For a top Canadian telecom, customers vanished at the one step they could not skip, the service-address eligibility check, and every drop-off was a sale lost to friction.
“Ask for a full address too early and customers leave. Ask for a postal code and they stay.”
Telcos must check a service address to show location-eligible plans, but for one of the largest digital service providers in Canada that step was causing a major drop in traffic. Customers were reluctant to disclose full addresses, the system could not auto-correct invalid entries, and verification latency reached up to 26 seconds because addresses in backend databases lacked standardization.
ML arteka ran problem-framing workshops, built personas, and studied best practices, discovering that journeys starting at the postal code with progressive disclosure changed user attitudes. The team mapped the journey to balance privacy and convenience, tested three concepts (Banner, Modal, and Enhanced Layout) with real users, and built a proof of concept: automatic browser location with consent, address auto-complete, postal-code-only sharing, and a microservice architecture with standardized databases to cut latency.
The result: a validated proof of concept that simplifies eligibility, protects privacy, reduces latency, and improves customer conversion.
Business Outcomes
A privacy-first, postal-code-led flow removed the friction and latency that were costing conversions.
Reduced from up to 26 seconds.
Progressive disclosure, not full address.
Less friction at the eligibility step.
The Transformation
From a high-drop-off address check to a validated, privacy-first flow.
- 1
FrameProblem-Framing WorkshopsDetermined exactly why customers dropped off at the eligibility step. - 2
ResearchPersonas and Best PracticesFound that postal-code-first journeys with progressive disclosure change user attitudes. - 3
MapBalance Privacy and ConvenienceMapped the journey to accommodate different personas and their tradeoffs. - 4
ValidateConcepts and a POCTested three concepts with real users and proved a hybrid solution with a proof of concept.
The Business Challenge
Losing Customers at a Step They Cannot Skip
A required address check was driving a major traffic drop in the browse-buy journey.
Privacy concerns
Customers were reluctant to disclose their full address at that stage.
Address-check failures
The system could not auto-correct invalid addresses, showing inaccurate results.
Slow verification
Unstandardized backend data caused latency of up to 26 seconds.
Business Outcomes in Detail
What the Numbers Mean
Reduced from up to 26 seconds.
Progressive disclosure, not full address.
Less friction at the eligibility step.
Technology Snapshot
The Conversion Solution
Executive Questions and Answers
The questions leadership tends to ask when evaluating an approach like this.
Privacy
How do you reduce drop-off without demanding full addresses?
By starting with the postal code and using progressive disclosure, plus browser geolocation with consent, so customers share only what they are comfortable with.
Speed
How was the 26-second latency addressed?
By standardizing the backend databases and deploying a flexible microservice architecture, cutting the search failures and latency that slowed verification.
Proof
How was the solution validated?
Through remote testing of three concepts with real users and a proof of concept that proved the experience and technology improvements.
