Designing with customers, not just for them
The most important decision in the Minun Telia project was how we ran the co-creation process. Rather than designing from assumptions about what customers wanted, we went directly to them — at scale and in a structured way. The co-creation tour attracted 976 applicants. We selected 72 participants across three cities and ran sessions that generated 540 pages of ideas. Customers were not asked abstract preference questions. They were asked about their lives: what made things hard, what felt good, what they wished their operator would understand about them. Four themes emerged consistently: more control over their own account, greater ease in everyday tasks, real personalisation rather than the illusion of it, and gestures of appreciation — small moments that signalled Telia saw them as more than a monthly billing cycle. One participant put it plainly: "I'm not asking the moon from the sky, but just small delightful moments to share with my family." These insights shaped every design decision in the app. The Minun Telia experience was not an interpretation of what customers might want. It was built from what they told us directly.
976 applicants. 72 participants. 3 cities. 540 pages of ideas. The co-creation process gave us a design brief that no internal team could have written on its own.
Results that changed how Telia measured success
The Minun Telia app launched and performed well beyond baseline expectations. The numbers were not incremental — they were structural. An 85% decrease in churn among app users compared to regular users. A 73% increase in usage compared to the previous app. A 2,128% increase in call-to-action clicks. 300,000 users on the platform. These results changed the conversation inside Telia. An app that had been designed to simplify the customer relationship turned out to also strengthen it. Users who engaged with Minun Telia stayed longer, clicked more, and were significantly less likely to leave. The design was not just easier — it was stickier, in the best sense. The work has been recognised as a benchmark in both the design and telecommunications industries. More importantly, it established a model for how Telia approaches product development: starting with real customer insight, co-creating with the people who will use the product, and measuring success against outcomes that matter beyond usage statistics.
85% decrease in churn. 73% increase in app usage. 2,128% increase in call-to-action clicks. 300K users. The app did not just perform — it redefined what good looked like for Telia.
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(2016-25©)
