Empower Its Users

How we helped UNITEL empower its users

Changing culturally ingrained behaviors by improving the user experience of the website and app was the challenge that Angola’s largest telecommunications operator presented to us.

Often, calls to customer support reflect failures in User Experience, but the Angolan context is different. In Angola, the majority of the population views this channel as the preferred way to obtain information, whether due to a lack of digital literacy, technological limitations, convenience, security, or a preference for personalized service.
The digital acceleration project is underway in Angola, and despite all the country’s economic and cultural limitations, UNITEL is committed to contributing. The focus on enhancing the user experience on the brand’s digital channels, in partnership with Tangível, is proof of this commitment.

Process and Tools

  • UX Design
  • Visual Design
  • Content Inventory and Audit
  • Personas
  • Card sortingTree testing
  • Desk Research
  • Ideation Workshops
  • Prioritization Workshops
  • Linguistic Analysis
  • UX Writing
  • Stakeholder and User Interviews
  • User Recruitment
  • Usability Testing
  • Front-end Development

Same Language, Different Reality

The first step in working on the value proposition of UNITEL’s app and website was understanding the Angolan reality:

  • Telecom plans have a short validity period (up to 30 days) and limited data (200 MB), aligning with consumption habits.
  • Over 80% of internet access is via old mobile phones with smaller screens than what we are accustomed to.
  • Not everyone has access to a computer.
  • We speak the same language, but Angola has not adopted the new orthographic agreement, resulting in differences in writing.
  • Network connectivity is often poor, and few have unlimited internet at home.

Making It Happen

Understanding the user for whom we are designing, grasping their expectations, motivations, and concerns, was the starting point for a challenging to-do list:

  • Rethink the app and website with a focus on innovation and service growth.
  • Strengthen the brand’s positioning with a modern image and clear language.
  • Conduct a content inventory and audit.
  • Ensure alignment between the business voice and the users’ voice.
  • Revise the information architecture, navigation, usability, and content of the app and website.
  • Deliver an app and website that can integrate with other UNITEL systems.

All of this was only possible with a multidisciplinary team that brought together UX Researchers, UX Designers, UX Writers, Front-end Developers, and UI Designers, eager to learn more about Angolan culture. And always with the same thought in mind: “The better an interface communicates to the user what they need to do and know, the less likely they are to seek help through other channels, such as customer support.”

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 of their needs.

We worked to ensure that the UNITEL user has control over their plans, expenses, and preferred services. In their language. Without wasting time.

Aware of the Angolan population’s preference for personalized service, we redesigned, for example, the recharge flow to ensure that the user feels constantly guided (as if accompanied by a store assistant).

  • Transformed the app into the easiest and fastest medium for handling routine tasks.
  • Selected and prioritized useful information for the user in a clear and transparent manner, enabling them to make informed decisions.
  • Shared personalized information to highlight 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 different users – employees, authorized resellers, individual 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. That 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 if users could easily find the information they were looking for, we employed methods such as Tree Testing.

“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 to 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.”

Justino Andrade, Project Manager at UNITEL

Testing with Real Users
and Iterating 


To ensure that the app and website reflect the true needs of UNITEL’s different target audiences and to guarantee impartiality, we partnered with a local agency, recruited users in Angola, and conducted remote usability tests.

As a way to create consensus, we involved the different project teams and stakeholders. We understood their needs and pain points and ensured they were aligned with those of the users by sharing the insights we gathered from the tests.

We tested prototypes, interactions, and content to validate the ease of use of the website and app, the effectiveness in performing tasks, and the clarity of the content. We sought to understand users’ expectations, concerns, and motivations. We refined the design and tested again.

And because our work only ends when the projects are launched, we assisted UNITEL with the implementation process, launching the beginning of what we hope to be an incredible change in Angola.

“It was a great team experience, and we are happy with the results. We felt like we were working in the same company, given the speed and understanding of our requests.”

Rui de Brito, Head of Value-Added Services at UNITEL

The Secret to a Long-Lasting Collaboration

Since the beginning of our collaboration with UNITEL, which has now been six years, 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.

It is thanks to this close, increasingly “harmonized” collaboration that we have been able to meet requirements, overcome technical limitations, and do what we do best: improve the user experience for UNITEL’s users.

7 projects

initiated or completed

10 teams

united to improve services

22 milion

improved experiences

Podemos ajudar?

Quer tenha um desafio concreto ou esteja ainda numa fase exploratória, estamos sempre disponíveis para ajudar.

Ligue para o nosso escritório:
(+351) 217 161 634

Ou peça-nos uma proposta através do e-mail comercial@tangivel.com.