removing the “catch” with customers
Sprint | Flex Leasing Program Collateral | Spring 2017
Client
Sprint was a telecommunication company based in Kansas City, KS. Before it merged with T-Mobile, it was the 4th largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving over 50 million customers. For this project, we worked with the Marketing Communications team responsible for all the core and promotional creative included in the stores.
Weber Team members
- Members Involved: Abigail Crock (Graphic Designer), KC Marren (Copywriter), Rick Jenkins (Senior Graphic Designer), Andrew Leatherman (Partner and Former Graphic Designer)
- My Role: I was the designer on this project and was responsible for brainstorming creative concepts and designing the final brochure and flyers
Project Narrative
Like leasing a car, leasing a cell phone is confusing. A customer always thinks there’s a catch. In April 2017, Sprint, the 4th largest wirelines network provider in the country, launched its smartphone leasing program, Sprint Flex Lease. The Weber Associates team created a flow chart that outlined a customer’s path to upgrade or purchase once they entered into a leasing agreement. But customers were having a hard time seeing themselves in their options. There was a perception that there was always a “catch.” That Flex was not an option that fits with them. The financial aspect was also missing; they need to see how much they would be spending/savings with each path to add legitimacy to the program. We needed to develop a benefit statement that would help convince customers that it wasn’t a “trick” and provide real-world scenarios of customers’ options.
We developed a wide variety of concepts that would help solve those two problems. The chosen option was a cohesive subway-style map. Executives felt that we also had to include a worksheet on the brochure’s back to help the reps communicate specific information about a customer’s unique lease. We developed a 4-pannel brochure consisting of the program subway map and a finance worksheet. We also created three stand-a-lone financial example flyers for the latest phones.
The original flyer was a flow chart that broke up the lease process decisions, like picking a new phone today, upgrading after 12 months, or keeping your phone until the end of your lease term. A second version included a space for reps to write down the Buy Today cost and Monthly Cost for a customer’s unique phone.
Original Sprint Flex Flyer Original (left) and Sprint Flex Flyer with Financials (right)
Rebooted – Front (top) and Back Concepts (bottom)
We created four ways to describe the program: (1) developing personas to describe your different options (early upgrader, device purchaser, and continuing to lease). (2) Using a calendar to highlight the three points in which you had to make a decision (12 months, 18 months, or ? months). (3) Developing a decision tree of questions, helping customers to think through their choices. (4) Creating a subway-style map that shows were each option exited the lease agreement.
And three ways to illustrate the financials: (1) a chart that lists all your options at the top, the time frame down the side, the price you will pay in each box, and what you would save with each option. And two subway-style maps, (2) one that focuses on the time frame and (3) a second that aligns to the front subway map and makes clear the savings for each option.
The final brochure had a simple cover that introduced the program, but the main focus was on the subway-style map on the inside. There was a color-coded line for each of your options – upgrade was yellow, purchase was gray. The motif allowed us to clearly show each decision’s time frame as a point on the map. The brochure’s back includes a worksheet for the reps to fill in unique details about the customer’s device. To calculate the total cost of owning the phone, we added “A” and “B” labels on specific fields to help show the math.
Final Brochure
Pricing Examples (from left to right): iPhone 7, LG G6, and Samsung Galaxy S8
Taking the same map style, we created three pricing examples based on the latest phones at the time – iPhone 7, LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8. Each would show what you would pay today, how much you would pay when you decided to upgrade or how much it would cost to own your phone. It also listed the total cost for each option so customers could get a clearer picture of what they were paying to lease their device.