Create the best online store
for telcos on Amazon
where customers can top-up
in 3 simple steps
January 2025 — Present
My Role
Product Designer reporting to Director of Product Management
Responsibilities
Design a top-up customer experience for MX prepaid consumers who want top-up experiences that are easy, fast, secure, and reliable.
Goal
Aside from a seamless top-up customer experience, differentiate telco competitors against one another with flexible payment options and the best promotions or rewards.
Core Team
- 1 Fuse Product Designer (Me)
- 1 Fuse Product Manager
- 1 Fuse Product Marketing (US) + 1 Product Marketing (MX)
- 1 Fuse Legal Approver + 1 MX Legal Approver
- 2 Software Development Managers + 6 Fuse Software Developers
- 1 Technical Program Manager
- 1 Business Program Manager
Results
113K top-up orders since launch in January 2026, creating 16,774,770 MXN in Gross Merchandise Sales in Mexico.
The launch reached 44,541 unique customers and 15,613 repeat customers, with 14,366 customers settled at 60 days — of which 3,637 are NTA (new–to–Amazon) customers.
Top-up Store as a Concept
Final Outcome
Challenges
- Customers land on a promotional page and select carrier
- Customers enter phone number before browsing plans
- Plans show denominations but don’t include other important plan details
- Customers take 5 steps to top-up before they login and pay
Solutions
- Customer can start browsing plans first
- Customers enter phone number when they are ready to checkout
- Customers can see all plan details like data, validity, offer, coupons
- Customers take 2 steps to top-up before they login and pay
Design Process
Discovery
Customer Problem & Technical Challenges
It took new and return customers nearly 8–10 steps to complete a top-up purchase within the old mobile recharge experience. The main challenge was that the return experience was exactly the same as that for a new customer. The old recharge experience in Mexico included Telcel along with other carriers, but Telcel was paused based on technical and commercial challenges. By bringing the Telcel Mobile Top-Up service directly to Amazon.com, we were meeting customers where they already shopped and provided a seamless experience that aligns with their existing behaviors and preferences.
Customer Research (Led by User Researcher)
- Understand how MX consumers top-up their prepaid mobile plans — main reason, timing, frequency, denominations, location, and choice of retailer.
- Deep dive into the Telcel top-up experience of a competitor like Mercado Pago — drivers, friction points, user experience, and reasons for or against use.
- Deep dive into the old Telcel top-up experience on Amazon.com.mx — drivers, friction points in the Amazon workflow, user experience, and reasons for or against use, identifying key improvement opportunities.
Methodology
A total of n=100 MX prepaid customers, recruited via a third party, were invited to a diary study and tasked to complete four activities over the course of a week.
Key Insights
01 Consumer attitudes and habits as they relate to top-ups in MX
- Most MX consumers top-up their prepaid plan at least once a month, typically when they are about to run out of balance or before they plan to leave home/travel.
- They tend to top up between $50–$199 MXN at a time, though will seek a smaller value when they need to complete a quick action (e.g., a short phone call).
- Most prefer to top-up online for convenience, speed, and value, but will top-up in person when it’s convenient, they’ve run out of digital funds, or the need arises.
- Most customers discovered their current primary online top-up retailer via push notifications, recommendations from their carrier, recommendations from friends/family, or texts — not search.
02 What consumers expect from top-up experiences
- MX prepaid consumers want a top-up experience that is easy, fast, secure, and reliable. Mercado Pago excels as a third-party top-up provider in this market due to its intuitive and fast processes, diverse offerings, and varied payment options.
03 Improvements sought on the Amazon experience
- Improve awareness of the top-up offering among eligible customers — only 55% of consumers were aware that Amazon offers top-ups (compared to 79% Mercado Pago awareness and 95% carrier site awareness).
- Improve top-up page findability, adding a link to the top-up experience on the home/category page/main menu.
- Provide a greater diversity of top-up options, including the full suite of Telcel packages and additional carriers. Many respondents shared that offering smaller denominations was a positive aspect of the Amazon top-up experience for when they only need a quick recharge. Offer more payment options, including an online wallet like PayPal (i.e. Lydia).
- Provide benefits and rewards to incentivize topping up on the site.
Competitor Analysis
Key themes across competitorsSpeed, convenience, and security emerge as primary messaging pillars, emphasizing quick, hassle-free transactions.
Mercado Pago
Mercado Pago, a digital finance app generating $25MM monthly recharge value, was one of the main competitors in user research due to various reasons pointing toward convenience:
(1) a simple 7–9 step top-up journey (vs Amazon Top-up with 10–12 steps),
(2) better discoverability,
(3) a larger range of prepaid services and packages to choose from, and
(4) more payment methods available.
Users also valued the convenience of integration with the wider Mercado Pago app, which they use daily for other things such as paying utilities.
Other competitors in the MX top-up landscape
Definition
Unique Selling Proposition
-
Value
Matching first recharge with a shopping voucher will create a compelling reason for new and existing Amazon customers. Customers will also gain Prime Video + shipping or full Prime benefits on recharges 100 MXN or more, with almost instant activation in the same flow.
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Security and Trust
Amazon's established credibility in Mexico is evidenced by an 87% trustworthiness rating among internet-engaged shoppers (Q1'25 retail brand tracker, n=12,458), rising to 92% for Prime members and Non-Prime Amazon customers. Given Mexico's high incidence of online payment fraud, this trust foundation provides a Reason To Believe (RTB) for customers seeking a secure mobile recharge solution.
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Ease and Convenience
The three-step recharge process delivers instant top-ups, with minimal friction for existing Amazon customers. We offer an integrated experience where customers can recharge, activate Prime/PV benefits, and access shopping and streaming services in a single flow.
Positioning — What Does Success Look Like?
Practical Needs
such as speed, security, convenience, payment options, and small top-up denominations
Emotional Factors
such as value for money, trust, and familiarity
Amazon Customers
Emphasize speed & convenience, with Prime benefits and incentives as a secondary message
Non-Amazon Customers
Stronger incentives to change existing behaviors
Design
High Visibility Ingress Points
I designed the ingress tile and icons across all high visibility placements.
Other Ingresses
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
3-Click New Customer Flow
I designed a baseline 3 step customer experience for initial experimentation.
2-Click Return Customer Flow
CX Improvements
I re-designed the Plan selection Page to 1-column and saved a click by moving phone number input to Summary page.
Conclusion
After a successful MVP launch in Mexico, my designs will now launch in Brazil and South Africa as a priority in 2026.