Roles

  • User Experience (UX) Designer
  • Content Design
  • Interaction (IxD) Designer
  • User Interface (UI) Designer
  • Visual Designer
  • Information Architecture

Deliverables

Interaction Design:

  • High-fidelity interactive prototypes

UX/UI Design:

  • Stakeholders Interview

  • Competitive analysis

  • User surveys and one-on-one interviews

  • Personas

  • User journeys and task flows

  • Site map

  • Low-fidelity wireframes

  • High-fidelity mockups and prototypes

  • Design system and UI kit

  • Usability tests and findings

 

Project Specifications

Duration: 9 Months

Tools:

    • Figma

    • Miro

The Challenge

Outdated Bayer CRM Design Ruins User Experience

The Bayer CRM had not received any updates in the past two years, reducing efficiency, accuracy, and revenue in sales. In today’s market, CRM systems must be faster, easier to use, and less prone to errors instead of overly complex and challenging to navigate. As a result, the entire sales process is negatively impacted.

Majority of current CRM problems:

  • Slow: Ineffective in task processing
  • Clumsy: Causing stress both for the Sales Rep and Customer
  • Outdated: Decrease Sales Rep motivation
  • Over-featured: Time-consuming to find necessary functions
  • Scattered: Causing mishaps in communication between Sales Reps and Clients
  • Difficult to master: It takes approximately three months for new sales reps to master.

The Stakeholders Interview

Navigating Visions: Bridging the Gap

One of the biggest challenges is that large teams often find it hard to reach a common understanding; everyone has their vision about the company strategy and the new product goals. 

Findings from the Stakeholder Interview:

During the stakeholder interview, several key insights emerged:

  1. Country-specific Designs: Each country has its design approach for the CRM system.
  2. Seasonal Variations: For instance, in the US, there are four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. In the Asia-Pacific region, there are two seasons: Dry and Rain.
  3. Global CRM Requirement: The management expressed the need for a unified global CRM system with a single design that can be utilized across all countries.
  4. Admin Functionality: To address country-specific requirements, the stakeholders expressed the need for an administrative feature that enables seamless switching between various features and configurations tailored to the specific needs of each country. This functionality will ensure adaptability and customization within the global CRM system.

These insights highlight the management’s goal of streamlining and harmonizing the CRM system across all countries while considering each region’s diverse requirements and contexts. The intention is to create a cohesive and efficient CRM solution that can be easily tailored to meet the needs of individual countries.

Product Audit

What do we Have Here? 

  • Overview of Bayer’s CRM business philosophy, strategy, and Goals 
  • Examination of current CRM solution and its flaws 
  • Identification of primary product value and user advantages 
  • Avoidance of distraction from core value due to numerous functions and user scenarios 
  • Assessment of initial CRM product as fragmented and overloaded with functionality 
  • Negative impact on Sales Reps due to confusion and complexity 
  • Required extensive training time for Sales Reps to learn and adapt to the system

Competitor Analysis

Understanding Competitor CRM Solutions

  • Profiling competitor companies and examining their CRM solutions
  • Assessing competitors’ market positioning and strategies
  • Studying the successes and failures of Bayer’s competitors
  • Evaluating strengths and weaknesses in competitors’ user experiences
  • Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the industry landscape

Key Questions for Competitor Analysis:

  • What are the key advantages of competitors’ user experiences?
  • What challenges do their users encounter?
  • How do competitors position themselves in the market?

User Interview

Voices Behind the Screens: Unveiling User Perspectives through Interactive Interviews”

Participants:
Total of 15 participants from 5 countries

  • Argentina: 3
  • Brazil: 3
  • India: 1
  • US: 4
  • Philippines: 4 

Participants’ roles:

  • Majority Sales Managers
  • Some Sales Representatives
  • A few Business Process Owners 

Key Insights from User Interviews

Understanding the User Perspective

The outdated Bayer CRM design negatively impacts:

  • Efficiency: The cumbersome interface and outdated features slow down workflow and productivity.
  • User-friendliness: The unintuitive design and complex navigation make it difficult for users to perform tasks efficiently.
  • Sales rep motivation: The outdated system can demotivate sales reps, reducing productivity and engagement.
  • Features: Over-featured, resulting in difficulties and time-consuming efforts to locate and access the necessary functions.
  • Communication: Ineffective communication tools and limited collaboration features hinder effective team collaboration and customer interactions.
  • Learning: The outdated design makes it challenging for users to adapt and learn new processes and updates.

Personas

Understanding the Users

Rachel

Rachel

The Field Sales Rep

Needs

  • Accurate forecasting tools to set realistic sales targets
  • Visibility into the sales pipeline and opportunities for effective planning
  • Collaborative features to align sales goals with team members and managers
  • Data-driven insights for making informed decisions
  • Integration with external tools and systems for seamless planning and execution

Pain Points

  • Lack of accurate forecasting capabilities leading to missed targets
  • Limited visibility into the sales pipeline causes uncertainty in planning
  • Inefficient communication and alignment with team members and managers
  • Difficulty in accessing and analyzing relevant sales data for decision-making
  • Manual and time-consuming processes for planning and forecasting
Mark

Mark

The Data-Driven Sales Manager

Needs

  • Advanced analytics and reporting capabilities for in-depth performance analysis
  • Customizable dashboards to monitor critical sales metrics and KPIs
  • Real-time data updates and synchronization for accurate reporting
  • Integration with external data sources to enrich the analysis
  • Forecast accuracy and trend analysis to drive strategic decision-making

Pain Points

  • Limited analytics features resulting in a lack of actionable insights
  • Incomplete or inconsistent data leading to inaccurate reporting
  • Manual data entry and updates cause delays and errors
  • Difficulty in integrating and analyzing data from multiple sources
  • Inefficient forecasting models and inability to track performance trends

The UX Information Architecture

Structuring Seamless Experiences

The UX Information Architecture (UX IA) involves various activities to create a cohesive and intuitive user experience. It includes defining user personas, understanding user needs and behaviors, conducting content audits, designing navigation systems, and establishing taxonomies. In the context of the high-fidelity prototype, the focus areas are:

1. Forecast & Planning Landing Page:

– Product View
– Account View
– Territory Summary

2. Product View Details
3. Account View Details
4. Territory Summary Details

The site map framework, along with the user insights gathered, will serve as a valuable reference for guiding design decisions in the future.

User Journey Map

Mapping the Route:
The Sales Rep Journey through the Farmer Customer Engagement Process

Lo-Fi Wireframes

Understanding What Users Find Intuitive and Why

During low-fidelity prototype testing, I had the opportunity to delve deeper into users’ expectations when completing specific tasks. By closely observing their Task Performance and interactions, and engaging in dialogue, I gained valuable insights. These insights guided me in making necessary adjustments to create a more refined high-fidelity prototype. I paid attention to details like actionable and consistent iconography and ensuring consistent paths for navigation, which played crucial roles in building a robust design system.

Hi-Fi Wireframes

Refining the User Experience: Recommendations for Salesforce Forecast and Planning Prototype

The high-fidelity prototype for Salesforce forecast and planning allowed test users to experience the closest approximation to the actual product, which revealed specific issues. While users could complete the onboarding experience, the realistic nature of the prototype also exposed some apprehension. To address this, enhancing the user experience by implementing horizontal scrolling on the table is recommended, reducing the reliance on clicking and providing a more seamless interaction.

The Usability Testing

Putting It to the Test:
Usability Testing Insights

  • Conducted usability tests on Hi-Fi (High-Fidelity) prototype with Sales Reps and Sales Manager
  • Uncovered new design possibilities and solutions through testing based on the feedback
  • Identified areas for improvement that might have been missed in earlier stages
  • Validated the effectiveness of the refined design and user experience
  • Used insights from usability testing to finalize the CRM solution design
    Prepared the Hi-Fi wireframes for handoff to developers for implementation

User Feedback on Hi-Fi (High-Fidelity) Prototype

Voices from the Field:
User Feedback on Hi-Fi Prototype

  • Overall positive reception of the refined design and user experience
  • Users found the CRM solution to be fast, clear, and easy-to-use
  • Appreciation for the intuitive navigation and well-organized layout
  • Users expressed satisfaction with the improved visual elements and interactions
  • Some users offered suggestions for additional features or customization options
  • A few users requested further integrations with other tools they use in their workflow
  • Users felt more confident and efficient when using the CRM solution compared to the previous version