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Nicole Song Design

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Summary

Samsung frequently updates its Setup Wizard to improve user experience and meet the needs of partners like Google and Verizon. The Setup Wizard helps users set up their new Samsung devices, covering basics like language, Wi-Fi, and account setup. 

Challenges

  • Improving the Setup Wizard experience based on user research and new feature introductions.

  • Adapting to Google’s new policy on non-dismissible notifications and ensuring Verizon’s activation notifications comply with this change

Stakeholders

  • Samsung HQ:

    • Setup Wizard UX Designer

    • Setup Wizard Project Manager

    • UX Researcher

  • Noida R&D Team

  • Verizon:

    • Device & Product Marketing Manager

    • Executive Experience Designer

    • Principal UX Designer

Enhancing Samsung’s Setup Wizard &
Post-Setup Notifications for Verizon Users

Setup Wizard Flow

The Setup Wizard is customized for carriers like Verizon to ensure seamless integration with carrier-specific services and features during the setup process. As the UX designer, my role involves refining this onboarding experience, adapting to Google policies, Verizon requirements, and user behaviors.

Process & Steps

Projects under my direction always follow a structured process, guaranteeing successful delivery. This disciplined approach minimizes risks and optimizes resources, resulting in outcomes that consistently exceed expectations.

01

Research & Analyze

Kick off each project with comprehensive research, delving into user needs, market trends, and competitors’ strategies to inform our approach.

02

Identify scope with stakeholder

Collaborate closely with stakeholders, I define the project scope, goals, and constraints to align our vision and expectations from the outset.

03

Develop solutions

Brainstorm and conceptualize innovative solutions that address user pain points and fulfill project objectives.

04

Validate with Internal Teams

Seek feedback from internal teams, leveraging their expertise to refine and enhance the proposed solutions.

05

Finalize Design and Implement

Finalize the design, ensuring it meets both user needs and business requirements, before proceeding to implementation for seamless execution.

06

Monitor for feedbacks

Monitor user feedback closely, remaining agile and ready to implement changes as needed to continuously improve the product.

Project deliverables

By managing both the UX and UI guidelines for the Setup Wizard, I played a key role in our success. I created a seamless and intuitive experience that met Verizon's needs and boosted user satisfaction. My clear guidelines ensured team alignment, making collaboration smooth and efficient, which led to a successful launch with the S24.

Design Change 01

To enhance user guidance

One design change is to introduce users to notable updates, including new features or settings, during initial device setup and subsequent OS upgrades, enhancing user awareness, and empowering informed decisions.

User research

Based on the 2021 research report with data from S21, 2,959,040 devices, 5 weeks after release, there has been confusion regarding users' guidance on new features, especially for previous iPhone users.

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'I guess just so I could get the most out of the phone. It took me through something that I know, like everything that I could do with the phone, as opposed to getting in and figuring out for myself.'

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User Journey

In the user journey, which is another way to visualize the improvement area; the issue of user guidance happens after the setup wizard for non-previous-Galaxy users.

Proposal comparison

I considered several potential solutions and discussed them with other stakeholders including R&D, PM to evaluate the feasibility from development and project timeline perspective.

01

To Push a heads-up notification after Setup Wizard

✅Low cost

❌ Users do not like notifications

❌ Reducing heads-up notifications is the direction

❌ Not intuitive.

02

Tip app entrance on the Summary page

✅ Similar behavior as the Firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) update

❌ Not aligning with Verizon's requirement

❌ Not intuitive

03

Provide one page within Setup Wizard

✅ Intuitive

✅ No requirement restriction

❌ An additional step in Setup Wizard,

❌ Only limited settings can be modified

Deep dive into current user behaviors

The research highlighted that users, especially those new to Galaxy devices, do 3 things the most listed on the right.

 

They struggled with discovering and utilizing new features. This was primarily because they often turned to YouTube or the settings app to learn about these features, which was neither efficient nor user-friendly.

 

They also enjoy playing with personalized settings to take advantage of the customization features of Galaxy devices.

From settings app, Youtube video, or from friends

01

Check new features

Confirm all 3rd party apps are running properly

02

Log in 3rd party apps

Such as screen brightness, battery saving, widget setup, edge panel setup

03

Personalized settings

Most checked features

I noticed that there are two types of services: new features and settings.

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However, new features are hard to quantify as each device would have different new features.

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As for personalized settings, it is very clear what is popular. To pinpoint what items can benefit from this change, I analyzed data on the most modified settings and found most of them can be modified within Setup Wizard.

Develop on proposal 3

After syncing up with other stakeholders, we decided to go with option 3 with new conditions.

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To resolve the issue of the additional step, if the user chooses to restore data via Smart Switch, then this step will be skipped.

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Since it is hard to quantify the new features, the team was aligned to focus on customized settings for this launch and keep brainstorming new solutions for new features for future improvement.

Final outcome

The final setting we chose was 'display (dark) mode' for the following reasons:

  • 33.2% of users have dark mode ON

  • 67.6% of users do not switch back

  • High usage for GenZ

  • Saves battery consumption

  • Help to reduce eye strain

Design Change 02

To comply with Google policy update

During the Android U OS upgrade, Google announced they would no longer support non-dismissible notifications. This decision was made due to various parties' excessive usage of such notifications.

The issue

Previously, most Verizon notifications were non-dismissible to ensure prompt setup completion. However, the new Android policy allows all notifications to be dismissed.

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The user data told me that 48% users would erase all notification in quick panel without thoroughly reivewing them. This change can lead to confusion and frustration due to incomplete activation.

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For example, the 'No SIM found' notification in Android 13 could not be dismissed until the issue was resolved, guiding users with expandable notifications and pop-up instructions.

Discuss project timeline & release target

Upon receiving the news in the late phase of the Android 14 Maintenance Release project for the S23, I recognized the improbability of meeting the current deadline.

 

I proactively consulted with Verizon and proposed delaying the release to the next phone launch, highlighting that the affected notifications primarily concern phone activation and won't impact users receiving maintenance release upgrades. Verizon agreed with my proposed timeline adjustment.

Define project scope

My 2nd step was to gather all the requirements defining 'non-dismissible' and initiate a conversation with Verizon.

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I identified 18 requirements and notifications across phones, tablets, physical SIM, eSIM, and various error cases. After coordinating with internal teams and reviewing the latest Verizon activation requirements, I discovered that certain requirements were not relevant to our case, such as eSIM being "unreachable" or corrupted.

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Consequently, I reduced the list from 18 items to 13 by eliminating these non-applicable requirements.

Verizon's proposal

Verizon PoC shared a proposal, adding content to ensure users are aware if they don't activate their phones, along with three buttons.

In the 'no SIM scenario,' the title changes to 'Device has not been activated,' explaining the consequences and necessary actions. The three buttons are:

  1. Show Me: Displays SIM insertion info.

  2. Remind Me: Re-displays the notification after 24 hours if unresolved.

  3. Close: Dismisses the notification

Samsung's behavior

To ensure proper implementation according to our UI, it's crucial to inform Verizon PoC about our notification limitations and behaviors, creating a different user experience for the proposed solution.

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Key points to consider:

  • By default, our notification is collapsed.

  • The collapsed notification can display up to two lines of content.

  • Buttons are only visible when the notification is expanded.

  • Buttons need to comply with padding and margins.

Examine Verizon's proposal

However, I discovered three issues with Verizon's proposal and made the following modifications:

1. Accidental Dismissal

2. Button usage

3. Too many steps

01

Accidental Dismissal

With the new buttons, users can still dismiss notifications by accident and never see them again.

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To address this, I propose repeating the notification 30 seconds after dismissal until users complete the action.

 

Additionally, the notification will not be dismissed by tapping 'clear all'; users need to manually swipe to dismiss, increasing their chance of taking action.

02

Button usage

Applying all the buttons conflicts with our padding guidelines and creates unnecessary confusion.

 

The 'Close' button is redundant, as users can swipe to dismiss the notification.The action button is also not needed in some cases. Therefore depending on the scenario, the action button can be removed as well.

03

Too many steps

Users need to take extra steps to see the pop-up window. I propose adding a shortcut to streamline this process, making it more user-friendly.

Work with UX writers

After aligning with Verizon on the design, I collaborated with the UX writer to ensure the language was both readable and accurate.

Final outcome

The final outcome of the project was successfully launched with the S24 in February 2024.

 

We are currently monitoring customer feedback to assess the effectiveness of the implemented changes.

 

Additionally, during the post-mortem meeting, I raised the timeline issue to highlight the challenges we faced and to improve future project planning and execution.

Business impact

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