In this case
01 Built for Direct-Response Dominance
02 When Growth Ambitions Expanded
03 Proving the Future One Decision at a Time
04 A Platform Built for Continuous Growth
05 Key Outcomes
SiriusXM built a billion-dollar business on disciplined acquisition and conversion at national scale. As the company committed to growing beyond the car and competing across streaming and audio, the digital experience needed to evolve from a high-performing optimization engine into a platform built for choice, clarity, and sustained growth.
I led design across SiriusXM’s digital customer experience during this transformation, shaping platform evolution in partnership with product and executive leadership. The challenge was to modernize the foundation without interrupting performance across 30 million subscribers and live revenue channels.
Optimization at Scale
The digital acquisition system was built on years of disciplined testing. Offer presentation, eligibility logic, and checkout flows were continuously refined to maximize conversion across web, chat, and IVR. The organization validated change before release and relied on evidence to guide decisions.
As growth ambitions expanded beyond the car and competition intensified across streaming and audio, the limits of incremental optimization became clearer. The digital experience now competed for attention against platforms designed for choice and comparison, not captive conversion. It needed to support faster change, communicate clearer value, and project a more premium brand expression, while sustaining throughput and revenue at scale.
This work documents how SiriusXM evolved its digital platform from a highly effective optimization engine into a more flexible, confidence-building foundation, without interrupting performance.
Built for Direct-Response Dominance
SiriusXM’s digital acquisition system was designed for scale. Years of disciplined testing refined offer presentation, eligibility logic, and checkout flows to maximize conversion across a large addressable market. The organization validated change before release and relied on evidence to guide decisions.
This approach delivered consistent, measurable lift across acquisition channels and enabled SiriusXM to capture a significant share of eligible vehicles. Results ranged from fractional wins in steady-state optimization to larger step-change improvements when flows and value communication were redesigned. At SiriusXM’s scale, even sub-1% gains translated into tens of thousands of additional subscriptions annually
When Growth Ambitions Expanded Beyond the Model
As the business evolved beyond the car, the digital experience faced new demands. Customers encountered a broader product portfolio, direct competition from streaming platforms, and subscription decisions disconnected from vehicle ownership. They needed to understand more, compare more options, and commit with greater confidence, while the platform maintained conversion performance at scale.
The existing system remained highly effective at conversion, but it was not designed to support the pace, flexibility, and clarity required for the next phase of growth.
A Broader Value Proposition Raises the Stakes
Strategic investments in streaming and podcasting reinforced SiriusXM’s commitment to maintaining a competitive edge in a crowded market. Digital touchpoints became the primary place where that value had to be communicated, understood, and trusted.
Brand voice, package clarity, and experience coherence now had direct impact on conversion, retention, and lifetime value.
Aligning on a Future-State Direction
Leadership aligned on a clear ambition: evolve the digital experience from an optimization-driven acquisition system into a platform capable of supporting broader product expression, faster iteration, and a more premium brand posture.
The challenge was not whether change was needed, but how to pursue it responsibly. The existing site continued to operate at scale. Revenue could not dip. Every improvement needed to outperform what it replaced. Transformation had to occur with the system fully live.
This constraint shaped both strategy and execution. Progress was earned, not declared.
Proving the Future One Decision at a Time
Rather than pursuing a single high-risk release, the team adopted a validation-first approach. Research and experimentation surfaced where customers hesitated, misunderstood package value, or lacked confidence during key decision moments.
Card sorting, copy testing, and checkout experimentation clarified how customers interpreted pricing, features, and benefits. Insights from ongoing business-as-usual testing fed directly into future-state design decisions, extending experimentation discipline upstream into experience and system architecture.
Each change had to demonstrate measurable improvement before moving forward. Evidence replaced debate. Confidence accumulated incrementally.
When Validation Turned Into Commitment
As redesigned experiences consistently outperformed incumbent patterns, organizational posture shifted. What began as cautious testing evolved into broader commitment.
At key inflection points, new flows demonstrated:
- Sustained or improved conversion during periods of structural change
- Meaningful gains in ease-of-use and customer confidence
- Clearer value communication without increased discounting
With proof in hand, leadership accelerated adoption of the new experience, moving from incremental validation to decisive action.
A Platform Built for Continuous Growth
The outcome was more than a refreshed interface. SiriusXM emerged with a modern digital platform designed to evolve alongside the business.
The transformation delivered:
- Faster speed to market through flexible templates and a unified design system
- Clearer, more confident value communication across packages and contexts
- Improved performance and mobile responsiveness
- A more premium, consistent brand voice
- Reduced reliance on assisted service through improved self-service experiences
Most importantly, these gains were achieved while preserving a high-performing acquisition engine and sustaining revenue at scale.
What Changed Going Forward
This work reset expectations for what the digital experience could deliver. Optimization remained critical, but it was now supported by a foundation capable of handling greater complexity, faster change, and broader ambition.
SiriusXM moved forward with a platform designed to convert reliably while supporting ongoing experimentation, relevance, and product evolution over time.
Key Outcomes
Sustained growth at scale
Preserved a high-performing acquisition engine while modernizing core digital surfaces under live revenue conditions.
Measurable conversion impact
Sub-1% gains translated into tens of thousands of incremental subscriptions annually across web, chat, and IVR.
Faster speed to market
Introduced flexible templates and a unified design system, reducing friction in shipping and iteration.
Clearer value, stronger confidence
Improved package clarity, decision confidence, and premium brand expression without increased discounting.
Operational leverage
Improved self-service experiences reduced reliance on assisted channels while maintaining throughput and customer trust.
Package names and bundling evolved after this work. System-level simplification and clarity created a durable foundation that supported subsequent pricing and portfolio changes.