BASE · Telenet · Telco · B2C · 2026 · In development Q4 2026
eSIM & MNP Activation —
reducing a 43.7% drop-off
Nearly half of customers who purchased eSIM never activated it. Analytics revealed a three-stage drop across the post-purchase flow. I redesigned the MNP and eSIM activation flows for BASE and Telenet — removing a login barrier for new customers, consolidating 5–6 screens into 3, and adding a recovery path for device incompatibility.
UX Designer and UX lead. Owned the full flow — research, flow design, screen design, copy — and guided 2 designers on connected parts of the journey. Worked with an external research partner and coordinated dev handoff on legacy platform constraints.
Figma · Qlik · Adobe Analytics · ContentSquare
eSIM orders were consistently outnumbering activations. The post-purchase journey had three separate drop-off stages — each one invisible to the team until analytics mapped them together.
Activation funnel — baseline (pre-redesign)
Three structural issues caused the drop:
New customers had no credentials. A login wall appeared right after purchase — before new customers had set up an account. The flow asked for something they didn't have.
MNP flow was fragmented. Up to 6 screens including a stepper overview, a separate review-and-accept screen, and a return-to-stepper — each one a drop-off point with no new decision being made.
Critical information was easy to miss. PIN codes, QR codes, and installation CTAs competed for attention on one dense screen. Users clicked "Continue" and skipped what they needed.
Make eSIM the default choice over physical SIM by 2027. Immediate goal: increase activation rates by reducing drop-off across MNP and activation flows. Supporting goals: grow eSIM digital sales share, reduce support contacts from failed activations, reduce retail costs.
Market context: ~50% of devices eSIM-capable today · 85–95% by 2028 · eSIM sales stuck at ~6% · ~10% higher activation rates vs physical SIM when flow works
External qualitative research — existing flow
Partner agency ran interviews and usability tests on the current design before redesign started. Produced the customer journey map across 6 stages.
→ Three moments with highest impact: The Choice (discovery), The Preparation (post-order), The Recovery (device loss). The biggest barrier was invisibility — eSIM never reaching a clear choice moment, not active rejection.
Analytics — Qlik + Adobe Analytics
Mapped existing flow against order-to-activation data. Identified the three drop-off stages and their exact percentages.
→ 21.5% lost before activation even started — at the credentials step. This was invisible in screen-count audits and only showed up when we looked at what customers actually had in hand at each step.
Pre-development usability testing — redesigned flow
Tested the new MNP + activation flow with real customers before dev handoff.
→ Validated the single-screen porting decision. Confirmed the PID-based flow removed the credentials blocker. Users completed the flow without prompting on where to find required information.
What success looks like — business
- Grow eSIM share in digital sales
- Increase overall mobile activation rates
- Unlock digital SOHO growth
- Reduce support and retail costs
Legacy authentication. The platform required SMS self-authentication before certain actions — this couldn't be removed, only worked around.
New customer credentials gap. New customers don't have account login credentials at the moment of purchase. Any solution had to work without a login.
Device incompatibility after purchase. Compatibility issues surface only after the order is complete — a fix had to be a recovery path, not a prevention step.
Why PID instead of account login?
New customers don't have credentials at the moment they most want to activate — right after purchase. Requiring login first meant asking for something they didn't have. PID (customer number from order confirmation) lets activation start immediately, without an account. Removed the biggest single drop-off point.
Why merge 5–6 MNP screens into 3?
The old flow split porting across a stepper overview, data entry, a separate review-and-accept screen, and a return-to-stepper — each transition a drop-off with no new decision being made. New design: current number shown prominently, subscription type selection with inline field reveal, T&C acceptance — one screen, one decision point. Then straight from MNP confirmation to activation.
Why split the activation screen into 2 steps?
The single dense activation screen put device selection, QR code, PIN code, and installation CTA all together. "Continue" was the dominant CTA — users followed it and missed the QR or PIN entirely. Separating device selection from installation makes the primary action impossible to skip.
Why add a physical SIM fallback for incompatible devices?
An incompatible device after purchase isn't a UX copy problem — it's a dead end. The customer has paid and now can't get connectivity. Adding the option to switch to physical SIM at the exact failure point keeps them in a completable flow instead of exiting them into support.
Design — before & after
MNP Flow — Number Transfer
Old flow: stepper overview → data entry → separate review screen → back to stepper → activation. New flow: direct to data entry with number visible, inline selection, T&C on same screen → straight to activation confirmation.
Before — 5+ screens
- Stepper overview (misclick-heavy, ContentSquare data)
- Phone number hidden in header
- Pre/Postpaid on separate screen, no inline reveal
- Separate "Review and accept" screen
- Return to stepper after MNP complete
After — 3 screens
- Stepper removed — direct to porting screen
- Current number prominently shown with provider
- Inline field reveal on Pre/Postpaid selection
- T&C checkbox on same screen as data entry
- MNP success → immediate device selection for eSIM
Before — existing design
MNP stepper overview
Subscription type
Prepaid selected
Postpaid selected
Separate review screen
Back to stepper
T&C accepted
After — new design
eSIM selection
Selected state
MNP — number + type
Prepaid inline
Postpaid inline
Success → activation
eSIM Activation — Install on this device
Old: device selection + QR + PIN + install CTA on one screen — users clicked Continue and missed installation. New: device selection first, then dedicated installation screen with PIN visible and primary CTA as the only action.
Before — 1 dense screen
- Device selection, QR code, PIN, and install CTA on one screen
- "Continue" was the dominant action — PIN and QR easily missed
- SIM details entry added as a separate, unlabelled step
- No dedicated confirmation once installation was underway
After — 1 step per screen
- Device choice isolated as its own decision, nothing else on screen
- Install screen shows only the PIN and a single primary CTA
- Handoff to the OS installer confirmed as its own explicit step
- Same one-action pattern reused for the "another device" fallback
Before — existing design
Dense screen — all on one
Install on this device
SIM details entry
Install on another device
QR code screen
After — new design
Choose device — default state
"This device" selected
Install — PIN visible, single CTA
Handoff to OS installer
Fallback — installing on another device
"Another device" selected
QR + PIN, print or share
Baseline established
43.7% of eSIM buyers never activated — three drop-off stages mapped with exact percentages. This is the number the redesign targets.
Pre-launch validation
Usability testing confirmed: PID flow removed the credentials blocker, single-screen porting was completed without confusion, and PIN/QR were no longer missed.
In development
Ships Q4 2026 across BASE and Telenet. First post-launch data readout planned Q1 2027 — will measure against the 56.3% baseline activation rate.
What I learned
The biggest lever wasn't screen count — it was sequencing. The real blocker (login before credentials exist) was invisible in screen-count audits and only showed up when we looked at what customers actually had in hand at each step.