Improving time on task with a new search and filter component
The CXB and all experience Data Table
The Relay Network solution is a Tailored Communication channel containing expertly crafted templates matching clients' outcomes and experience types.
The CXB software allows clients to use templates or create custom mobile feeds. The CXB also stores customer information and uses that information to launch the sms entry point to the feed based on API triggers, time delays, or a custom launch. Both the custom and templated mobile feeds are known as experiences.
During a series of meetings codenamed "Inception" the Executive and management teams met to understand why we were losing customers close to contract negotiations. They found that users were having issues using their software particularly during product demo's as clients were learning how to use the software.
User Interviews and heuristic analysis
Some of the problematic areas of the software included
- Onboarding client's database into the CXB with an ETL dataflow. The biggest problem here was the disparate naming conventions and formats - even down to the way different clients would format their dates (for exampledd/mm/yyyy vs yyyy/mm/dd)
- Creating auto responses to customer text messages and editing those responses easily
- Building, organizing and sending experiences to the feed easily
They identified a variety of problems, but to pinpoint where issues were happening we needed to speak to the users. Those users included
- Customer Success Managers (CSM),
- Implementation Managers (IM),
- Clients who use the CXB. Often clients rely on Internal Relay Network Client Success Managers to run the CXB for them, but if we could speak to a few of these clients, we could get direct information from Relay Network's most important users.
The Relay Network All Experiences Data Table lived in the CMS builder known as the CXB and was is the first point of entry. How did we prioritize which aspect of the CXB to fix?
Combining multiple techniques to save time
To clearly diagnose the exact ailment we couldn't rely solely on interviews, we had to also combine heuristic analysis and usability tests of some kind to understand and find the problematic patterns and gather metrics to use to measure out designs in later phases.
To quantify the problem, you must benchmark the current solution. How can we understand users mental modal, success metrics and their thoughts and feelings?
During this phase of the project, we also had to get a clear picture of how search and filter were actually working so that we could easily remove unnecessary filter facets and make search more intuitive.
Finding problematic patterns: When search and filter lead you astray
After conducting a Heuristic analysis, technical analysis, and benchmark usability tests with internal users to zero in on the major business issue with time on task, we found that our hypothesis and suspicions were right. Users didn't understand how basic search and filter worked in the system and relied on using "command and "F"" to find experiences in the data table. This caused users to become frustrated that basic interactions were slow, and the tools they were using made unpredictable interactions. The main culprit was lazy loading, but this was a pattern that the stakeholders were not willing to budge on. However, the other key problems we found were:
Search and filter issues:
- No clear indication of search results
- No use of autocomplete
- No search history
- No search term highlighting
Good UX has a "call and response" quality to it. You do a thing, you should get a response.
Finding solutions through simplicity and homogeneity.
Our Final Hypothesis: By designing and testing the improvements found from the user interviews and heuristic analysis, we could measure a significant decrease in time on task for internal and client users and potentially save millions, not to mention retain user engagement and reduce customer churn.
The big challenge is that we won't know exactly what the market truly wants regarding new features other than listening to the market and testing it out in the wild. Sure, users want the folder feature, but will it really help? A final survey would prove the satisfaction and interest in this concept.
Here is a list of the improvements we prioritized in the wireframes:
- Improved Layout and Information Architecture
- Trending (for client) and last used experiences (for all users)
- Updated UI, including iconography
- Updated search and filter
- Folder system.
Finding solutions through simplicity and homogeneity.
Our Final Hypothesis: By designing and testing the improvements found from the user interviews and heuristic analysis, we could measure a significant decrease in time on task for internal and client users and potentially save millions, not to mention retain user engagement and reduce customer churn.
The big challenge is that we won't know exactly what the market truly wants regarding new features other than listening to the market and testing it out in the wild. Sure, users want the folder feature, but will it really help? A final survey would prove the satisfaction and interest in this concept.
Here is a list of the improvements we prioritized in the wireframes:
- Improved Layout and Information Architecture
- Trending (for client) and last used experiences (for all users)
- Updated UI, including iconography
- Updated search and filter
- Folder system.
Testing and results
The Numbers
10
Usability Test
3
Iterations
+87%
Improved Time on task (compared to original design)
Over $1,000,000.00 saved in resources
Potential ROI Savings
The research plan involved closely examining a previously created task analysis and user flow to aid us in creating a guided questionnaire that would follow the same path the CXB users were accustomed to. We also provided opportunities for our participants to ask follow-up questions and to get feedback on their thoughts and feelings after interacting with the new design prototype through a survey.
A disruption in the market leading to an epic pivot.
Overall, this project was successful in meeting the business goals of Relay Network, improving the user experience of the CXB All Experiences Dashboard data table, and achieving a significant return on investment.
But a new challenge remains. The executive team changed course and created a new plan involving keeping the old system and bolting new features.
- After the market downturn with high-interest rates and massive layoffs, our efforts seem too late. As the market changed, so did some of our clients, and the executive team changed course.
- All of our efforts during inception were to be scrapped. We focused on creating a UX Research and design backlog, documenting our work, and focusing on more pressing matters- finding ways to attract new customers with new features and keeping the CXB the same, with only slight technological improvements done with design best practices.
- My Final work included using some of the research and findings from this project and finding ways to apply them to the current CXB design.
In the end, we kept some of the necessary usability updates, including making search and filter more user-friendly and intuitive.
More work
Improving time on task with a new search and filter component
The CXB and all experience Data Table
The Relay Network solution is a Tailored Communication channel containing expertly crafted templates matching clients' outcomes and experience types.
The CXB software allows clients to use templates or create custom mobile feeds. The CXB also stores customer information and uses that information to launch the sms entry point to the feed based on API triggers, time delays, or a custom launch. Both the custom and templated mobile feeds are known as experiences.
During a series of meetings codenamed "Inception" the Executive and management teams met to understand why we were losing customers close to contract negotiations. They found that users were having issues using their software particularly during product demo's as clients were learning how to use the software.
User Interviews and heuristic analysis
Some of the problematic areas of the software included
- Onboarding client's database into the CXB with an ETL dataflow. The biggest problem here was the disparate naming conventions and formats - even down to the way different clients would format their dates (for exampledd/mm/yyyy vs yyyy/mm/dd)
- Creating auto responses to customer text messages and editing those responses easily
- Building, organizing and sending experiences to the feed easily
They identified a variety of problems, but to pinpoint where issues were happening we needed to speak to the users. Those users included
- Customer Success Managers (CSM),
- Implementation Managers (IM),
- Clients who use the CXB. Often clients rely on Internal Relay Network Client Success Managers to run the CXB for them, but if we could speak to a few of these clients, we could get direct information from Relay Network's most important users.
The Relay Network All Experiences Data Table lived in the CMS builder known as the CXB and was is the first point of entry. How did we prioritize which aspect of the CXB to fix?
Combining multiple techniques to save time
To clearly diagnose the exact ailment we couldn't rely solely on interviews, we had to also combine heuristic analysis and usability tests of some kind to understand and find the problematic patterns and gather metrics to use to measure out designs in later phases.
To quantify the problem, you must benchmark the current solution. How can we understand users mental modal, success metrics and their thoughts and feelings?
During this phase of the project, we also had to get a clear picture of how search and filter were actually working so that we could easily remove unnecessary filter facets and make search more intuitive.
Finding problematic patterns: When search and filter lead you astray
After conducting a Heuristic analysis, technical analysis, and benchmark usability tests with internal users to zero in on the major business issue with time on task, we found that our hypothesis and suspicions were right. Users didn't understand how basic search and filter worked in the system and relied on using "command and "F"" to find experiences in the data table. This caused users to become frustrated that basic interactions were slow, and the tools they were using made unpredictable interactions. The main culprit was lazy loading, but this was a pattern that the stakeholders were not willing to budge on. However, the other key problems we found were:
Search and filter issues:
- No clear indication of search results
- No use of autocomplete
- No search history
- No search term highlighting
Good UX has a "call and response" quality to it. You do a thing, you should get a response.
Finding solutions through simplicity and homogeneity.
Our Final Hypothesis: By designing and testing the improvements found from the user interviews and heuristic analysis, we could measure a significant decrease in time on task for internal and client users and potentially save millions, not to mention retain user engagement and reduce customer churn.
The big challenge is that we won't know exactly what the market truly wants regarding new features other than listening to the market and testing it out in the wild. Sure, users want the folder feature, but will it really help? A final survey would prove the satisfaction and interest in this concept.
Here is a list of the improvements we prioritized in the wireframes:
- Improved Layout and Information Architecture
- Trending (for client) and last used experiences (for all users)
- Updated UI, including iconography
- Updated search and filter
- Folder system.
Finding solutions through simplicity and homogeneity.
Our Final Hypothesis: By designing and testing the improvements found from the user interviews and heuristic analysis, we could measure a significant decrease in time on task for internal and client users and potentially save millions, not to mention retain user engagement and reduce customer churn.
The big challenge is that we won't know exactly what the market truly wants regarding new features other than listening to the market and testing it out in the wild. Sure, users want the folder feature, but will it really help? A final survey would prove the satisfaction and interest in this concept.
Here is a list of the improvements we prioritized in the wireframes:
- Improved Layout and Information Architecture
- Trending (for client) and last used experiences (for all users)
- Updated UI, including iconography
- Updated search and filter
- Folder system.
Testing and results
The Numbers
10
Usability Test
3
Iterations
+87%
Improved Time on task (compared to original design)
Over $1,000,000.00 saved in resources
Potential ROI Savings
The research plan involved closely examining a previously created task analysis and user flow to aid us in creating a guided questionnaire that would follow the same path the CXB users were accustomed to. We also provided opportunities for our participants to ask follow-up questions and to get feedback on their thoughts and feelings after interacting with the new design prototype through a survey.
A disruption in the market leading to an epic pivot.
Overall, this project was successful in meeting the business goals of Relay Network, improving the user experience of the CXB All Experiences Dashboard data table, and achieving a significant return on investment.
But a new challenge remains. The executive team changed course and created a new plan involving keeping the old system and bolting new features.
- After the market downturn with high-interest rates and massive layoffs, our efforts seem too late. As the market changed, so did some of our clients, and the executive team changed course.
- All of our efforts during inception were to be scrapped. We focused on creating a UX Research and design backlog, documenting our work, and focusing on more pressing matters- finding ways to attract new customers with new features and keeping the CXB the same, with only slight technological improvements done with design best practices.
- My Final work included using some of the research and findings from this project and finding ways to apply them to the current CXB design.
In the end, we kept some of the necessary usability updates, including making search and filter more user-friendly and intuitive.
Improving time on task with a new search and filter component
The CXB and all experience Data Table
The Relay Network solution is a Tailored Communication channel containing expertly crafted templates matching clients' outcomes and experience types.
The CXB software allows clients to use templates or create custom mobile feeds. The CXB also stores customer information and uses that information to launch the sms entry point to the feed based on API triggers, time delays, or a custom launch. Both the custom and templated mobile feeds are known as experiences.
During a series of meetings codenamed "Inception" the Executive and management teams met to understand why we were losing customers close to contract negotiations. They found that users were having issues using their software particularly during product demo's as clients were learning how to use the software.
User Interviews and heuristic analysis
Some of the problematic areas of the software included
- Onboarding client's database into the CXB with an ETL dataflow. The biggest problem here was the disparate naming conventions and formats - even down to the way different clients would format their dates (for exampledd/mm/yyyy vs yyyy/mm/dd)
- Creating auto responses to customer text messages and editing those responses easily
- Building, organizing and sending experiences to the feed easily
They identified a variety of problems, but to pinpoint where issues were happening we needed to speak to the users. Those users included
- Customer Success Managers (CSM),
- Implementation Managers (IM),
- Clients who use the CXB. Often clients rely on Internal Relay Network Client Success Managers to run the CXB for them, but if we could speak to a few of these clients, we could get direct information from Relay Network's most important users.
The Relay Network All Experiences Data Table lived in the CMS builder known as the CXB and was is the first point of entry. How did we prioritize which aspect of the CXB to fix?
Combining multiple techniques to save time
To clearly diagnose the exact ailment we couldn't rely solely on interviews, we had to also combine heuristic analysis and usability tests of some kind to understand and find the problematic patterns and gather metrics to use to measure out designs in later phases.
To quantify the problem, you must benchmark the current solution. How can we understand users mental modal, success metrics and their thoughts and feelings?
During this phase of the project, we also had to get a clear picture of how search and filter were actually working so that we could easily remove unnecessary filter facets and make search more intuitive.
Finding problematic patterns: When search and filter lead you astray
After conducting a Heuristic analysis, technical analysis, and benchmark usability tests with internal users to zero in on the major business issue with time on task, we found that our hypothesis and suspicions were right. Users didn't understand how basic search and filter worked in the system and relied on using "command and "F"" to find experiences in the data table. This caused users to become frustrated that basic interactions were slow, and the tools they were using made unpredictable interactions. The main culprit was lazy loading, but this was a pattern that the stakeholders were not willing to budge on. However, the other key problems we found were:
Search and filter issues:
- No clear indication of search results
- No use of autocomplete
- No search history
- No search term highlighting
Good UX has a "call and response" quality to it. You do a thing, you should get a response.
Finding solutions through simplicity and homogeneity.
Our Final Hypothesis: By designing and testing the improvements found from the user interviews and heuristic analysis, we could measure a significant decrease in time on task for internal and client users and potentially save millions, not to mention retain user engagement and reduce customer churn.
The big challenge is that we won't know exactly what the market truly wants regarding new features other than listening to the market and testing it out in the wild. Sure, users want the folder feature, but will it really help? A final survey would prove the satisfaction and interest in this concept.
Here is a list of the improvements we prioritized in the wireframes:
- Improved Layout and Information Architecture
- Trending (for client) and last used experiences (for all users)
- Updated UI, including iconography
- Updated search and filter
- Folder system.
Finding solutions through simplicity and homogeneity.
Our Final Hypothesis: By designing and testing the improvements found from the user interviews and heuristic analysis, we could measure a significant decrease in time on task for internal and client users and potentially save millions, not to mention retain user engagement and reduce customer churn.
The big challenge is that we won't know exactly what the market truly wants regarding new features other than listening to the market and testing it out in the wild. Sure, users want the folder feature, but will it really help? A final survey would prove the satisfaction and interest in this concept.
Here is a list of the improvements we prioritized in the wireframes:
- Improved Layout and Information Architecture
- Trending (for client) and last used experiences (for all users)
- Updated UI, including iconography
- Updated search and filter
- Folder system.
Testing and results
The Numbers
10
Usability Test
3
Iterations
+87%
Improved Time on task (compared to original design)
Over $1,000,000.00 saved in resources
Potential ROI Savings
The research plan involved closely examining a previously created task analysis and user flow to aid us in creating a guided questionnaire that would follow the same path the CXB users were accustomed to. We also provided opportunities for our participants to ask follow-up questions and to get feedback on their thoughts and feelings after interacting with the new design prototype through a survey.
A disruption in the market leading to an epic pivot.
Overall, this project was successful in meeting the business goals of Relay Network, improving the user experience of the CXB All Experiences Dashboard data table, and achieving a significant return on investment.
But a new challenge remains. The executive team changed course and created a new plan involving keeping the old system and bolting new features.
- After the market downturn with high-interest rates and massive layoffs, our efforts seem too late. As the market changed, so did some of our clients, and the executive team changed course.
- All of our efforts during inception were to be scrapped. We focused on creating a UX Research and design backlog, documenting our work, and focusing on more pressing matters- finding ways to attract new customers with new features and keeping the CXB the same, with only slight technological improvements done with design best practices.
- My Final work included using some of the research and findings from this project and finding ways to apply them to the current CXB design.
In the end, we kept some of the necessary usability updates, including making search and filter more user-friendly and intuitive.