MD Portfolio

case study

Ecommerce Platform

This project aimed to optimize our sales process to be more self-serve and scalable. Our strategic plan was to develop an online platform where potential customers could explore our solutions independently and at their convenience. By implementing a self-serve model, we intended to reduce our reliance on manual support and make our offerings more accessible. With a self-guided experience supported by subject-matter experts, we believed we could broaden our reach and generate new revenue streams that a traditional sales process would not allow. By streamlining the funnel and empowering customers to move through it self-directedly, yet with expert assistance available, we aimed to significantly grow our business.

What problem were we solving?

  • Our sales process heavily relied on manual support, which limited our ability to scale and meet market needs.
  • Prospects desired self-guided exploration of our solutions without compromising access to expert advice.
  • We needed a digital platform to meet these needs, reduce costs, and unlock new revenue streams.

Figma prototype demo

Impact and ROI

Self-Serve Competes with Inbound Sales

Within the first 8 months, the custom-built system was competing with the inbound sales team conversion rate.

Segment of Experts Enjoy Fielding Client Chat-styled Questions

Within the first 30 days, Expert sentiment was high and response times were to match. They reveal a desire to field customer questions early in the estimating process, allowing them to provide a quote with confidence.

Constraints & Trade-offs

Limited with the tech stack

The software component used for the filtering of the Experts was extremely limited in terms of UX flexibility. Our solutions had to be based on simple UI modifications to custom skin the platform.

 

Pressure from all angles

Due to the nature of the investment, our product team was under immense pressure to stay on-time with production and roadmap initiatives. We were required to meet with leadership on a weekly cadence to report on progress and set-backs.

UX Insights

Artifacts utilized for this project

  • affinity mapping
  • user-flows
  • journey mapping customer behaviors
  • stakeholder alignment workshop
  • Figma prototypes

The business is looking to route lower-budget customers to a self-serve platform with minimal overhead.

A segment of the market is not interested in working with an in-person sales team – more apt to a self-serve type platform they can navigate and filter based on their needs.

Determining User Needs

As a customer, they need access to financial experts that can help them complete a job. Sometimes those customers have budgets that keep them in a bracket of service offerings and unable to reach our in-person sales team. Those customers are willing to self-guide through a platform in anticipation of completing a process to reach their destination sooner and more efficiently.

Customers need mobile and desktop access.

As an Expert offering services on the platform, they need the ability to communicate with the client. They require the ability to accept payment up front to prevent unfaithful appointments with flaky customers. They need a system to queue up customer work and respond to queries promptly.

Experts can manage their jobs, from start to finish.

As an internal staff user, they need the ability to activate and de-activate Experts from the self-serve platform.