Building a telecom's first digital sales channel
From office-only sales to a digital-first business: I designed Globalcell's first website and mobile apps, recruited the team that built them, and helped grow monthly revenue 3–4× within six months of launch.
The starting point: zero digital presence
This wasn't a redesign or an optimization project. Before launch:
- All sales happened in person, at Globalcell offices
- The company sold roughly 100–300 SIMs/eSIMs per month
- Total monthly revenue was up to ~$10K
- Travelers — the core customer — often discovered Globalcell only if they physically walked past an office
The business opportunity was clear: travelers need data the moment they land, and nobody lands next to a Globalcell office. The product had to meet them on their phones.
Problem
Travelers needing affordable data abroad face a stressful, time-pressured moment: at the airport, just landed, roaming charges looming. The eSIM category makes this worse with technical jargon, unclear device compatibility, and fear of hidden costs.
For Globalcell specifically, there was no self-serve way to buy at all — and no existing digital experience to learn from internally. Everything had to be designed from zero: information architecture, purchase flow, activation guidance, and the trust signals that make someone comfortable paying a company they just discovered.
Goals
- Launch Globalcell's first self-serve digital sales channel across web, iOS, and Android
- Make purchase and activation possible without human help — compatibility checks, transparent pricing, guided setup
- Grow sales beyond the physical-office ceiling of a few hundred units per month
Research
Internal interviews
I started with the people who knew the customers best: office staff and customer support. They saw the same problems daily — customers unsure whether their phone supports eSIM, confusion about coverage and pricing, and activation questions dominating support conversations.
User interviews
After high-fidelity mockups were ready, I ran in-depth interviews with five frequent travelers across ages, technical comfort levels, and destinations, focused on real experiences with SIM/eSIM alternatives and what builds trust in a mobile data provider.
Survey
A survey of recent Globalcell customers and prospective users from travel forums validated the interview patterns:
- 68% wanted a device compatibility check before starting purchase
- Over 70% cited fear of hidden costs as their main hesitation
- Nearly 80% preferred visual step-by-step activation guides over text instructions
Customer journey
Mapping the end-to-end journey (discovery → plan selection → checkout → activation) showed a consistent pattern: users didn't need more information — they needed the right information at each decision point. The riskiest moments were compatibility doubt before purchase, fee uncertainty at checkout, and "what now?" confusion right after payment.
Wireframes
Wireframes mapped out each step from landing page to activation, allowing me to test layout options and information hierarchy. I created low- and mid-fidelity prototypes to validate navigation, plan selection, and purchase flows with users. Wireframes made it easy to spot confusing steps or missing information early, ensuring a solid foundation for the high-fidelity UI and a seamless handoff to developers.
Design decisions
Compatibility check before payment. A prominent device-compatibility flow (brand → model → instant answer) sits before the purchase step, removing the biggest trust gate.
Transparent pricing at the decision point. Total price with all fees visible while comparing plans — not revealed at checkout. This directly addressed the #1 hesitation from research.
Simplified, mobile-first checkout. Fewer steps, fewer fields, stronger hierarchy, large CTAs — designed for someone standing in an airport with luggage in one hand.
Activation as a guided wizard. Step-by-step visual flow with device-specific instructions for iOS and Android, replacing dense text. Support access placed exactly where users historically got stuck.
Designed for urgency. Every screen assumes a stressed, time-pressed traveler: minimal reading, obvious next action, reassurance at each step.
The mobile app — iOS & Android
The web store proved the model; the native apps made it something travelers could carry. I designed a full iOS and Android experience so a traveler could go from landing in a new country to connected data in minutes — without a support call or an office visit.
The app tells one continuous story: it opens on a personalized home with your active package and popular destinations, then flows into browsing plans, a device compatibility check, choosing a number, picking a data bundle, a short transparent checkout, and a payment confirmation with the activation QR. From there the built-in How to use guides walk through eSIM setup step by step — tailored for both iPhone and Android — turning the moment right after purchase, historically the most confusing, into the most guided.
Here's the full journey playing end to end, as it runs on device.
Usability testing
I tested interactive prototypes with 5 travelers who had recently used or considered eSIMs (unmoderated, remote), iterating after each round:
- Pricing visibility: participants disliked losing sight of cost while comparing plans → I brought pricing and checkout context into plan selection
- Post-purchase confusion: one user felt "lost" after paying → I added a clear, immediate setup path with step-by-step guidance
- Compatibility doubt: participants hated not knowing if their phone qualified → the compatibility check became more prominent and moved earlier in the flow
Business impact
Within 6 months of launch (sustained and stabilized by the one-year mark), per internal sales reports:
Beyond the numbers, the project changed what kind of company Globalcell was: from a local office-based seller to a digital-first product business — with a design function, a design system, and eventually a design team I recruited and mentored.
"We love the outcome and our team keeps referencing the research insights. Highly recommended!"— CEO, Globalcell
Learnings
- Channel creation is a different problem than optimization. With no existing funnel, research had to substitute for analytics — internal staff interviews turned support experience into design insight before a single user could be tracked.
- Trust is designed, not assumed. For a company users have never heard of, compatibility checks, transparent pricing, and guided activation weren't features — they were the product.
- Sometimes the design role includes building the team. Recruiting the developers wasn't in my job description; shipping the product required it.