AREA87 WEB PORTAL
Streamlining Client Engagement with AI-Powered Personalized Experiences
Background
The web app was designed as an internal tool at Area87 to streamline client communication and project management to boost client satisfaction and retention.
Year
2023
Industry
SaaS
Role
Lead Product Designer
Timeline
6 months
Stakeholders
1 Product Designer, 1 Engineer and 1 Sales Rep
Tools
Figma, Miro, and Asana
Let's Talk
Discover Business and User needs
Problem Background
Area87 encountered difficulties in efficiently engaging clients during project updates, which resulted in gaps in client engagement and retention. The absence of a streamlined platform for clients to track their project progress, communicating efficiently with the team and place their ideas, doubts and requests was leading to inefficiencies, and potential miscommunications.
Business Needs
Needed to provide a more efficient communication method with clients, enabling the seamless sharing of updates and gathering of feedback. It was also essential to have a tracking system to monitor project progress. By enhancing the overall client experience, this could boost client satisfaction and retention.
User Needs
Targeted current and potential clients by designing a user-friendly client portal that serve the purpose of receiving real-time updates on project progress without having to wait for weekly reports. A platform where they could share their inspirations, project requests and efficiently provide feedback to the team.
How might we...
...at Area87, develop a streamlined client-facing portal that enhances engagement, improves communication, organizes project progress tracking, and expedites the feedback process to boost client satisfaction and retention?
Key Research
Evaluating current Customer Experience (CX)
This was an important step to understand and improve the interactions between clients and Area87. I was able to identify potential pain points and necessary improvements to enhance client satisfaction. Also, I was able to use this information later on to carve out the strategy for the platform.
These are a couple of pain points identified:
The team uses Figma as a default tool to present work and collaborate but not all clients know how to navigate Figma, creating a friction when the team asked for feedback.
The team sends weekly updates but clients are not providing feedback in a timely manner.
Clients area unable to see easily the project progress as it is not shown in just one place and in a chronologically order, resulting in clients needing to look through all links previously sent or asking again for the recent link.
Customer Journey
By identifying the weaknesses and strengths in the CX, I was able to prioritize essential features that will allow to improve the client experience.
Here are some of the flows designed:
Project roadmap: To address any doubts and concerns about timings and internal processes, I designed a roadmap where clients could see the project phases and the active phase the team was working on.
Podcasts: The team always sent a video walking through clients over design decisions and work, therefore, clients were able to see all videos sent in this section.
Capture ideas and requests: A dedicated section for clients to log their future ideas and/or project requests any time during the engagement and post-engagement.
Project Links and Documents: To show project related information in a more organize manner, in this section clients are able to find all sources about the project.
Updates timeline: This information was updated 3-times a week as weekly updates were provided. Clients are able to keep track of the project progress and provide feedback as requested.
Product Requirements
Functional
Provide real-time updates to clients about the project progress for them to see it and be able to provide feedback if requested in a short period of time. Also, they should have a section with project related information easy to access at anytime.
Practical
The platform needs to be integrated within the current company's system and all team members should be able to have access. Clients need to be onboarded and introduced smoothly to the portal at the early stage of engagement.
Design Process
Design Decision #1: Mobile First Designs
To facilitate the accessibility to the portal, I started designing mobile first in order to increase client engagement and overall client satisfaction as they would be able to see the design optimized for their mobile screens leading to a better user experience anytime.
Design Decision #2: Conducted A/B Testing for Project Overview Screen
In order to understand what would be the best way to display relevant information above the fold once clients logged into the portal. I decided to conduct an A/B testing of the project overview screen, to test the layout for the project information. This was important one of the goals set for this part of the portal was to scan information across the portal easily.
Design Decision #3: Podcast powered by AI
In order to implement AI, I needed to identify how it could enhance the client experience. I decided to implement AI in the Podcast feature, so that the team at Area87 would be able to upload a meeting video into the system and automatically a transcript was created. After this, Clients and the Area87 team can ask the AI any questions from any previous meeting and get instant answers with the time stamp, video name and date.
Results and Final thoughts
Final Outcome
The portal was launched successfully in beta version and it is being used with existing clients. Also, it attracted new clients due to the company's unique selling point.
Results
The portal helped streamlining Area87’s internal processes enhancing efficiency. It also reduced the back-and-forth with clients by over 70%.
