Context & Initiative
For new and existing Cox Business customers who place a new order, the self-serve registration experience is a critical moment in their digital journey: it should drive adoption of self-service capabilities and build confidence in Cox as a provider. The previous registration experience was a single, cumbersome form that discouraged completion and contributed to a low post-order registration completion rate.
Initiative
- Reimagine and improve the registration process from the ground up, starting with the order process
- Increase registration completion through a streamlined, step-guided, mobile-first experience
- Introduce tokenized links (email and mobile) so new customers receive clear paths to register after placing an order
- Verify contact methods during registration to support multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Eliminate the need for users to manually enable MFA later by building it into the registration flow
My Role
Lead UX designer. I spearheaded the creation of the streamlined, step-guided registration process, from defining multiple user flows (tokenized links, default registration CTA, administrator-guided registration), through wireframing and prototyping, to collaboration with security, customer service, and order management, and through baseline user testing and Pendo-driven analysis.
Success Metrics
- Improved customer experience and satisfaction: Registration should feel simple and guided
- Operational efficiency: Shift profile placement from back-office operations into a guided, customer-driven experience
- Reduction of duplicate profiles: Shell profile cleanup and redesigned Profile Management for CSRs
- Digital engagement: Channel containment with elegant handoff when needed
Constraints
Scope was bounded by the registration and profile-placement flows and by building on the CB Force hierarchy work. The initiative did not include the hierarchy transition itself. All part of the broader new-customer vision (order status, self-install, dashboard, guided tours) aimed at increasing digital adoption.
Discovery
Registration Landscape
Registration sits at the intersection of order completion, account security, and ongoing self-service. New customers could use Cox Business services without registering, but doing so limited their ability to get support, manage services, or manage equipment. The opportunity was to tie registration to the order moment and use it to verify contact methods and introduce MFA.
Understanding the Legacy State
One long form increased abandonment and did not guide users step-by-step. The legacy registration method was a cumbersome, singular form that often discouraged users from completing registration.
User Segments
- New customers post-order: High-intent users receiving tokenized links; need a clear, low-friction path to register
- Users arriving via default registration CTA: Same step-guided, mobile-friendly experience needed
- Administrator-guided registrants: Flows had to accommodate this entry point as well
Research Inputs
- Baseline user testing: Conducted after internal refinements to ensure each flow was seamless
- Pendo: Introduced for specific analysis of user behavior within registration flows
- Stakeholder and cross-team review: Security, customer service, and order management reviewed prototypes
Problem Definition
The previous registration experience was a single, cumbersome form that discouraged completion and contributed to a low post-order registration completion rate. Contact methods were not verified during registration, and MFA was left for users to enable later. Root cause: registration was designed as a one-size-fits-all form rather than a step-guided, context-aware flow tied to the order moment and security needs.
“Users needed a clear, guided path to register and verify their contact methods; they were given a single long form and a later MFA prompt. That mismatch discouraged completion and delayed stronger account security.
Supporting Evidence
- Low post-order completion despite the order moment being a high-intent opportunity
- Not registering created challenges when customers needed support or wished to manage services
- Contact verification and MFA were not part of registration, leaving accounts less secure
- Security, customer service, and order management all had a stake in improving completion
Scope Boundaries
In scope:
- Redesign of the registration experience (step-guided, mobile-first)
- Multiple entry flows: tokenized links, default registration CTA, administrator-guided
- Integration of contact verification and MFA into the registration process
- Prototyping, stakeholder review, baseline user testing, and Pendo analysis
Process & Rationale
Approach
- Define user flows: Identify and define multiple entry points: tokenized links, default registration CTA, administrator-guided registration
- Refine flows: Refine the four defined flows to ensure coverage of all key scenarios and outcomes
- Wireframe: Create wireframes with a strong emphasis on a mobile-friendly, step-by-step guided process
- Prototype: Build prototypes accounting for all possible iterations and outcomes for each flow
- Stakeholder and cross-team review: Review with security, customer service, and order management
- Internal refinement: Incorporate feedback and refine flows and prototypes
- Baseline user testing: Run user testing to ensure each flow was seamless
- Launch and monitor: Introduce Pendo for ongoing behavior analysis
Why This Process
Why multiple flows first? Tokenized links, default CTA, and administrator-guided registration represent distinct contexts and user mindsets. Defining these before wireframing ensured we didn't optimize for one path at the expense of others.
Why step-guided and mobile-first? The legacy single form was a major source of abandonment. A step-by-step, mobile-friendly process reduces cognitive load and works across devices.
Why prototype all iterations? Registration includes branching (verification steps, errors, recovery). Prototyping all iterations allowed stakeholders to review real scenarios and reduced risk of edge-case failures.
Collaboration
Prototypes were reviewed by multiple stakeholders and teams outside the product team, including security, customer service, and order management. This collaboration ensured solutions accommodated both customers and internal teams.
Solution
Before & After
- Single, cumbersome form
- No tokenized links
- Contact methods not verified
- MFA enabled manually later
- Not mobile-optimized
- Mobile-first, step-guided flow
- Tokenized links via email & mobile
- Contact verification built in
- MFA integrated into registration
- Four defined entry flows
Key Design Decisions
Tokenized Links from the Order Moment
New customers receive tokenized links via email and mobile after placing an order, tackling low post-order completion and verifying contact methods for stronger initial account security.
Step-Guided, Mobile-First Process
Replacing the single long form with a step-by-step, mobile-friendly flow reduced cognitive load and abandonment. Designing for mobile first ensured the experience worked where many users open links and complete registration.
MFA and Contact Verification Inside Registration
Building contact verification and MFA into registration improved security from the start and removed the need for users to manually enable MFA later, reducing friction and increasing the likelihood accounts would be secured early.
Four Flows, One Consistent Experience
Designing for tokenized links, default CTA, and administrator-guided registration ensured we didn't optimize for one entry point only; all paths shared the same step-guided, verification, and MFA logic.
Validation & Iteration
Key Iterations
After Stakeholder Review
Internal refinements based on feedback from security, customer service, and order management ensured solutions worked for both customers and internal teams.
After Baseline User Testing
Adjustments to ensure each flow was seamless before launch. User testing was conducted after internal refinements to validate the experience.
Post-Launch Monitoring
Use of Pendo to understand behavior and swiftly address emerging hurdles in the registration flows post-launch.
Validation
- Stakeholder and cross-team review: Prototypes reviewed by security, customer service, and order management
- Baseline user testing: Validated that each flow was seamless
- Pendo: Post-launch analysis to track behavior and identify hurdles
Outcome & Reflection
The project exceeded its goal of providing a better registration process for both users and Cox Business by addressing issues before users hit them: tokenized links and step-guided flows for completion, and MFA and contact verification built into registration.
Results
- Registration experience: Mobile-first, step-guided registration replaced the previous bulky single form
- MFA and security: Multi-factor authentication introduced into registration; users no longer need to manually enable MFA
- Operational efficiency: Registration and profile placement shifted from back-office operations to a guided, customer-driven flow
- Engagement and security: Significantly improved user engagement and security
- Digital adoption: 20%+ year-over-year increase in digital adoption
Learnings
- Meaningful collaboration with intentional wireframes increases buy-in. Showcasing simplified flows through wireframes, from what exists today to what is possible, directly showed how enabling users for success increases motivation to self-serve.
- Showcasing the gap (today vs. possible) makes the case for change. Wireframes contrasting current state with the proposed experience helped collaborating teams see the impact.
What I'd Do Differently
I'd jump to prototyping even faster. Registration is not an unknown process, and with AI tooling I could have received even faster and more emphatic buy-in from all collaborating teams if I had pitched them a more robust prototype instead of wireframes first. Everyone can feel the result and expectations of a fully fleshed-out prototype. I'd use that earlier to align and excite stakeholders.
Future Implications
Future implications included onboarding initiatives through Pendo-driven walkthroughs and guides, providing the newly registered user a seamless entry point into the Cox Business My Account dashboard.
