Jump Around
Verizon’s Home Awareness
Facilitating a seamless, less-intimidating integration of emerging WiFi-sensing technology for current and future Verizon customers.
RoleProduct Designer (Contract)
DisciplinesUser Research
UX Design
Product Strategy
Storytelling
Web Design
Prototyping
Launched in 2022, Verizon introduced Home Awareness, a WiFi-sensing router that uses AI/ML to determine motion in your environment without using cameras. Through WiFi signals emitted from your router, Home Awareness can detect falls, intrusions, and general activity.
At the time of our project, Home Awareness was exclusively available to Northeast America Verizon users with updated routers. Since the current user group is very small in proportion to their general customer base, Verizon recruited my team at Berkeley Innovation to help promote this new technology amongst the public in order to expand Home Awareness.
Problem Space
Verizon is well-positioned to scale Home Awareness to tens of millions of households. Currently, only a small fraction of Verizon’s users have adopted this feature, presenting a significant opportunity to expand Home Awareness and unlock its full market potential.
Solution
Our redesign of Home Awareness includes a revamp of current landing pages as well as additional education sections. By doing so, we empower both current and prospective Verizon customers to better understand this emerging technology, increasing confidence in WiFi-sensing and driving product adoption.
JUMP TO SOLUTION
Where The Problem Lies
With our collected insights sorted into various categories and our identified pain points, we decided to craft user archetypes before designing our solutions. By using these three personas to gauge users' sentiments and concerns regarding WiFi-sensing technology, we were able to better see underlying areas of interest that should be considered in our final designs.
By isolating our design towards the least tech-literate, most skeptical user, we realized that addressing one persona provides a solution to all three user types.
Home is where the heart is, but we realized the term WiFi-sensing isn't very home-y. With limited public awareness of the technology, many users were hesitant to bring Home Awareness into their spaces. Initially, we were somewhat tunnel-visioned, focused on monetization rather than adoption. But as we uncovered a recurring theme of misunderstanding and mistrust, we shifted our research and solutions to focus on breaking down the technology to be more digestable. By addressing the confusion and concerns surrounding WiFi-sensing tech, we aimed to build user confidence. Recognizing the disconnect between the product and its audience, my team and I pivoted to tackle the core barrier preventing broader adoption.
Our NEW problem statement became...
How might we motivate users to embrace Home Awareness?
Our new solution involves incentivizing purchasing by addressing current barriers that prevent users from getting started with Verizon’s Home Awareness.
Given that the common denominator of all the archetypes is their lack of understanding towards WiFi-sensing technology, we found it important to prioritize building an inclusive relationship that would open the market surrounding this technology. By doing so Verizon can one day have a stronger platform of integrated products that are reasonably monetized.
It was this reasoning that led us to pivot from a traditional product strategy suggestion to a platform users could not only engage with, but also educate themselves. To start, we wanted to improve how Verizon displays Home Awareness on their website as well as look ahead to what the product’s impact would be after educating users.
In our initial drafts for the Home Awareness page, we focused on presenting relevant information that many individuals noted they were unaware of during our research.
Keeping the general skeleton of the current page, we also included additional sections to create a better perspective towards WiFi-sensing technology while also highlighting the value of Home Awareness to customers.
After researching more of Verizon’s mission and core values, our team identified several important product sections to guide the redesign of the Home Awareness website, ensuring it aligns with Verizon’s broader company goals in addition to working as a high-functioning, educational site for the product.
Page Components
At the same time, we also divided our efforts to analyze the most optimal paths for the future of Home Awareness to take to reach its financial milestones.
Using the tactics and business strategies found from leading competitors, we began brainstorming different ways of outreach and customer satisfaction.